I have brown and green algae growing on my anubias, how can i get it off? I bought another one today, bleached it and put it in the tank, its looks so much better than the one leafed 1 I had before and still do, the algae is starting to kill it, how can i get rid of it??

What type of light do you have?

Also how big is your oto? he can deal with that problem

really low, 40 watts on 125 gallons, plants have done ok except they grow slow and algae grows on them, if I put my oto in that tank the goldies would eat him! lol

i would also suggest placing your algea eater in there for a short time..a member did that and the CAE did a great job for them

Try out the oto. I'll bet he's fast enough to evade the goldies, but keep an eye on him.

but the filters will suck him in!! He's so tiny! And he loves sucking on the intakes, and my chinese algae eater is big enough to eat the plants and he's becoming pretty aggressive, Im afraid he might hurt the goldfish...any other solutions, any ither algae eater i can try? Oh, what if I take the plants out of the tank and let my oto clean off the algae then put it back in..will that work? Would he try and eat the plant though ?

I don't know anything about otos, but we have a golden Chinese algae eater that is fine with the fish. We cycle him around the tanks so he doesn't get hungry.

They are river fish, so they don't mind current. Ours sucks on the filter intake all the time and is never damaged. My guess is that otos are similar, and would be fine.

It's rather tedious I know, but I always found a soft toothbrush worked well on Anubias when I had live plants

I have the same problem. I didn't realize how bad the algae in my tropical tank was until my brother in law moved his tank in and put it next to mine...what a difference! His looks so clean and pretty. I have the really long stringy green algae. I've picked it off before but it's hard.

Right now I have cories, guppies and tetras in the tank. Would an oto or chinese algae eater be able to go in there too??

Wow! That is a low wattage lighting.
If you are really bugged with removing algae from anubias (my goldies just tear them up) then you should consider upgrading your lighting. For my 39 gallon tank with java ferns & 3 goldies, I have 130 watts going from 6 pm-10pm each day. Our 125 gallon has 4 96 watts for a total of 384 watts. If you are starving your plants then you will get an algae outbreak that is difficult to keep under control. Have you considered increasing your lighting as well as the addition of CO2? There is a great artcle in July Aquarium Life Magazine on the topic of lighting.
Sorry if I got carried away with the lighting talk but I used to spend entirely too much time cleaning algae off my plants until I "brightened" up my tank.

I am using a toothbrush to clean algae from my Anubias too.

Sounds like a small group of Otocinclus woud be fine with that combination - I would say Otos over CAE's as they stay small, are hard working, fun to watch and don't have the potential foir aggression the CAE's have (which grow much larger generally too)

Usual stuff though Chrissy - check back to the root of the problem - look at your NitrAtes, Phosphates, feeding regime, maintenance/water changing routine and lighting too

The important thing to keep in mind with Anubias Species is that they are generally slow growing plants so they will always be prone to algae growth. The positioning of anubias in the aquarium is also important in reducing algae growth

For sure. After reading this thread I'm thinking my lighting is too weak. I can't remember the wattage, but it's not that bright. They also get some sunlight. I think I'll go out and buy a special plant bulb. I always just figured a lot of light would encourage algae

CO2 really helps. I still have some algae problems on my plants, as I often forget to add the co2. But when I do add it right for a while, the algea on the leaves is reduced

Great tips everyone! I'm definatly going to try the lighting and C02, my tank looks so bad right now, hopefully that will help.

ok i'll try the toothbrush, defianently not adding C02 i dont trust myself with that lol, i'll beg my parents for some money for stronger lighting

ok so i tried the toothbrush, took quite a bit of scrubbing but i got the algae off. Plant looks terribly pale compared to the other one and I noticed the stem is starting to turn brown, looks like those fish have finally managed to kill it by ripping off the last roots...I dont think its gonna make it but we'll see. I moved the new plant directly under the light strip to get it more light.