General Care Discussion :: Water is green?

[caykuu]

I realize that the green and murky water problem is probably from overgrowing algae. There's algae growing all over the underwater rocks and basking dock... This problem has only just begun (very quickly) in the past few weeks. I'm not sure where it all came from. I never had this intense of an algae problem in the past 10 years that I've owned Mello.

Does anyone know how to fix this? I realize that algae is harmless to the turtle, but it doesn't look too appealing.

Ive thought about algae cleaners.. fish or shrimp or snails and whatnot. But I'm thinking that my turtle will eat them within a few seconds.

[xfallwithmexo]

Plecos are really good for algae. My turts have never tried to eat him

[regalesse]

have you changed your lighting habits or been neglecting your filters. when i have an algae problem in my fish tank, it is always a combination of poor circulation from a dirty filter and a little too much light for too long. i hope that helps.

[steve]

More frequent water changes... reducing the amount of light reaching the water too. How big is the tank?

[caykuu]

Fall: Thanks- I might try plecos. =)
When feeding the plecos, do I just drop in the food and expect him to eat it before Mello gets to it? or can the RES differentiate between her own food and the plecos food?
Say, about how long does it take for the plecos to eat its food? And also, what is the best brand/type of food to feed it?

I actually just bought a new filter a few days ago. It's working very well- about cleans the entire tank in an hour.
I probably do have too much light though Thanks for the info!
The tank is 20 gallons, because Mello is.. still around 3 and a half inches. o_o I realize that she's stayed small for her age... (I'm not sure why, but she's been fine and healthy)