algae in water tank

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Christina

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Another newbie question...Our water tank (50 gal) was last drained in early sept. It gets topped off with 25 gal about every 3 days (a bred heifer and 3 pygmy goats drink from it). It has had green algae for a while. Should I drain it, rinse it with bleach, and refill it? I haven't felt like it as it is cold, but I don't know if I may be doing my gals an injustice by leaving it until early spring. They have never acted sick. The tank has a heater in it that kicks on when the temp is below 40, so I'm sure that contributes to the algae bloom. Thanks for letting me know whether or not this is much ado about nothing.
 
Throw a goldfish or two in there if your really worried about it. But otherwise algae won't hurt them what do you think is in the bottom of all the ponds.
 
I have a 360 gal concrete water tank, setup with a float to stay full all the time (when it's working). I put 6 small goldfish, about finger length, in it to control algae, mesquitos, and such. The fish have been in there since last summer and all have survived, and grown, without any feeding from me. The tank has froze over a couple of times too. Overall, I would say they do a pretty good job, as the tank seems to be clearer than before. I also put 3 goldfish in a stainless steel tank in another pasture, but for some reason none of them made it. One died early on, and the last 2 were found floating a couple of weeks ago.

I have also heard that you can put a small amount (don't use much) of peanut oil in the tank and it will coat the top and smother anything growing in the tank. Don't know if this works, I haven't tried it personally.
 
Thanks, I forgot to mention we had 6 goldfish in it. There are about three 5" long ones in it now (Can't see them all the time).
 
We have three concrete water troughs and two galvanized ones. We put gold fish in all of them. They do a great job on the mosquitos and algae. My grandson spends a lot of time trying to grab them and of course he always takes the opportunity to fall in and play in the hot summer.
 
I rinse out my water troughs about twice a year, and I use a little bleach in-between rinsings to help keep the algea down. Don't mix the bleach too strong; the animals don't care for strong smelling water.
 
Goldfish? Would it be o k to put some in a metal tank (galvanized) 2' x 2' x 6' long? How many? Don't suppose any harm would be done by cows swallowing them?
 
The water would have to be awfully low for a cow to be able to suck one up. But I don't see how it could hurt them, the cows not the fish. It would be pretty rough on the fish them passing through a cow and all. We used to dump crawdads in our tanks and left them for a couple of months at a time with no ill affects so I don't see what harm it would do to fish under the same conditions. The tank and water getting too warm for the fish and the chlorine in the water would be the only problems I can think of.

dun


eric":2ivyyjic said:
Goldfish? Would it be o k to put some in a metal tank (galvanized) 2' x 2' x 6' long? How many? Don't suppose any harm would be done by cows swallowing them?
 
eric":2piicpq4 said:
Goldfish? Would it be o k to put some in a metal tank (galvanized) 2' x 2' x 6' long? How many? Don't suppose any harm would be done by cows swallowing them?

we have goldfish in almost all of our troughs. don't think we've ever had any swallowed but i usually don't do headcounts or follow the cows around to study droppings to know for sure :lol:

as for the size of the trough, that should be a problem for a couple of fish. the interesting thing about goldfish is they will grow to their environment. if you only put in one or two in that size trough, they'll probably get pretty good size but if you put in about five or so, they'll stay smaller. another interesting thing about goldfish is they can freeze, thaw & still be alive.
 
We use 150 & 300 gal rubbermaid tanks. We tried putting 3-4 inch bluegill in them sincethe ponds are packed with the little buggers. I noticed over a week or so that they would gradually disappear. Early one morning I was wandreing around and saw a couple of coons perched on the sides of the tanks fishing. Gave up on the fish idea. When we movethe cows to another paddock we just drain the tank from the one they just came out of.

dun


txag":29qfnc57 said:
eric":29qfnc57 said:
Goldfish? Would it be o k to put some in a metal tank (galvanized) 2' x 2' x 6' long? How many? Don't suppose any harm would be done by cows swallowing them?

we have goldfish in almost all of our troughs. don't think we've ever had any swallowed but i usually don't do headcounts or follow the cows around to study droppings to know for sure :lol:

as for the size of the trough, that should be a problem for a couple of fish. the interesting thing about goldfish is they will grow to their environment. if you only put in one or two in that size trough, they'll probably get pretty good size but if you put in about five or so, they'll stay smaller. another interesting thing about goldfish is they can freeze, thaw & still be alive.
 
dun":2olv2n6i said:
We use 150 & 300 gal rubbermaid tanks. We tried putting 3-4 inch bluegill in them sincethe ponds are packed with the little buggers. I noticed over a week or so that they would gradually disappear. Early one morning I was wandreing around and saw a couple of coons perched on the sides of the tanks fishing. Gave up on the fish idea. When we movethe cows to another paddock we just drain the tank from the one they just came out of.

dun

yes, i've heard of that happening, too.
 
Dun I have had the same problem. I also started putting a log in my tanks. This is for the squirles that drink out of them. I had a few drown in them. I also saved the life of one of my barn cats that was caught. I think if he had five more minutes he would not have made it.
 
One thing that will keep algae out of a water tank is to put some copper sulfate crystals in the tank ever so often. Don't know if I'd use it with goats or sheep since they have a toxicity with copper.
 

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