BN Pleco or Nerite Snails - Diatoms

[Bizarro252]

Hello!
I have diatoms, pretty bad. I have juvis right now and am doing daily 60% water changes but my water must have silicates since there is no substrate in the tank - uhg.

I clean them off when it starts to build up but its just annoying and I would like to get something in there that would happily munch away at it.

I have heard Nerites will eat it and can deal with the temp I am at (86F) but I am concerned about parasites, etc since I dont know the source. My BN pleco however had babies and I have them in a separate tank (with fry from my angelfish), they should be clean! However I am concerned about the temp as well as them snacking on my discus's slime coat...

Just looking for some opinions from those with experience with anything specifically to target diatom's. I would treat the water but would just be paranoid about the aluminum (I have Seachem Phosgaurd but not to sure I want to try it on young discus, despite them saying its safe) plus it would just need to be replaced so often with all the WCs and the issue being in the source water.

Sigh... Thoughts? :D

[brewmaster15]

Modify your light cycle or lights . That can solve the problem.

My next choice would be use the plecos. I dont trust snails in a discus tank. You can drop your temp 83-84f if its an issue for the plecos.

[Ryan925]

Otos love diatoms and seemingly work day and night. Only issue is qt. By the time you go through qt your diatom out break should pass. New tank syndrome eventually clears on its own

[jmf3460]

I love nerite snails and plecos...but nerites leave tons of egg cysts (eggs that never hatch) all over your glass/wood/décor and its an eye sore for some. Another option is amano shrimp if you can find some really big ones.

[Ryan925]

I love nerite snails and plecos...but nerites leave tons of egg cysts (eggs that never hatch) all over your glass/wood/décor and its an eye sore for some. Another option is amano shrimp if you can find some really big ones.

I am a fan of nerites as well. I have tigers and zebras in my discus and planted tanks. They do leave a ton of eggs on the wood. I also very much like plecos but got tired of seeing the pleco spaghetti all over the sand bed every morning

[brewmaster15]

Otos love diatoms and seemingly work day and night. Only issue is qt. By the time you go through qt your diatom out break should pass. New tank syndrome eventually clears on its own

Ryan, unfortunately otos love discus slime too!

[Bizarro252]

LOL "Pleco Spagetti" ya.. they sure know how to poop dont they!

Those of you that have plecos, do they actually eat the Diatoms? I would think even if they didnt just them moving along the glass would knock them off, and would be nice that they would pick up plenty of food off the bottom when I feed before I come along to clean up anything extra.
Is there actually an issue with them trying to attach to the discus? I cant imagine my discus just letting that happen without flipping out lol.

I like the idea of the pleco because I have my own that bred it my tanks and while they still could have some bacteria the discus are not used to but way better than relying on stock from a store! :)

Al,
Regarding the temp, I have them in basically all my other tanks from a 75F Mbuna tank to a 81F beta tank, sounds like you think he might be OK in 86 (assuming I temp acclimate the poor guy lol) The largest I have right now are about an inch, so it will be a while before I have one large enough to test this out, unless I stole one from another tank but think I would rather go with these that have a higher chance of being clean.

Jacklyn,
Can inverts carry disease that can transfer to Discus? Would they be OK with a pretty barren (in terms of deco) bare bottom tank or do they need places to hide? Never had shrimp :)

Ryan,
Are diatoms considered a new tank syndrome thing? I guess my other tanks dont have much, if any that have been running longer but they also have cleanup crews... I figured it was most likley because I have silcates in the water, and have a pretty long photo period so I can get 3-4 feedings in each day, wanna fatten these guys up!

Thanks everyone for the input!

[Ryan925]

LOL "Pleco Spagetti" ya.. they sure know how to poop dont they!

Those of you that have plecos, do they actually eat the Diatoms? I would think even if they didnt just them moving along the glass would knock them off, and would be nice that they would pick up plenty of food off the bottom when I feed before I come along to clean up anything extra.
Is there actually an issue with them trying to attach to the discus? I cant imagine my discus just letting that happen without flipping out lol.

