I have a betta fish in a 5 gallon aquarium with 2 silk plants. There is also a small snail about the size of a dime that showed up from somewhere. A couple weeks ago I noticed a green slimy substance smudging the glass (or plastic). I looked closer today and saw that this stuff was all over much of the gravel and plants. In some places it appears to form thin tendrils. Can someone tell me what this might be, how it might affect the fish, and how I can get rid of it? Is the snail at fault somehow? Thanks for any help.

sounds like some algae to me, which becomes an aquarium keepers greatest enemy. You can wipe down the sides of the glass and use a syphon to clean off the gravel. you can also use some algae destroyer. from my experience, its the best algae remover. it even cleared up my pea soup green turtle pond in 3 doses. you put it in for 3 days straight, then add a dose once a week.

hopefully it will work on my pond this year. right now the water is bright green, looks like a melted lime popsicle

you can go a little more natural and add a filter if you dont already have one, which would be a good idea even for a betta. with a filter you could add one, maybe two, otto cats. they are a great little algae eater. snail shouldnt have had anything to do with it. did you ever have any live plants in that tank? an algae destroyer would be a one time solution and you would most likely have to continue to fight the algae. an algae eater would be a permanent (usually) fix to the problem. a lot of people oppose any use of chemicals anyways, so natural is better in my opinion usually.

I agre w/reptileguy. I have 4 tanks here & I have a pleco in the adult paradise fish tank (the water looks likle crystal), 3 Chinese algae eaters in the fry nursery tank (it's go java moss so stays a bit green but not bad at all), & two 2-gallon in my kids' rooms w/a ramshorn snail in each. The kids' tanks just have an airstone & the nursery tank has a Whisper medium filter (10-gallon). The adult paradise has a built-in filter (7-gallon hex). All the fish seem happy excpet the Chines algae eaters are fighting alot so I think maybe they're fighting over the food in the baby tank.

The snail you have is probably a pond snail brought in from an old live plant or some decor or gravel that may heve been in another tank. If this is the case it'll multiply w/time. If you're willing to deal with that it's a good thing.

As far as the algae though I'd go w/reptileguy's advice & start w/the natural fix. It's cheaper & less harmful to the fish in the long run. Also a certain amoutn of algae won't hurt but you don;t want your tank overrun with it. It's been good for my baby paradise fish. They eat the little microbes growing in it. & it gives them some green stuff to munch on.

Also if you have a light on in your tank 24/7 that helps spur algae growth. I turn my lights off duringthe day & turn them on only at night. If the tank is close to a window that can also spur algae growth. Any amount of intense light will cause it to photosynthesize & go nuts.

If the algae is slimy as you say, it may be blue-green algae which is a cyanobacteria. It can be killed with Maracyn I which is erythromycin. If the algae is more hairy (you say it has tendrils), it may be hair algae which can be physically removed. If the snail had algae or algae spores on it, it could have brought some algae species with it. Usually, algae introduction comes from either live plants or spores/baby algae in your water or in the air.

My page on aquarium algae - http://www.fishpondinfo.com/algae.htm

Awesome. Thanks everyone for the help w/ my newbie problem. I'll be back if I can't straighten it out.