Rich green water issue

[JONP]

I have two set ups, one is my large 100 gallon cichlid tank which is doing great! I've had it for two years and it has been fantastic the entire time.

My other tank is my son's gold fish tank. It is 7 gallons and contains two fish with blue rocks and a fake green plant. The isse is that the water has turned bright green and I'm can't seem to fix it. I have redone it from top to bottom now twice in the last month and 3 days later is competely green again.

What is causing this and what can I do?

 

[Dr Joe]

Do you treat the water the same for both tanks?

What kind of filter on the tank?

How often do you do W/C's?

How big are the fish?

Who feeds the gfish?

Most of the time this problem stems from too many nutrients in the tank. (ie overfeeding or bad tap water).

Two ways to go...Cover the tank for 4 days so NO light can get in (NO peeking), this breaks the algae's growth cycle.

Reduce feeding to a minimum during this period too.

After the alotted time remove the cover and do a 50% water change and limit feedings to make sure nothing is left in the tank after acouple of minutes.

If you could add a couple of plants (Anacharis is cheap), the plants will use up the nutrients faster and help keep the algae in control (the gfish may munch on it a little).

Dr Joe

.

 

[JONP]

First, I appreciate the response. Secondly I'll address your questions to further my resolution process.
1. The filter is very small but adequate for a 7 gallon tank.
2. Water changes, I have done complete full water changes twice for this issue. Generally speaking, I change the goldfish water 20% every couple months.
3. My original goldfish is about 3 inches long. He is a Koi fish who is still relatively small. His partner is one of those small extremely bubbley goldfish with the streaming tail. He is about an inch long...
4. I feed all of our fish, and I don't believe I feed them too much as we have had the Koi fish for over a year and he's never had water issues.

Above you mentioned two ways to go:
The first being a covered tank with no outside light entering the tank for some time as well as reduce feeding during this period. Lastly finishing with a 50% water change.

What is the second?

This tank is getting sunlight, not a great deal but does get some. Could that be the main reason for this? Also, I can't stress how green this water is?

Thanks,

 

[Ianab]

If the tank gets some direct sunlight I guess it is near a window and gets bright daylight the rest of the time.

I suspect that is the main cause.

Doing a blackout will help, but as a long term fix you are going to have to change something about the setup. If nothing changes it will just grow back the same.

As algae needs good light and some nutrients to grow there is a couple of things you can change.

Shade the tank to reduce the light, a curtain, move some pot plants to shade it, things like that. If you dont have real plants in there you only need enough light to see the fish

Reduce the nutrients in the tank, more water changes is one way. With a small tank and greedy goldfish I would be doing 50% changes per week (not hard on that size tank ) OR put heaps of real plants in there. They will use up a lot of the stray nutrients and reduce whats available to the algae.

And yes I do believe how green a tank can get I'm just getting one of mine under control again after the summer sun started hitting it. Less light, more water changes (50% twice a week) and I can now see the fish

Cheers

Ian

 

[Dr Joe]

First, I appreciate the response. Secondly I'll address your questions to further my resolution process.
1. The filter is very small but adequate for a 7 gallon tank.
2. Water changes, I have done complete full water changes twice for this issue. Generally speaking, I change the goldfish water 20% every couple months.
3. My original goldfish is about 3 inches long. He is a Koi fish who is still relatively small. His partner is one of those small extremely bubbley goldfish with the streaming tail. He is about an inch long...
4. I feed all of our fish, and I don't believe I feed them too much as we have had the Koi fish for over a year and he's never had water issues.

Above you mentioned two ways to go:
The first being a covered tank with no outside light entering the tank for some time as well as reduce feeding during this period. Lastly finishing with a 50% water change.

What is the second?

This tank is getting sunlight, not a great deal but does get some. Could that be the main reason for this? Also, I can't stress how green this water is?

Thanks,

Sorry about that .

A UV sterilizer. this will clear up the water borne algae. Check petsmart for a small self-contained one.

Sunlight huh?! You didn't mention THAT D).

If the tank is getting it from the front, shade the window. If from the sudes/back cover the tank glass.

Start treating this like a real tank, weekly water changes %0% to start for 4 weeks the you can try 25% if you want to push your luck , and gravel cleanings (if you have it).

Clean the filter in used tank water every time you do a W/C (nothing drastic, just rinse).

.

If the tank gets some direct sunlight I guess it is near a window and gets bright daylight the rest of the time.

I suspect that is the main cause.

Doing a blackout will help, but as a long term fix you are going to have to change something about the setup. If nothing changes it will just grow back the same.

As algae needs good light and some nutrients to grow there is a couple of things you can change.

Shade the tank to reduce the light, a curtain, move some pot plants to shade it, things like that. If you dont have real plants in there you only need enough light to see the fish

Reduce the nutrients in the tank, more water changes is one way. With a small tank and greedy goldfish I would be doing 50% changes per week (not hard on that size tank ) OR put heaps of real plants in there. They will use up a lot of the stray nutrients and reduce whats available to the algae.

And yes I do believe how green a tank can get I'm just getting one of mine under control again after the summer sun started hitting it. Less light, more water changes (50% twice a week) and I can now see the fish

Cheers

Ian

We @ MFK DO NOT Promote the use of illegal drugs in ANY manor!














Dr Joe

.

 

[Ianab]

We @ MFK DO NOT Promote the use of illegal drugs in ANY manor!

Honest officer.. they are hydroponic tomatos