Brown Algae On Glass

[bothfly]

So I have a 29 Gallon Bio Cube, water checks perfect.
I was out of town for a week exactly and a friend was feeding the fish every other day.
I got home and the glass was covered with brown algae. Now I had noticed it growing on a daily basis when I was home and I would have scrape and clean the glass every few days.
I have the normal clearer crew, although it looks like some of my snails have died since I've been gone.
Anyway, is this much algae build up normal??
Thanks

 

[jman9331]

how old is the tank?

 

[bothfly]

Set it up early January.

 

[jman9331]

could just be a diatoms bloom. Mine was like that as well and I panicked and was assured that the CUC would take care of it and they did. I too had just set my tank up in Jan and its almost gone. as far as the snails dying I'm not sure why they died if they did. Just do a water change and it should clear up on its own. do you have pics of it by any chance?

 

[bothfly]

I cleaned the algae off the glass a little while ago

 

[jman9331]

is it only growing on the glass?

 

[bothfly]

Yes only on the 3 walls of the glass

 

[bothfly]

So noticed 3 fish have died, 2 FireFish and 1 Wrasse as well as ALL my snails, had Nassarius Snails and Trochus Snails, they are died and the hermits are using some of the Nassarius [FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]snail shells. Everything else is doing fine, 2 clowns,several corals, starfish, sea urchin, conch, sea cucumber, fire shrimp, cleaner shrimp all alive.
Just rechecked the water and it was fine, so any idea why the big algae on the glass, and the loss of 3 fish and all the snails.
Here is what the tank looks like, didn't take a pic of the algae on the glass
[/FONT]

 

[jman9331]

all of your test came back normal?

 

[bothfly]

My Nitrates were high, not crazy high but higher than zero when I tested it last week. Had to because of the fish and snail deaths

 

[jman9331]

what about nitrites?

 

[bothfly]

everything was good ammonia was a tad high as well.

 

[jman9331]

that's weird sorry for your loss! sucky part about going out of town sometimes.

 

[bothfly]

I know, I mean why only 2 Firefish and all the snails. The Hermit crabs could have attacked the snails, why the fish died is another mystery as well when the clowns lived.

 

[fishroomlady]

ammonia probably killed the fish unfortunately. perhaps something got sick and died and caused the ammonia to spike. The tank being relatively new - the filter wasn't able to take up the ammonia. that is my guess. I usually have to clean my glass at least every other day so a build up after a week would be normal especially since it's a young tank - could be diatoms as well that will eventually go away on its own. hermits can kill snails.

 

[bothfly]

ammonia probably killed the fish unfortunately. perhaps something got sick and died and caused the ammonia to spike. The tank being relatively new - the filter wasn't able to take up the ammonia. that is my guess. I usually have to clean my glass at least every other day so a build up after a week would be normal especially since it's a young tank - could be diatoms as well that will eventually go away on its own. hermits can kill snails.

That could be, but I had a full spectrum water test the day I left for vacation last thursday and the water checked out great.
But something liked a few fish, while the Clowns lived and then I guess it was attack of the hermit crabs and the snails were eaten and now they, the hermits are enjoying new shells.

 

[fishroomlady]

clowns are very hardy fish