I have been noticing black... splotches on my air bar. At first I thought the thing was falling apart, but I took the thing out today and it is some sort of black crud.

I tried cleaning it, but It couldn't be removed from the stone itself. I wonder if it is a bacterial thing or something. Anyone had this before?

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Could it be brown algae? It normally will come off with a toothbrush scrubbed on the air stone. If not, it may be a colony of bacteria, probably not harmful, just doing their thing. If you want to get rid of it (assuming it's living), soak the air bar in some dilute bleach and then fresh water with dechlorinator to sterilize it.

sorry bout my dumb post. it does sound like brown algae matt.

Well, I don't think it is harmful. The fish don't seem to care.

Aside from it being kind of ugly, I don't really mind it.

be careful if it starts to spread and do reaserch.

I will take a picture of it next time I do a tank cleaning/water change.

Robyn what gets rid of brown algae?

Brown algae are diatoms. They like low light levels. They rub off very easily. Plecos and ottos will eat it. If it's out of hand, a light soaking in some dilute bleach outside of the tank and then in fresh water with dechlorinator will clean ornaments and other inert things off. My algae page at http://www.fishpondinfo.com/algae.htm has some information on it.

thanks hopfully i wont get noticabl algae in my tank!

Alright, I am pretty sure the stuff is algae of some sort, because I observed my pleco eating it off of a fake plant today.

your lucky your pleco even eats algae! my bros just hids under the filter.

Mine likes to suck onto the bottom of the submersible filter too. Not sure exactly why, though I have heard they like the current, so perhaps that is it.

Mine also likes to play in the bubbles at night for some reason.

at night i notice my bros pleco and my fsae eat algae at night. they are usually scared or tired during the day.

Alright, whatever this stuff is, it is spreading like mad. I am beginning to notice the stuff on everything from fake plants to ornaments and at this point there is nearly none of the air bar that is not covered.

About the only thing thus far spared has been the gravel and the glass.

I definately want to start fighting this stuff, but I don't want to use bleach on anything that is going in my aquarium.

Also, I am pretty sure that it is indeed brown algae.

post a pic of it. try to get some algae gone type of thing. the guppies and pleco eat algae but i dont think they will eat brown algae.

According to the research I have done, they will on occasion eat brown algae (pleco) but it is not a first choice for them.

Also, I figured out why the stuff practically exploded on me. It is the liquifry. Brown algae thrives on excess nutrients in the water, which is exactly what liquifry does. It disperses food throughout the water.

As for the picture, that will probably have to wait until I do a larger water change again. Suffice to say, imagine an air bar, then put brown splotches on it.

good luck getting rid of it.

Brown algae likes lower light levels. What kind of lighting do you have in the tank, and is the water cloudy at all (which blocks light penetration through the water even though the tank looks bright enough)? Many people get brown algae on the underside of objects (fake plants and other aquarium ornaments) because those areas are shaded, but it doesn't get out of hand.

Oh, and all algae lives off of dissolved nutrients in the water (your liquifry) so if that were the only thing causing it, you'd probably notice an increase in growth of other algae as well.

On a side note, I used to feed fry the same flake food (well, the high nutrition variety not a color enhancer, even though they're pretty similar usually there's no need for color enhancer on fry hehe) as the other fish once they got to having bodies as big as their eyes (I'm sure you know what I mean). I'd just crumble it to almost a powder and they would eat it just fine, even the angelfish fry. It cuts down on the algae growth for the reasons you are seeing. The side benefit is that the fry are all set up for eating flake food when moved to a normal tank. Young fish occasionally don't survive the transition from dissolved food to flake food in a community tank with competition. I guess they don't always catch on fast enough and starve. :rolleyes:

i give my fry all types of foods.

I give my fry a good mix. The really little ones need the liquifry, and it is no huge issue. It is not like the brown algae is destroying anything.

As for the water, it is definately not cloudy. I keep a close eye on the water quality. As for the lighting, it is just the standard flourescent bulb. I turn it on at 6 or 7 in the morning and turn it off around 10 at night. So, the lighting is adequate.

As for the feeding, they get a few drops of liquifry at least once a day, and I use powdered flakes as well. Right now I actually just mixed 3 types of flake foods together in the container. Some tetramin, some OSI stuff, and some garlic stuff I got free with my brine shrimp purchase. I figure it covers all their nutrient needs.

Even so, I also have "Fry bites" which are far too big for the little ones, but the big ones are just now becoming big enough to eat them.

Lastly, they get live baby brine shrimp on a regular basis, generally about 5 days per week.

my bro gives his guppies betta food, blood worms, and crushed flakes.

I get those little obnoxious snails in my kids' tank...I just squish them on the side of the tank & the guppies go crazy for them. Talk about protein. I also feed my guppies betta food, flakes & frog food all mixed together. The frogs even eat the betta food. The kids' tank is pretty neat. with such a variety in the tank it just seemed rational to mix the foods & it's worked fabulously. ;)

community tanks are interesting :D .

Well, it looks like my pleco was kind enough to solve the problem for me. I looked at the thing today and sort of commented to myself that the stuff was really adding up to the point that it had completely covered the airstone and was now working on the plastic holder thing.

Then I went ahead with a brine shrimp feeding. At some point between turning the air bar off to do that and coming back, the pleco had strafed the entire air bar and got at least 95% of the stuff.

wow! maybe if you keep it off he will get the rest.