help!! My tank turned Green! what do I do?

T

thoughtprocess

Small Fish
#1
Aug 18, 2003
24
0
0
53
CT
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#1
:confused: All the water in my tank turned grren and cloudy over the last two days. What do I do? what caused it? should I move all the fish for now? And if so is a medium angelfish compatible with a baby oscar, and baby convicts cichlids? Please, any help would be good, This has never happened to me before
thanks
 

M

MrMup04

Superstar Fish
#2
Aug 13, 2003
1,208
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#2
hmm... i would just do a 100% water change and keep the green water then just pick up ur fish with the net and leave them in the green water for now i dont know what caused it, maybe its the food?, the algae, or something

for you other questions i really don't know because i dont know much about cichlids sorry
 

FroggyFox

FroggyFox

Forum Manager
Moderator
#4
May 16, 2003
8,589
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42
Colorado
#4
The green water shouldn't hurt the fish, no need to move them. It sounds like an algae bloom to me.

Do you have the tank near a window where sun shines on it? Do you have live plants? Do you add anything to the water that has phosphates in it? (some chemicals have it, as well as fertilizers *I think*) Is it possible that you overfeed in that tank?

Do you have any algae eaters in the tank? They wont help with green water much...but once you get rid of the cause of the problem it might be a good idea to get one or two.

Which of your tanks are we talking about?

If you think you have figured out what is then there are a few things you can do to get the green water to go away. One would be to do a big water change (50%) then completely cover the tank for a few days so that NO LIGHT gets in. Usually that will make it noticeably better.

As a last resort (temporary fix) there is a product that AquariumPharmaceuticals (sp?) makes, something like Algaefix...that people have had some good results with, you might try picking up some of that and following the directions. Dont forget to clean your filter REALLY well and REALLY often because its going to be getting a lot of gunk in it. There is also one by Hagen called P-Clear that worked for me...but I dont know that its especially made for algae.

HTH
 

geKo

geKo

Large Fish
#5
Jan 28, 2003
930
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39
Louisville ky
#5
Turn the lights off and cover your tank with blankets. Leave it like that for 1 week while doing daily %20 / %30 water changes.

I speak from experience so...
 

Gomer

Gomer

Superstar Fish
#7
Apr 25, 2003
1,136
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46
So Calif.
beyond_gomer.tripod.com
#7
and..DO NOT do a 100% water change.

I have actually hear many good arguements that say that GW is caused by an excess in ammonia...ie when you stir up the gravel or perturb the bacteria colony.

Everytime I have gotten green water...well..it seemed to coincide with the above.
 

W

wayne

Elite Fish
#8
Oct 22, 2002
4,077
3
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#8
So what happens when you turn the lights on again..... return of green water a week later. More water changes and make sure the gravels hoovered properly. If you want test nitrate and phosphate, and see how they look.
 

M

MelissaD672

New Fish
#10
Jul 12, 2007
2
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California
#10
Be careful if you decide to use Algaefix, if you overdose you can kill your fish. It suffocates them, that's how the chemicals work in it... it deprives the algae of oxygen which normally doesn't hurt fishies and most plants because its not that much just enough to kill the algae. I accidently OD'd one time in a show tank i had a few days before a bunch of family were going to come over and i didn't want them to see a green tank! So i measured wrong.... it Killed my GhostKnife, and my Panda Cories! :'''(
Other than that in the past it has been a good quick fix for me, just be careful.

As far as putting Angels with any kind of cichlid i wouldn't advise it. Sure they may get by alright in a bigger tank without being killed or their fins nipped all to hell, but they definitely wouldn't be happy. Angels are very docile, where as cichlids are always on the go and a weee bit aggressive you might say :p

Be very careful about doing massive water changes and scrubbing away all of your good bacteria.


Just thought i would make those few comments. Other than that... Good luck!
 

P

patpaugh

New Fish
#11
Jul 9, 2007
4
0
0
Vancouver, BC
#11
I had the same problem, seemed to occur when ammonia and nitrites were really high. I used a chemical called "P Clear". What it does is combines with minute suspended particles (such as algae) and clumps, so the bigger particles can now be trapt in your filter. Worked for me, Safe for the fish as well. I also suggest a 50% water change.
 

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