brown stuff...

[Jube]

ok, my betta Jube is in a 5 gallon tank with a power head filter and a bubble wall. a few weeks ago i noticed his plants and basically everything else, including gravel, was covered in a brown layer of... stuff. so i changed his filter, i changed 1/2 of his tank, and i cleaned everything including 90% of his gravel. i put everything else back in. yesterday i noticed that one plant was starting to get the brown stuff back, and i also noticed a small spot of the brown stuff on the wall of his tank.. then today i noticed a large spot on the front wall of his tank... what could this be? how can i get rid of it?

[nene]

Some call it brown algae but it is actually diatoms. According to my research it is common in newly set up tanks and usually disapates as the tank establishes itself. As far as I know it is only unsightly and not harmful to the fish. Otto cats or Otocinclus will eat it. I finally got 3 for my 29 gallon tank. They are cute and they do the job. It took about 4 weeks but now they keep the tank clean of the brown stuff. I also have the problem in a 2 1/2 gallon betta tank and I just clean it off the glass etc. because there is not room for more than one otto cat and they don't like to be solitary.