blue/green

Question
Hi i read the response u sent me in regards to cut back the feeding and use the cycle.  i feed the fish every other day to every third day and only what they can eat in about 2 min.. i honestly dont think the feeding is a issue  the cichlids dont get live fish they r on hikari pellets.  if u still think this is over feeding then please let me know. these tanks both have been set up for over 5yrs.  so i would think they both r "cycled" they have large (overkill really) fluval canistar filters on them both.  I would think the bacteria bed should b well colonized on the media. the ich i mentioned came in on a added fish.  it hasnt spread to any that have been in the aquarium. ive already used quick cure for 2 days on that however i did like ur suggestion on using stress coat on directly.  i never heard of that. back to the issue of concern.  the blue green.. if its not a over feeding problem what else would contribute to this.  as i said.. over feeding just isnt likely.  im a firm believer in underfeeding fish.  

Answer
Dear Matt,
The last fish I took care of was a series of beta fighting fish where I worked. Before that I had a dear old plecto who had thrived for eight years. When he died, I sold the tank, the water, and the remaining fish. I was "done" with the hobby.  Then I went to work about two days later and my boss said, "Surprise! We have a fish!" Of course, she had no idea what was involved, so I became the fish mom. The first one lived a good long life, the second one died of over feeding, the third one is still going strong.
I learned a lot from keeping a fish in a one gallon bowl with no filtration.
Please, I beg you, do not let them eat for two minutes.  Each fish will be healthy for life if it gets several flakes or pellets for ever square inch of size. If you think of it, you fill your stomach several times a day, but you would get fat if you filled it say 10x its size every day. My betta was about 1-1/2" x 1/2" so his diet was four pellets per day. We all learned this together. Overfeeding killed fish #2 and almost killed fish #3 (that's when I learned how to cure ick with Stress Coat). Since then I moved to Arizona, but taught one of the otheremployees to take over cleaning the tank.
You practically cannot underfeed a fish. You know, if you get one good meal a day, you will last a long time. So, a small fish like a betta, four pellets is good size meal.
You will know if you're cutting back too much if they start to attack each other. I doubt that will happen. If they are happy fish now, they will be even happier with cleaner water and less algae.
Reducing the light was also a good idea. If you have enough natural light (no direct sunlight), then you don't need the hood light. The shop where I worked in L.A., our fish he got plenty of daylight from large east facing windows.
You only need artifical light if the room is generally dark.
I wish you the best & invite you to discuss further.
Nori