Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Questions regarding algae. I tried to read some of the past posting regarding algae but my browsing keeps on getting stuck.

Is algae always green? or can it be light brown as well. Mine seems to be brown except on white rocks where it's green.

Is algae harmful to my turtle? it's not developing on him, just on the rocks and faux plants, as well as in the corners of the tank.

Algae eaters aka pleco. Will my turtle try to eat them if I got one? I don't want to get them if he's going to eat them and I don't trust that they are safe.

Someone posted that they use vinegar when they clean out their tank (rinsing well). Is this truly effective? I've just been using extremely hot water hoping to kill off anything and rotating the rocks I put in the tank (saves time).

Thanks in advance I'll get this all figured out eventually.

Yes there is green and brown algae, seems like green algae grows in a higher intensity lighting situation, while brown algae grows under dimmer conditions.(I don't remember much from highschool biology) You could try a pleco, or golden snails, but my guess is your turtle will make a meal out of them, like mine did to my golden snails.(As soon as I dropped my snails in, every single one was tipped over and eaten). Also it always wise to feed plecos a diet besides algae on the side of your tank. To answer your question is algae harmful to turtles.....no, infact algae growth is a sign of a healthy environment. To clean algae off the sides of your tank just use a tooth brush, and for your rocks you can scrub them all, or just buy new gravel.

Thanks!!! I had time last night so I did a complete water and rock change. I needed to do it anyway. The dimmer and brighter concept does make sense when I think about where the algae was growing. There was more green algae then I thought but definately a lot of brown. Its all gone now, but I will use an old toothbrush to get the sides of the tank and I rotate the rocks in the tank (I originally got too many and only use a 1/3 of what I originally bought at any given time). I thought I had plenty of bright light so I will have to look into that, maybe get a better UVB lamp than ESU Slimline (or whatever it was called) and I'm planning on upgrading to a better spotlight when I upgrade my tank after Xmas.

If algae growth is a sign of a good environment, this Mike aka "Mr Turtle Man" must be doing pretty well.

>>Yes there is green and brown algae, seems like green algae grows in a higher intensity lighting situation, while brown algae grows under dimmer conditions.(I don't remember much from highschool biology) You could try a pleco, or golden snails, but my guess is your turtle will make a meal out of them, like mine did to my golden snails.(As soon as I dropped my snails in, every single one was tipped over and eaten). Also it always wise to feed plecos a diet besides algae on the side of your tank. To answer your question is algae harmful to turtles.....no, infact algae growth is a sign of a healthy environment. To clean algae off the sides of your tank just use a tooth brush, and for your rocks you can scrub them all, or just buy new gravel.