What is all this and how can i get rid of it??

[icefire]

i have this blanket like algae thick algae in the sand and lots more every where. and all my snails are sitting all shriveled up and dont move and some are dead.. What can i do any help would be much appriciated!!!!

 

[MartinE]

I could be wrong but it looks like more than one type of algae green hair and slime, red and diatoms. I would look a water perams how much phospate and nitrate and nitrite do you have? also if you are using the biowheels in your filters I would take them off and take out the dead snails. syphon as much of the algae out as possible.

 

[Mihai]

If your snails die there can be a few explanations:
- you didn't acclimate them as they should (they are very sensitive to changes in salinity and temperature)
- your water parameters are really off. What's your salinity, temperature, pH?

- regarding your algae, the snails may not eat them - you have too many nutrients in the water - do water changes and syphon them out, and stop the source of nutrients (uncured LR, food or dirty water).

M.

 

[bhanson]

Make sure those bio whhels are not in your filters!!!!

 

[icefire]

u mean after i get the new protien skimmer to not have them in there!! right

by the way i did clean every thing out of there and it is looking better but i still need to get the new skimmer!!

 

[Mihai]

Icefire,

do your homework before you buy a skimmer - not all skimmers are created equal and some work better than others. You need a good one if you want to clean up your mess.

m.

 

[mike90]

have you done any water changes lately?

 

[bhanson]

You can use the bio wheel filters themselves, but leave the wheels out regardless of whether or not your skimmer is running. The actual wheels can lead to nitrate build-up.