I think its algae, but I'm not sure. I wiped off most of it with a paper towel, I just stuck my hand in the tank and wiped it clean. But now its starting to grow more and more and I can even see it on the white rocks in the front of the tank. I'm not sure why it is growing only in the front as well. You can't see it too well if you look from the outside, hence no picture, but if you look directly down at it you can see it. It's just starting, I don't want it to get out of control.
The tank is not in the sun but I think it might be because I leave the overhead light on 24/7. Or maybe because I didn't clean the rocks good when I did the water change last time. Opinions? THanks!
Sounds like Brown Algae ... diatoms ... and it means your water has silica. It's common in new tanks and usually goes away. However if you use tap water for water changes, there's a chance the water's full of silica and you may never really get rid of it. I've had it for months and there's no sigh of it going away.
It's harmless to fish and aside from wiping it off the glass, otto's do eat it.
By "overhead light" being on 24/7 do you mean the tank light, or a room light?
Fish need a period of total darkness, with no tank light and no room light. If the tank light is left on 24/7 you will have very stressed fish and likely an outbreak of ich. And an explosion of green algae and possibly worse, cyanobacteria.
the algae seems to have calmed down since i stopped leaving the light on and feeding them less. however there are still places that have some. a lot of people have said an otto would clean it. what exactly is an otto?
Hi and welcome to TFK. You can check out the Oto Catfish by clicking on the shaded name and it will bring you to our fish profile section for Otos.
For further reference, you can go into the Tropical Fish Profiles at the top of the page, second heading from left.
Good luck.
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