Brown Spots in aquarium!

[duanea]

Hi Ive just noticed brown spots on the stones, shells and glass of my tank! they seem to have appeared out of nowhere didnt notice them yesterday and today they're all over the place! Is it brown algae? I just did a water change yesterday. What to do??!!

[Emg]

could be diatoms...nothing to worry about. Is this a new tank ? Diatoms usually show up in new tanks for a bit and then fade away. if that's what it is, you just need to wait it out. Wipe the glass down and stuff it shows up on and do your regular maintenance, it should clear up after a while.

[joephys]

That is almost always the case, quite common in new setups. Just give it a few weeks and see if they go away. If not, there could be something else feeding them.

[duanea]

Yeah it is a new tank, up and running for about 4 weeks now! ill give it a wipe down then! thanks!!

[duanea]

Originally Posted by Emg

could be diatoms...nothing to worry about. Is this a new tank ? Diatoms usually show up in new tanks for a bit and then fade away. if that's what it is, you just need to wait it out. Wipe the glass down and stuff it shows up on and do your regular maintenance, it should clear up after a while.

Just went onto your blog - your pictures of your tanks are amazing! I love the clownfish!

[hard_hooker]

Having the same thing happening. Top of coral and plants becoming blotched with brown spots. Nothing on the tank itself...just the ornaments in the tank. is there anything I need to do? Looks pretty ugly.

[wesleydnunder]

Originally Posted by hard_hooker

Having the same thing happening. Top of coral and plants becoming blotched with brown spots. Nothing on the tank itself...just the ornaments in the tank. is there anything I need to do? Looks pretty ugly.

Like Emg stated, just wipe off the surfaces and eventually they should go away. Diatoms feed on silicates which are usually released by substrate and/or decorations the first time they get immersed. Unless your tapwater or well water contains silicates, the diatoms should die out when they've consumed all the available food, which was what joephys was referring to.

Mark

[hard_hooker]

I'm scared to wipe anything off in the tank fearing I will interrupt the cycle process. Will it do any harm leaving the diatoms as is? Will it get worse and make the fish sick?

[reiverix]

They are not harmful and will go away on their own when the tank is more stable. Otocinclus are known to eat diatoms but I personally wouldn't add any to an uncycled tank.

At worst they are unsightly and may smother live plants.

[duanea]

My brown spots are stilll there! there's actually more now and they dont really wipe off coz the surface of my coral and sea urchin shell is so rough that the brown spots sort of get stuck in grooves!

I think what you said about tap water might be the problem for me, my tap water tastes horrible and Ive worried about using it in my tank before. However I was told not to use bottled water because it lacks the minerals that are in tap water which are good for the fish?

Is there any treatment you can buy which gets rid of diatoms?

[joephys]

There hasn't been enough time to let things settle yet. It can take a couple months for them to clear up.

Saying your tap water tests are horrible is really subjective. If I were trying to keep African cichlids I would say my tap water is horrible, but a discuss breeder would argue that I have great water. Do you have any numbers from your tests?

[duanea]

I now have green and brown spots on the glass, stones and shells! I have started using tap water from a friends house to do water changes now instead of mine because the brown spots seemed to get worse every time I did a water change so I thought the water might hav been replenishing the supply of silicates like wesleydnunder suggested. But the tank still looks filthy with all the green and brown spots!