Hi there,

I have never posted in this forum before, but I wanted to see if anyone had some advice for my neighbors. I don;t have most of the needed answers for you though, so not sure if anyone can help.

They have a 75 gallon freshwater tank (gorgeous!) with 7 tropical fish in it, and the largest is probably 4 inches, most are around 2" or smaller. The tank has been up and running for almost 8 years. They have a filter and a heater but I don't know what kinds. All of a sudden the water has turned greenish and cloudy, where you can barely see the back of the tank. There does not appear to be any algae or growths on the sides of the tank. She said that she changed 50% of the water about a week ago and then it started, and this has never happened before in the 8 years of having this tank. To my uneducated eye it looks like algae to me. She said she talked to the people at the fish store and they said to change all the water and wash all the gravel with bleach (!) to kill the algae spores. That sounded scary and cycle damaging to me, but I have never dealt with algae before, so I have no idea, and the fish store they went to has great people who are very knowledgable, although I don't know who she talked to...it could've been one of the people who works with the hamsters-meaning I don't know if it was one of their fish experts. This woman also does not speak great English, so it is possible something was misunderstood somewhere along the chain.

I was just wondering if anyone had any ideas to get rid of algae (if that is what it is), and if bleaching the gravel was ever a good idea. Stupid me, I forgot to ask if they test the wate, so I have no params. But would the params be off during an algae bloom or till appear normal? The fish looked very healthy. I wanted to go back down there and maybe bring them some helpful info, so if anyone has ideas or knows a good website with info, that would be awesome. When I go back down I can ask about testing the water, but I kind of don't want to go empty-handed. I can offer them use of my test kits if necessary, but again, I wasn't sure if the params were affected by algae.

Thanks for any advice, they have had this tank 8 years, MUCH longer than I have been fishkeeping so I don;t want to sound all know-it-all, but I was concerned about using bleach on the gravel and they're nice people so I 'd like to help.

Thank you!

Without the other stats then its hard to say whats gone wrong. It could be that theres more phosphate in the water than before which can show as an algae bloom but im not really sure. Sorry i wasnt much help. Maybe ask in the water section.

Thanks Sandy, is it ok for me to ask in the goldfish water section? I wasn't sure. :-)

Ive moved it instead of starting another thread. Tropical water problems are the same as goldfish problems so I hope people can help you more here.
Also, the water gurus wont be looking in tropical really will they

You're awesome Sandy, thank you!

With all the rain you've been having in the Seattle area, your local water company could very well be adding something into the water that isn't normally there.

I'd call the water company and ask if there have been any changes to their standard treatment. But no matter what, I wouldn't bleach the gravel.

Good point about calling the water company, I wouldn't have thought of that. We certainly haven't been short of rain, lol!

The bleach thing really worried me...I am glad you concur! Thank you.

And don't change 100% of the water either that is too stressful to the fish. I have had it before and just got it back. It can take awhile to go away. I am going to do 50% water change today and in the next couple of days but I know that won't get rid of it right away. I will have to keep on changing the water. Last time it came, stayed for awhile and then all of a sudden after a water change it never came back. It is annoying but not harmful to the fish. Just annoying that sometimes it gets bad enough that you can hardly see the fish. Just tell your friends to keep up with the water changes and patience until it goes away. That is all I have done, don't think there is anything more you can do. Don't believe the petstore if they say any chemical in a bottle with help it, because going natural is the best way and 99.999% of the time it is a waste of money because it does not work.

I agree with Bac2it, do not beach the gravel. That is overkill. The algae bloom in free floating - not in the gravel. Changing all the water is not really a bad thing to do - as long as the filter media is preserved, as well as the gravel (a good vacuming will not hurt). I think Bac2it's idea of the water being different, combined with Sandy's suggestion.

The best solution for all - kill the alage and be good for the fish - is, of course a UV unit. Barring that, cutting back on the food for a bit, cutting waaaaaay back on the light, large (75%+)water changes should do the trick.

They can even use one of the chemicals for removing algae - I do not remember the names at this moment. I am never completely comfortable with those, but I helped a friend with a tropical tank out of control once. We drained enough water into a clean tub to hold the fish, and set the filter and air pump going in the tub. Then we treated the tank, which was circulated with an old filter that I had - no media, just circulation. We let that go for 24 hours. The water cleared sparkling clear. Then we changed about 75% of the water, and put the fish back in. We discarded the water from the tub. Less light, less food, and more water changes solved my friend's problem.

I have "green water". I change 100% every few days with no problems to the fish. IT works well.



Edit: ALgaeFix I think was the name. And it really worked!

Thanks everyone, you guys are awesome! :-)