Blue Green Algae

[Aqua Tom]

I seem to have got a bit of a BGA outbreak. I have read the various posts on here & elswhere, & it seems the most common cure for this is to black out the tank for a few days.

How will this effect my plants & fish?


Sorry for the nOOb question.


Tom

 

[KittyKat]

Cyanobacteria? Manual removal works, also antibiotics do and there are some targeted products available too. Blackouts should work, but don't expect them to be 100% successful without the manual removal.

Neither fish, nor most plants, should be affected by week long blackouts. If you have a high-tech set-up, you will need to stop adding CO2 and fertiliser for the duration of the blackout, I imagine, as the plants will not use either. Assuming your tank is well stocked, the fish should be fine without food for at least a week.

 

[Aqua Tom]

Cyanobacteria? Manual removal works, also antibiotics do and there are some targeted products available too. Blackouts should work, but don't expect them to be 100% successful without the manual removal.

Neither fish, nor most plants, should be affected by week long blackouts. If you have a high-tech set-up, you will need to stop adding CO2 and fertiliser for the duration of the blackout, I imagine, as the plants will not use either. Assuming your tank is well stocked, the fish should be fine without food for at least a week.

Antibiotics? Wont that kill off my good bacteria as well?


Tom

 

[KittyKat]

Antibiotics? Wont that kill off my good bacteria as well?

Some will, some won't. Generally, things like malachite green and methylene blue will kill off the filter bacteria (some of which are gram-negative) when higher doses are used, but most generic antimicrobials will not because they either do not contain those or contain low concentrations of them and also rely on other things to do the job.

For example, eSHa 2000 by eSHA labs is an antimicrobial medication which is marketed to treat aquarium fish against fungi (antifungal), bacteria (antibiotic) and parasites (antiparacitic). So while it is an antibiotic, and it kills both gram-negative and gram-positive bacteria, it does not kill *all* bacteria. In my personal experience with it, using a double dose of this medication will not affect the filter.

If you want to read more about what I wrote about cyanobacteria at one point, see http/blog.natureaquarium.co.uk/?p=487 (and if you discover anything that I can add to that, let me know!)

 

[Aqua Tom]

Antibiotics? Wont that kill off my good bacteria as well?

Some will, some won't. Generally, things like malachite green and methylene blue will kill off the filter bacteria (some of which are gram-negative) when higher doses are used, but most generic antimicrobials will not because they either do not contain those or contain low concentrations of them and also rely on other things to do the job.

For example, eSHa 2000 by eSHA labs is an antimicrobial medication which is marketed to treat aquarium fish against fungi (antifungal), bacteria (antibiotic) and parasites (antiparacitic). So while it is an antibiotic, and it kills both gram-negative and gram-positive bacteria, it does not kill *all* bacteria. In my personal experience with it, using a double dose of this medication will not affect the filter.

If you want to read more about what I wrote about cyanobacteria at one point, see http/blog.natureaquarium.co.uk/?p=487 (and if you discover anything that I can add to that, let me know!)

I had a good read of that link, very informative, I am going down the removal, water change, blackout route as i just dont trust the antibiotics with my fish. I have also found this
information to be very reliable.

 

[KittyKat]

I have also found this
information to be very reliable.

I find that link useful for IDing algae, but not so useful for figuring out the cause because those do not correlate to my own experience, so I always wonder if they are more relevant when one is messing about with bright lights, CO[sub]2[/sub] and fertilisers as any of those can throw things out of balance and give algae a chance.

 

[SO19Firearms]

I always wonder if they are more relevant when one is messing about with bright lights, CO[sub]2[/sub] and fertilisers as any of those can throw things out of balance and give algae a chance.

If the tank is planted the The principles will still apply. I don't really subscribe to a balance theory because of Liebig's law of the minimum.

 

[Robj]

I had BGA early on in my set-up. It took best part of 3 months to eradicate completely from 1st appearing. Combination of manual removal & black outs did the trick over time. Fingers crossed it's not been back since.