Reptile & Amphibian Forums

well i have a algea problem...i went to petco and bought somethign called "no more algae"...on the back it says "do not use in tanks with live plants, snails or other invertebrates."...does this mean its okay to use or not okay to use while my turtles are in the tank?

Well your turtle of course is a verebrate and not an invertebrate or plant or algae so he should be fine. Your 'in' verebrates are animals with no backbone so to speak, like jelly fish. I would try by using as little of the product as possible and be very observant to be sure it's not a bother. Why not try natural algae reducers like algae eating fish, of course you would want cheap ones as RES will dine on any fish slower than them, or try various snails. Just a thought. Mike B.
Mother Gecko - Reptiles

I don't think very many people will advocate the use of chemical algae reducers in your tank. The algae is not harmful to the turtles and killing it with chemicals adds to the waste load in your tank. I hate the algae, too, so I understand why you want to get rid of it. Try turning your lights off for a couple of hours in the afternoon. A pleco or a snail would also be helpful, even guppies will eat the algae. If it is on the rocks and "furniture" in the tank just take them out and scrub it off. I would try a lot of things before using the chemicals.

Dont use that, I went to Walmart got the same thing and before I used it my regular pet store guy told me dont use it. He gave me a teaspoon of algea fix which is not toxic and a pelco. Told me to use this once and then after that the pelco will take care of everything. He was right. If there is algea in my tank it is not enough to spread because the pelco takes care of it. You will have to get a pelco that is bigger than your turt though because if it is too small it will eat it. My pelco even eats the algea off my Oregano...lol...when Oregano lets him. Good Luck and God Bless.
Deejay

I hope this post is well received. The algae eating fish that you refer to is a plecostomus, or a pleco. Not a pelco.

n/p

A pleco is as likely to make your problems worse as it is to help it.
They grow fast, don't eat alage exclusiely, and produce an enormous amount of waste.
Your problem is likely that you water is not clean enough. The waste is providing food for the alage.
You can clean it more often; this will help.
It may also be that the algae is geting food from phosphates in the water (not your fault, blame your water supplier) and that your water in not high in nitrogen compounds.
In either case a a large fish is only going to add to the bio load. A 2 inch pleco can grow in to a 18 inch moster in a year and a half easily.
I'd start by scraping algae from surfaces and then doubling the frequency of water changes.

dang it i wish i woulda read this first lol..i was searching all over the web for this pelco...jeez, i had no clue what it was, the dictionaries didn't have it either haha u pelco spellin ass! made me waste like 10 minutes searching the web...hehe anyway, thanks for spellin it right

True --

But I think Pelco would be a cool name for that pleco.