I like the idea of the pleco because I have my own that bred it my tanks and while they still could have some bacteria the discus are not used to but way better than relying on stock from a store! :)

Al,
Regarding the temp, I have them in basically all my other tanks from a 75F Mbuna tank to a 81F beta tank, sounds like you think he might be OK in 86 (assuming I temp acclimate the poor guy lol) The largest I have right now are about an inch, so it will be a while before I have one large enough to test this out, unless I stole one from another tank but think I would rather go with these that have a higher chance of being clean.

Jacklyn,
Can inverts carry disease that can transfer to Discus? Would they be OK with a pretty barren (in terms of deco) bare bottom tank or do they need places to hide? Never had shrimp :)

Ryan,
Are diatoms considered a new tank syndrome thing? I guess my other tanks dont have much, if any that have been running longer but they also have cleanup crews... I figured it was most likley because I have silcates in the water, and have a pretty long photo period so I can get 3-4 feedings in each day, wanna fatten these guys up!

Thanks everyone for the input!

Diatoms are common in new tanks wth also can be from your lighting. My discus have no problem feeding under my moonlight in early am

[Ryan925]

Ryan, unfortunately otos love discus slime too!

I never had any issues except for one that did go rogue but I definitely can see how it could happen

[jmf3460]

ive had ottos with discus for years (none currently) and never any problems.

[Clawhammer]

I had no diatoms until spring time and the sun started coming out. Even indirect sunlight in a bright room can result in diatoms.

[Bizarro252]

ive had ottos with discus for years (none currently) and never any problems.

Thanks :) any first hand experience with BN plecos?

[jmf3460]

the debate / argument on whether plecos are safe for discus is ongoing. Many people keep them and never have problems, others have issues. Personally I have had ancistrus plecos (bristlenose) in my tank with my discus for ever and ever amen. I also have a clown pleco in there and never have had issues. I think the key is to keep them fed. Plecos like to hunt food at night, so I usually throw a couple pellets in when the lights go out, that keeps them occupied.

I think most all ancistrus/baryancistrus/hemiancistrus plecos (this is a genus of plecos) are great. the key is to find one that is awesome. I have a male super red longfinned ancistrus from wetspot and I love him. I also have a male albino and female albino that I love. my clown doesn't do much for cleaning the glass, he prefers the wood.

[Ryan925]

the debate / argument on whether plecos are safe for discus is ongoing. Many people keep them and never have problems, others have issues. Personally I have had ancistrus plecos (bristlenose) in my tank with my discus for ever and ever amen. I also have a clown pleco in there and never have had issues. I think the key is to keep them fed. Plecos like to hunt food at night, so I usually throw a couple pellets in when the lights go out, that keeps them occupied.

I think most all ancistrus/baryancistrus/hemiancistrus plecos (this is a genus of plecos) are great. the key is to find one that is awesome. I have a male super red longfinned ancistrus from wetspot and I love him. I also have a male albino and female albino that I love. my clown doesn't do much for cleaning the glass, he prefers the wood.

I used to have a super red male in a tank years ago that I loved. He was super aggressive though. He killed the clown I put in with him

[brewmaster15]

A friend of mine ,Steve Colley, had a really cool thread here where he had an amazing automated tank planted tank(kahuna's revenge). His ottos harassed the heck out of his discus to the point they needed to be removed. I think it comes down to once they acquire a taste ...its all over. Same can be said for plecos....even ancistrus, though bristlenose are far less likely to feed on discus slime than other plecos.

[Bizarro252]

Thank you all, good to hear, I guess final question would be what signs to look for to see if the pleco was harassing my Discus at night, do they get sores on their sides? Mostly wondering if it is something I would notice and could remove the pleco before any real damage is done, I am assuming that a pleco is not really capable of killing a discus, assuming I was paying attention :)

My baby plecos are about an inch right now, I bet the would end up as food at the moment but very excited to get one in there as I moved a plant out of the discus tank into the fry tank and they cleaned it spotless overnight!

I have an adult male and female (duh, the parents) in my community, as well as two females in my Mbuna tank but I think I would feel better about starting with one I bred knowing it at least SHOULD be cleaner, and most likely free of parasites.

[ssevasta]

I kept L134 Leopard Frog plecos that I bought from Apistomaster with a group of six discus for two years without any issues until hurricane Sandy came thru and knocked out my power for 12 days. I lost my whole stock. It was tragic and I took a several year break from the hobby afterwards.