My water Has Gone Green

[mercurius]

I went away over Christmas and forgot to cover my tank and I have come home and my water has gone very green and slimy.
Is there anything I can do appart from a total water change.
I went to the aquarium shop and they said I could use a chemical, but the bottle said don't use with fish you want to eat.

[Daryl]

cover the tank back and the alge will start to die, if you can increase the pumping to turn the water over more often this will speed things.with all that alge (living and dieing)is going to put a big load on your O2 levels so if you can also increase air supply. depending on what sort of fish you have they may also be eating the alge so I would cut back on the feed until you can see what is going on in the tank.

[RupertofOZ]

Sound advice... and test regularly... the algae will be swinging your pH until it's brought under control...

Any feeding, or ammonia production... could be a real worry.. depending on water temp and pH... combined with DO fluctuations... potentially disasterous....

Stop feeding...

[mercurius]

Hi Guys.
Thanks for the info, I've increased the circulation as high as I can and tested the water.

Is a Ph of 7.6 and Nitrate of 5-10 too high

[Murray]

Those readings should settle down after a few days. As advised by others, plenty of water movement, no direct light and no food for a few days.

[mercurius]

Thanks Heaps guys