blue green mess

[geoffrunci]

OK Folks
Had a phone call from my local water company yesterday about my enquiry on phosphate levels.
It seems regulations have changed recently, which means that it is no longer a requirement to state phosphate levels in tapwater and it appears that there has been a rather large increase in the levels recently, and is likely to continue. My current levels as previously stated are around 3mg/l, (not helpful). This is now confirmed.
Seems the only option for me now is the rather expensive route of an RO filter, (guess I may as well go for Discus after all)

And as for the redfield ratio please read my posts under the thread "KN03 supply in UK"

 

[SuzeeCat]

Hi,

I had blue green algae a few years ago and struggled to get rid of it for ages. I stumbled on a cure by accident when I had a sick Tiger Barb.

I used a combination of Interpet Anti Internal Bacteria and Melafix. I used the Anti Internal Bacteria every four days and the Melafix every day except the day I added Interpet. Just keep using it until the algae has gone, I guarantee it'll work....after all blue green algae is a bacteria. (oh and my fish got better too )

SuzeeCat (who just joined this list today)

 

[geoffrunci]

Thanx SuzeeCat.
I'll certainly give this one a go.
Did you have any problems with the filter bacteria?

 

[Waterloo Kid]

geoffrunci,

Just noticed your interest in my post and yes, you do seem to be in a similar predicament. I also had a huge blue-green problem last year, and I also have high phosphate levels (2.5 mg/l).
I initially tried to reduce the light levels. Actually the lighting unit on the Juwel Rio 400 tank gave up. The tank was without direct light for 2 weeks, possibly 3. The algae did retreat but so did all my plants. There was a big die back. I spent 2.5 hours every week for 8 months cleaning out the mess. It would return within hours and was very disheartening.
Although I try to keep away from chemical treatments I ended up trying eSHa Protalon 707 Anti Algae Treatment. It did exactly what it said on the tin and all the algae was gone within a week. It was quite dramatic!
Obviously the CAUSE had not been identified or dealt with so I suffered algae blooms of different types after that. Hair algae, diatoms etc. The suspended algae bloom which was the cause of the post you read was the last of these. I seem to be dealing with it pretty well and now have things under control. The tank has a number of different algaes in it now, from blue-green to diatoms. I happen to think that a bit of algae looks natural and I have no problem at all with it.

Anyway, that's my experience. Everything I've done is in this and my other post.

Hope you get the problem beaten.

WK

 

[SuzeeCat]

Geoffrunci,

No I didn't have any problems with the filter, both products are safe as long as you use the correct dosage.

Like Waterloo Kid I was having to clear the slime out of my tank constantly. With the treatment my algae cleared up completely and 2 years on from using it there is still no blue green algae. Good luck. Let me know if it works!

SuzeeCat

 

[geoffrunci]

Thanx SuzeeCat
That remedy certainly worked all the blue green algae has died off and normal green algae taking over.
Just got to do a water change and syphon the dead algae away now, then I can replant the tank.
Thanx again

 

[SuzeeCat]

That's great, I'm glad it's worked. Maybe I should patent it and make a fortune selling the stuff LOL

SuzeeCat

 

[mrV]

I used a combination of Interpet Anti Internal Bacteria and Melafix. I used the Anti Internal Bacteria every four days and the Melafix every day except the day I added Interpet. Just keep using it until the algae has gone, I guarantee it'll work....

I don't think that the first question is "Did it work?" I think, first questions should be

a) are there any interactions with these two medicines (how have you studied it?)
b ) chemical interactions between components (possible new components, complex, are they dangerous to fishes... or human?)
c) what happens in fish body, when mixing two different medicines (how many hours - better say days - it takes before medicine, put earlier, has gone through fish body?)
d) a+b+c => how long must you wait before you can put new medicine to your tank?

And the answer is, almost all medicine that affects on bacteria, will have some effects on blue-green algaes too.

Many hobbiests have used e.g. Tetra General Tonic to destroy blue-green algae (because it contains acriflavine as many other "anti-bacteria" products too). I still recommend to try any other possibilites than any medicines and if you really have to use something, then use acriflavine and let those medicines on shelf. When using medicines they all are harmful to fishes; some of them kill them instantly, some of them kill during some time, some of them just make fishes weak. But all of them have something common, they kill parasites, bacteria etc, but they also increase their resistance to those medicines. So, never use them without knowing what you're doing!

 

[Bangin]

Good advice, mrV.

To avoid algae problems due to high phosphate/low nitrate, it's a good 'rule' to keep a ratio of 10:1, nitrateshosphates.

BGA can also be caused by lack of water circulation.

 

[pendragon]

BGA can also be caused by lack of water circulation.

Not to pick on you, Bangin - but I've read this in other places and always wondered:

If I have a heavily planted tank and am using any kind of CO2 injection, circulating the water is forcing the CO2 out of the tank, right? (the same principle as shaking a can of soda)

It seems to me that you can either keep CO2 in the water, or move the water around, but you can't do both. Is this correct? Is the idea more to just circulate the water as a treatment for the cyanobacteria when necessary, and otherwise let the water be "still"? My power filter agitates the water surface enought to keep sufficient oxygen exchange going, but I don't want to "shake" the water any more than necessary, because it's counter-productive to plant growth. (but then, so is being covered by thick sheets of green slime)

pendragon!

 

[Bangin]

If I have a heavily planted tank and am using any kind of CO2 injection, circulating the water is forcing the CO2 out of the tank, right? (the same principle as shaking a can of soda)

Not necessarily. That mainly applies to surface agitation, not water circulation. However, it really depends on your type of filter. If you have a filter that creates ripples at the top of the water, less CO2 will stay in the aquarium.

I hope that makes sense. You can have water circulation without agitating the surface. I had a HOB filter that created ripples on the surface, and later replaced that filter with a canister filter. Guess what? I saw more plants pearling after the change because the ripples stopped, which allowed my CO2 to stay in the tank.

Please ask if I wasn't very clear in my response.