black stuff growing in tank

cousinles

I am a total newbie with aquariums. I changed the water in my aquarium just like I have before and all of my fish died one by one, I had them for a couple of years. I took all of the dead fish out about a month ago now I have this black stuff growing in my tank and do not know what it is. I took some pictures hoping that someone could identify the stuff. I do not want to buy new fish yet until I know they have some kind of chance of surviving. Any help will be great.

willow

hello and welcome.
you have algae in your tank that's growing all over.
you can remove the plants and give them a scrub in plain old hot water,the
algae growing on the back you should be able to remove with either an algae magnet,
or a non soap scrubber.
has everything died in there :( do you have a test kit and dechlorinator for the water.
sorry you've lost your fish.

cousinles

The algae won’t come off of the plants or gravel. I can scrub it off the glass though. I want to start from new but do not want the algae to ruin my plants and gravel again. I have well water don’t know if that had anything to do with it. I don’t know anything about testing the water because I had never needed to until now. I am sure I can find all the water testing info searching on the forums. Thanks for your reply.

aunt kymmie

I had that same algae in my tank once. I'm assuming the plants are real and not plastic? What type of lighting do you have on the tank and
how many hours do you keep them on??

PS. Welcome to the forum!

cousinles

The plants are plastic, fluorescent lights are on 24/7.

aunt kymmie

The lighting duration is the problem. 24/7 is a perfect environment for algae to thrive. Did you keep the lights on 24/7 when you had fish in the tank?

cousinles

yes, I have never shut them off even with the fish in there. Dont ask me why I still have them on without any fish in it, but I am going to shut them off right now.

Krinedawg

One of the problems is lights on 24/7. I have and I'm sure allot of us do, put our lights on timers. Unless it stays daylight 24/7 where the fish come from, they need light cycle too.
Is the aquarium near a window? Algae loves sunlight/ light.

I have a ton of snails that love to eat the stuff which help keeps it down, but I also use the magnet as suggested above. Water/filter changes, and regular cleaning will help reduce it as well. I've never had a real bad outbreak of algae, but I'm watching to see what some of the answers are here.

Good luck with your tank, I hope you get it settled.

cousinles

My tank is not near a window. I will be sure to put the lights on a timer. I have one laying around that i use for my xmas lights. It will also save a little on my electricity bill.

Herky

Having your lights on continuously probably also contributed to you losing your fish.