Dead fish algea

Question
We have algea like crazy... we can't get rid of it.  We recently changed the water (about 50%) and then a week later it was dark green again.  We changed it then and then a few days ago now.  We even changed all the filter parts.  Our catfish, and now 2 parrot fish have died.  What do we do now??? HELP!!!
Donna

Answer
Hi Donna.

My first question would be how often do you have your aquarium light on a day? And is your tank positioned near a window where it will get alot of light? Light and too much of it causes algae to grow in a tank, so the obvious thing to do would be to limit the amount of light your tank receives, if its near a window, move it, and only turn your aquarium light on for a maximum of 6 hrs a day. Because you have changed ALL your filter parts in one go you have disturbed and possibly destroyed the good bacteria living in them, so you need to give it a few days to build the bacteria levels back up. Once this is done, if the algae is still a problem I would suggest doing up to a 50% water change for a few continuous days to see if that knocks the algae on its head.

Algae isn't dangerous etc it is merely a living matter. Try adding some algae eaters to your tank, this will keep your future algae levels in check. Live plants also help keep algae under control as they eat up all the live nutrients algae needs to survive. Remember to algae scrub your glass at every water change and remember frequent water changes keep nitrate levels low and low levels of these means less algae food.

Hope this helps!

Cheers! Rach