# Think this is diatom "infestation". Please help.



## jfennimore (Feb 13, 2006)

I believe the following pictures are the results of diatoms. I am not sure. The pictures aren't the greatest. They were taken after a water change, so there are bubbles. The infestation is "fuzzy" on the driftwood. I need to get rid of it. I used to have 2 plecos in the tank. They seemed to be eating my plant leaves and the wood. I assume they were eating this. They left a lot of feces behind as well. My gravelbed is play sand and Flourite. My lighting consists of 4x32 T8 bulbs. The tank is a 55g. I am starting to really look into getting pressurized CO2 but want a good place to start before I get setup and a lot more plants. Thanks for any input.


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## Beasts (Apr 14, 2006)

Have you tried Farlowellas? My three are constantly working on the driftwood and doing a very nice job. Yes, they create a lot of fecal material but that is characteristic of all herbivores. Their digestive tracts are not particularly efficient. Filtration, aeration and a strong bacteria population should all help. But in my opinion the fecal material is better than the "dirty" driftwood and plant leaves. I don't imagine that you would need more than one or two Farlowellas. My three are keeping up with 4 rather large pieces of driftwood in a 400 gallon aquarium and, if you run out of the live foods they enjoy, in my experience they would rather die than eat flake food. 
I like to keep a mix of algae eaters including SAE's, bala sharks (yes, bala sharks - they are constantly grazing on the driftwood and plants without causing damage) and clown loaches. I also keep a wide variety of "detritus grazers" - Corydoras, pictus, Synodontis, Rafaels, etc.
And if you find out for sure what those things are in the pictures, Iwould love to know. If my eyes are correct they look like very short threads and I have seen them on the glass of several aquariums and have been unable to ID them. My understanding is that diatoms are all free floating, not attached.
Hope this helps, Beasts


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## trenac (Jul 16, 2004)

From those pics it appears to be BBA, but I'm not sure.... http://www.aquaticplantcentral.com/forumapc/algaefinder.php?do=view&id=7


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