I'm a NEWBIE, HELP!!!

[kellyusaf09]

Hello,

I am new to the fish hobbie and loving it. I currently have a small 10 gallon freshwater tank with 3 zebra Danios and 2 Leopard Danios, and a few live plants. I am on day 10 of the cycling process and there is brown algae all over the glass and on the leaves of the plants, and there is green algae build up in the filter. I do 20-30% water change every two to three days. Is this normal, and if not what should I do, do I need to clean the algae out of the filter during the cycling process? Thanks for any advice you can give.
MK

 

[brian1973]

buy an algea scraper and scrape it off at the next water change. How often are you feeding your fish?

 

[MissFishy]

It sounds like you must be creating a perfect situation for algae growth. Is your tank in direct sunlight for any part of the day? How long do you leave your lights in the tank on? Are you overfeeding?

As a side note, a 10g is kind of small for all those danios, they really need a larger tank to swim around in since they are so active. Kudos to you for reading up on the cycling thing though! Doing the extra water changes won't do anything about the algae bad or good, so keep doing them regularly!

 

[kellyusaf09]

Thanks for the quick response

To answer you both Brian and MissFishy, one I already did the water change today and scrapped off the algae, I feed the fish about 2-3 times a day. For MissFishy, The tank is not in any direct sunlight, but I do leave the light on for a good part of the day, I'd say anywhere from 8am-10pm ish, The fish seem OK, Like I said I am on day 10 of the cycling process, I did the test today as well and Ammonia-2.0, Nitrite-5.0, Nitrate-5.0, and pH-7.6 . I know these are high, but heard that's normal during this stage???

 

[brian1973]

The problem may just be over feeding they only need to be fed about once a day to once every other day, the food packages tells you to feed more solely for the purpose of selling you more food, you fish will be fine when fed less just make sure they all get a share, overfeeding causes excess nutrients and this will feed algea. You need to get those params down, and I would recommend using Prime, it neutralizes the toxic effects of ammonia and is a dechlorinator as well, I use it at every water change.

I posted this link in another thread but you may find it helpfull as well Controlling Algae Growth - Rate My Fish Tank

 

[Joeyb1731]

Just to jump in. You should not be feeding that much. I feed once a day, If that, and I have 6 bigger fish. also your light is on for too long. I leave mine for about 8 1/2 hours a day. And if your ammonia and nitrites are high like that and you are doing water changes you are definitely feeding too much. None of those levels except Nitrate should be above 1.0 if they go above 1.0 then you need to do a water change. You should feed your fish once a day, what they can eat in a few minutes. Thats the cause of your algae/ammonia. Plus take the light down to 8-9 hours a day. And do a water change now. I would even hold of on the feeding for today, do the change and test your water later today and tomorrow. The ammonia/nitrite in your tank will start to effect your fish badly.

 

[brian1973]

to add to what joey said I would skip feeding for atleast 2 days. Read the link it has some good advice on algea and lighting etc. I leave my lights on for anywhere from 14 to 16hours and never have any algea issues but these are planted tanks with appropriate feedings.

 

[MissFishy]

I second these. You are feeding WAY too much food. Feeding should only happen once every other day, it says on fish food cans to feed more often, but they just want you to buy more fish food, it's not necessary. Second, your ammonia and nitrite readings are off the charts. I'm surprised your fish are still alive. Both ammonia and nitrite readings need to be below 1.0. It takes a lot of water changes to get it to those levels, especially since you've let them get so high.