# Algae eater for a goldfish tank



## rocksmom (Mar 6, 2012)

One one of my tanks is a 55g, bare bottom goldfish tank. I have a few anubias tied to rocks, pennywort planted in a container with flourite, dwarf water lettuce, and banana plants (I just threw the banana plants in one day because I was sick of them coming out of the substrate in another tank... they seem to be doing fine just floating around). I dose a capful of flourish once or twice per week and a capful of excel every other day. The plants are doing well, but I've been struggling with diatoms. I've tried scrubbing, water changes, and decreasing my light period, but they always come back. The tank's been set up for about three months with a fluval 404 for filtration. Four goldfish have been in there since it finished cycling. The diatoms started just a couple weeks ago.

From doing some research on here I know that the most common advice is just to wait it out. I was thinking of getting some sort of algae eater to help in the meantime, but I'm not sure what is going to be most compatible with goldfish and a minimalist tank. I've read otos love diatoms, but also that they prefer a heavily planted tank with lots of hiding spots. I'm thinking snails might be the best bet, but I have a serious snail phobia, especially ones that would be too large for my big oranda to eat. :eek5:

Any suggestions?


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## Da Plant Man (Apr 7, 2010)

I normally just scrub the diatoms off. Seems like its a dust that sticks to everything. While most algae eaters would love it, I can't really think of any. If I were you, I would just see if you could borrow a pleco, leave it in there for a week, and then give it back. 

-Caton


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## Lee04 (Feb 11, 2012)

I had diatoms in my own tanks. I put a nerite snail in my three gallon tank, and in a day the brown algae was gone. However, this might not be efficient for your 55 gallon.

I got rid of it in my ten gallon tank by cleaning extensively, trimming infected portions of plants, doing water changes, and by putting a lot of floater plants in to out-compete the algae for nutrients. An excess amount of nutrients (flourish, excel...) can contribute to brown algae formation, by the way. You may want to stop dosing until it clears. As far as an algae eater goes, I'd also recommend a pleco or something similar.


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## Bannik (Apr 2, 2011)

Diatoms are caused by the silicates in the water, since you have no substrate it is mostly coming from your water supply. Goldfish are waste monsters meaning you have to keep up with the water changes and introducing more silicates each time.

Do a decent size water change and use R?O or Distilled water, then plant your tank much heavier so you won't have to do as large and frequent water changes in the future


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