old diatom question again

orb4me

I did a larger w/c last week, i found diatoms on the pink fake plants, I thought I scrubed them off, but they are back. Its really hard to get it off these brissly plants, cant use soap, cant use chlorox. what do I do. Nitrates are down to 10 as of day before yesterday.

yank30265

I soak my fake decorations in bleech for awhile; then rinse them real well with water untill you dont smell the bleech anymore. Then put them back in the tank. I use this in my own tanks and we always used this method in the store I used to work in. im not sure what you mean by diatoms though. This method was used for getting decorations back to "like new" conditions. The only diatom I know of is the filter w/ diatomiscous earth in it. Diatom for short

orb4me

Referred to as a microalgae, brown or golden algae is actually not an algae at all, but diatoms. What you are actually seeing in your tank are diatom skeletons, all linked together. It can appear as a simple dusting on the tank walls and substrate surfaces, or it can turn into a massive growth that covers just about everything in the tank. This type of algae outbreak typically occurs when a tank is just completing or has finished the nitrogen cycling process,


I had to look it up I had it/them once before and Tommy Gunn saved my fish, I knew I had to keep a closer eye on a smaller tank and I was too busy with big tank. cleaned of the brown algae/diatoms, did big w/c and it/they were gone, now they are back. tank is 6 months old.

Ill try the bleach thing, Im good at rinsing, Im a home health care nurse and I take care of babies on Vents, and rinsing the equipment is very very important since babies cant tell you they are burning in the airway when disinfectant is not rinsed out properly.

tx for the suggest.

yank30265

I never had a problem with diatoms as they seem to be called. but Im thinking bleeching the decos will clean them for awhile but if something is wrong with water parameters they will probably come back. there is probably someone on here that knows what to do about it. I was thinking they were just trying to clean off the decorations. Have you ever had black worms grow in your tank. One fish in 20 high. underfed ; changed almost all the water while turning up the gravel then put diatom on it till it was clear after refill. Worms are back; they turn to ash when you touch them; no live food in the tank

orb4me

Black worms? oh yeiks! No, no worms (yet)

Did you mean to say you put diatoms on it in your post? (diatoms on the gravel?)

The only thing I really know about diatoms, is that they stick to stuff and turn it brown.

Today I did a 50% w/c, took out a lot of the gravel and rinsed it well. So I guess I will know tomorrow.

oh yea, and the tank smells bad.