HELP! green water!

RLHam3

hey i've had green water (algae bloom?) for almost 2 weeks and nothing i do is having any effect. i've got a 6 in Oscar in a 30 gallon (in i'll take himm out soon) with a canister filter. i feed him pellets and it's probably not overfeeding. i've done a 50% water change, used "No More Algae", and left the lights off for days. it still looks the same. what do i do?!?!?!?!?!?!

Oldman47

Start by relaxing Ham. The green water may look bad but it won't hurt the fish. Actually the chances are good that there is some excess nutrients in the water. Even though your Oscar is eating all the food you put in, it also comes back out in the form of waste and it will fertilize the water. I see no mention of live plants so the only way you have to get rid of the nitrogen and other nutrients in the water is large enough water changes for the total amount of food that is going into the tank. This could easily be 50% water changes every week. The other thing that a plant needs, yes algae is a plant, is enough light to grow. As you have already said you have tried leaving the lights off but how much light does the tank get from windows and so forth? In most situations, lots of light comes in windows during the day so it could still be quite a bit.

Andyandsue

One word for you. Algone. Some members hate it, some love it, I swear by it if I ever get an algae breakout or bacterial bloom. Search the forum for it. You have nothing to lose really by trying it. It's a natural product that will not upset your balance other than removing that awful algae! It works wonders in a matter of days. It can only be purchased at a LFS though.

Been there, done that, and used Algone.

okiemavis

It'd be great to find out what your nitrate levels are in your water. Also, do you have live plants and what is your lighting?

I had a green water problem and it turned out it was from the tank being just a touch warmer than it needed to be. Is you fish tank effected by the rising temperatures?

Andyandsue

Antoher issue with algae that I experience is a high phosphate level in my tap water. I use a phosphate lowering floss and that also helps keep it at bay.