algae growing on barbels!

Bathos · Post by **Bathos** » 22 Mar 2003, 19:32

my C. aeneus fry are doing really well. so far, i've only seen 1 dead fry, and all the rest look healthy. they're about 3 weeks old now. the tank is a mature one, and has large gravel that the smallest of the fry can fit between. this was not my substrate of choice. i was going to look for sand for the tank, but the cories spawned unexpectedly and i didn't have a way to move the eggs, or a cycled tank to move them to. now, of course, i can't catch most of the fry because they dart into the substrate at the first sign of danger. there is a lot of algae in the tank. this was just fine until recently it started sticking to the barbels of the larger fry. there were two whose barbels were all hooked together by algae, so they couldn't get anything in their mouths. i caught one and teased off most of the algae with a pin. i couldn't catch the other one. i'll try again tonight. what can i do to get the algae off? what's causing the algae to stick? the algae is fluffy looking and light green.

-Liz

philtre · Post by **philtre** » 30 Mar 2003, 06:01

bathos,

I don't know how to get the algae off, but to get rid of the algae, you could try a few things

presence of algae could be due to excess nutrients, try feeding sparingly, small amounts but you could increase the number of feeds in a day to ensure that food gets consumed quickly.

leave the lights off for three days, helps to cut down algae.

I don't know if the above would work, but I guess you could try if you wanted.

hope eveything will turn out well soon.

regrads
phil

Sid Guppy · Post by **Sid Guppy** » 30 Mar 2003, 10:42

There are some saprolegnia species that are greenish instead of white. since it's very unusual to have algae growing on fast evolving animaltissue (like a baby fish), I think you've got a fungusinfection in your fry tank!

Bathos · Post by **Bathos** » 02 Apr 2003, 14:03

i'm pretty sure it was algae, as it was growing on all the plastic plants as well, and cutting back on the lights made it go away. a hatching of snails took care of the green stuff

i'm not sure why it was sticking, but it has since stopped.

-Liz

philtre · Post by **philtre** » 03 Apr 2003, 15:30

hi bathos,

glad things are turning out well! hope your cories are alright too!

cheers
phil

Bathos · Post by **Bathos** » 07 Apr 2003, 19:27

cories are just fine now. they hatched on 2/27 and many are starting to take on the colors of their parents. some are still very small though, and i'm a bit concerned about these late bloomers. a little over half have the deep body and finnage of their parents, but about 1/3 are as long as the others but flatter, skinnier, and generally more fry-like.

-Liz