# What is growing on these shells?



## SidewalkStalker (Oct 26, 2005)

Hey guys... this question comes from my shell dwelling cichlid tank... A little background... I recently had a green algae problem but tweaked the light / plants enough to get rid of it...

Since then some brown algae started growing on the glass / shells... I read this is to be expected as it can grow with relatively low light levels... I may have a tendency to overfeed "just to be safe", and this probably contributes to the brown algae...

my question concerns what is growing on the outside of the shells... it looks like brown worms of some sort... that is, whatever it is doesn't look like algae but more like thin strips of a plant or something... I've got java moss in the tank but the strands aren't attaching to the shells since they're anchored to rocks so i don't think that's it...

does anybody have any experience with anything like this?

i'm including pictures to try and help ID this stuff...


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## SNAKEBITE (Oct 7, 2006)

i never had any experienced with this,kind of weird looking...im thinking diatoms. Some might say(including myself) it because its the lack of light but i also believe its an excess of silicates. You can try to remove as much as possible by hand. You said you were overfeeding your fish maybe thats the cause excess food leads to high levels of nitrate which serves the algae. Check your water params i think your nitrate and phosphate are high. Since you have a cichlid tank you could put some Labeotropheus and Tropheus species along with a Bristlenose pleco they'll do the job for you goodluck


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## platinum1683 (Nov 17, 2006)

yeah put a cleanup crew of fish in there and do some water changes. That might help some.


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## assclown (Dec 12, 2005)

an autosinkless (spelling) will do wonders in that tank over night


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