My forty gallon tank became infested with this algae in March of 2001. By the following week, it was completely dead. I get occasional spots in my 40 and 50 gallon tanks but as long as I remove the little spots, it does not seem to spread. I do not know anything about the last three animals nor have I ever seen them. They coat ornaments, real and fake plants, glass, and gravel with a thin, dark brown layer.
Brown algae prefer low light levels.
They commonly grow in new tanks or those with low levels of light. Increasing the intensity or quantity of lights may decrease the growth of brown algae but in turn will increase the growth of other algae. Brown algae is easy to physically remove with an algae pad as it does not adhere as strongly as green algae. Plecostomus and otocinclus are the most likely fish to eat it. This should not occur in well-filtered aquariums.