# brown algea problem & white fuzzy fungus



## janeth0185 (Sep 12, 2012)

i have a 10 gallon that has been having brown algea for the past 2 weeks or so .its just getting worst now.now its all over my ornaments and the walls of my tank.and also i have some white fuzzy mold stuff on the cartridge of my hob ( aquatech 5-15) filter and a bit by where the water flow comes out.also just noticed more white fuzzy mold at the edges on top of my tank..the mold is nowhere where the water is touching so i dunno how to get rid of it and why its there. i dont even know if to change the cartridge or just try to clean it ( tho i tried removing the white mold before off the cartridge and it just dosnt go away).i just had a cory catfish die about a week ago, not to mention my ammonia has not dropped to 0ppm for a LOOONG time, and my ph is very high too. sorry if its too long but i need help to get rid of all these problems in my tank.im just so worried for my fish. dont wanna lose them


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## goldie (Aug 4, 2012)

Hello Janeth,

How long has your tank been running,plus how many fish are there and what type. You say there's Ammonia showing and the PH is too high?

What are the readings of Ammonia and the PH?


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## markao (Aug 21, 2012)

Please give us more info.When was the last time you did a water change and how often do you do them.For a 10 gal I would recommend a 25-30% water change every week to ten days.I also suggest that you test your water at least every 2 days.

And most important is how many fish do you have right now.How often do you feed them.Over feeding in a small tank can lead to a lot of problems.

We are here to help and I as a small tank owner(6 gal)have learned a lot from those here on the forum.

:fish-in-bowl:


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## janeth0185 (Sep 12, 2012)

goldie said:


> Hello Janeth,
> 
> How long has your tank been running,plus how many fish are there and what type. You say there's Ammonia showing and the PH is too high?
> 
> What are the readings of Ammonia and the PH?


the ammonia read .5 on friday when i took it to the pet store.i have the strips at home til i can buy the liquid test kit, and i tested the ammonia yesterday with the strips and it seems its bettween .25 and .5 , its just so hard to really tell what these strips say and plus there not as accurate as the liquid test.and ph has been stuck on 7.8 for a long time.
and as fish go i got 1 dwarf gourami and 2 julli cory catfish.and the tanks been running since the end of may.but i started off with goldfishes which i aint know then they shouldnt had been in a 10 gallon and all the goldies i would buy kept dieing. so sometime in the end of july i stopped buying fish and left the tank empty for about 2 weeks til i ended up buying the tropical fish.but i just dont know why my ammonia dosent go to 0 ppm.the nitrites are at 0 and nitrates are below 20.but ammonia wont go away it can go to .25 and when i get a new fish it goes up.and i only feed once a day


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## coralbandit (Jul 29, 2012)

you tested but did you change any water? Change at least 2 gal(20% of 10gal) a day , until ammonia is gone.


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## janeth0185 (Sep 12, 2012)

markao said:


> Please give us more info.When was the last time you did a water change and how often do you do them.For a 10 gal I would recommend a 25-30% water change every week to ten days.I also suggest that you test your water at least every 2 days.
> 
> And most important is how many fish do you have right now.How often do you feed them.Over feeding in a small tank can lead to a lot of problems.
> 
> ...


my last water change was friday and i did about 30%.i was doing water changes i think maybe too much.i was doin every 2-3 days since i thought that would help the ammonia go down.but i guess its not workin and the lady at the store told me too many water changes isnt good.
and i have 3 fish right now.1 dwarf gourami and 2 julli cory catfish.i feed once a day,and i feed the dg a pinch and give 2 sinkin pellets to the corys ( which the gourami would eat too anyway) so i doubt theres food left around...i just dont know why ammonia wont go down, and why ph is stuck on 7.8, and i dont know why this brown algea is growing and that white fuzzy fungues on the filter too.


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## janeth0185 (Sep 12, 2012)

coralbandit said:


> you tested but did you change any water? Change at least 2 gal(20% of 10gal) a day , until ammonia is gone.


well i did the water change friday about 30%,but i dont know what to do, some ppl tell me to not do too many water changes cuz im not letting it cycle, and others tell me more water changes is good when you have ammonia.im confused.and is the ammonia the reason im getting that white fungues on the filter and on top of the tank.and that brown algea is bothering me too.im just gonna end up cleaning the algea i guess cuz no one really is telling me its bad.im so frustrated


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## coralbandit (Jul 29, 2012)

by all means clean up algea before next water change.Cut back to 1 algae wafer if you have to use them.Seems alot of people with water issues lately all use algae wafers.ALGAE! Go figure?


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## goldie (Aug 4, 2012)

Hello again Janeth.

I agree with coral bandit to do the daily water changes as he said. The test strips as you said yourself are not very reliable but the API liquid are very good.
Are you using de-chlor in the tap water before you add it to the tank,also apart from cleaning the outside of the Filter are you doing anything with the inside or leaving it to mature?
btw, Seachem Prime water conditioner claims to detoxify Ammonia,Nitrite & Nitrates,in other words though it would still show as Ammonia being present when testing but, it makes it non-toxic for the fish. 
On the last part of your post I think you said when you buy new fish the Ammonia rises? If you meant you have added a new fish while this is going on,Janeth just my opinion but I really wouldn't get any more fish while there's Ammonia in the tank but, I may have misread that snippet at the end)


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