Question
I have a fountain on my patio that gets direct sunlight about 3 hours/day.  The tank at the bottom of the fountain holds approximately 24 gallons of water, according to my calculations.  I, probably mistakenly, put 3 small goldfish in the tank several weeks ago, and installed a power filter when the water started getting cloudy.  Now I am having a terrible algae problem, I think.  There is green slime on all the surfaces that are touched by the water, and the water in the tank looks like thin green pea soup.  I purchased a product at a local aquarium/fish store - Tetra Pound Barley & Peat Extract.  I added the product at the specified dosage about a week ago.  If anything, the water looks worse.  I haven't changed the water in the fountain since adding this treatment, only added makeup water.  I would like to keep the fish, but am beginning to think that it might be a lost cause for them.  Do you have any suggestions?

Answer
Hi Chuck:  I would do a 50% water change and add in a product called algaefix.  It should kill off your algae.  If you can also limit the amount of sun the fountain gets you will see less algae.  Algae needs light to grow which is why they suggest you use barley because it blocks out the light.  Since you have a filter you can also try a clarifier which will clump the algae together and then it will get trapped by the filter.  I would not use the barley peat extract any longer... your fountain is too small for that product to work effectively... The algaefix and the clarifier should do the trick... keep me posted... dave