Frustrated with algae killing everything

[FishFinatic77]

I have a 20 gallon tank that was, at one time, planted with Pogostemon, crypts, Watersprite, Pearlweed, Monte Carlo, and Salvinia. Then, several months ago, I had some hair algae which I managed to get rid of pretty easily. After that, the real problems started. A green film algae started growing on EVERYTHING. It's on the glass, the sand, the driftwood, the decorations, and the plants. It grows incredibly quickly, and just suffocates everything. I try to clean as often as I can, but after I clean, it's back after two days.
My Pearlweed, Monte Carlo, and Salvinia is all dead. The Crypts and Watersprite are very small and pathetic, and my beautiful Pogostemon is reduced to a few small stems.
I have done everything I can think of to get rid of the algae. I've reduced the amount of light in the tank, I've done more water changes, etc. I even have a pleco in the tank, and the poor guy can't keep up with all the algae.
As you can probably tell, I'm incredibly frustrated. My tank used to look so nice, and now I hate to even look at it because of what it's become. What can I do to get rid of this awful algae?

 

[Hopfrog]

Is it a greenish/blueish slime? That sounds like it could be cyanobacteria, which is not technically an algae. I had some issues with it in my tank and I adjusted the lighting and fertilizers which helped a bit, but what really did the trick was Ultralife Blue-Green Slime Stain Remover. Some people are wary of using it because it is not entirely clear what the ingredients are, but I used two doses of it in my planted tank and the cyanobacteria cleared up in literally 3-4 days and has been gone ever since.

 

[ThatFishGirl6231]

UGHHHH!!! My 20 gallon tank used to be GORGEOUS! Now i have the same algae. I HATE IT!!! I’ll clean it all out and like the next day it’s already covering every thing again. It’s called cyanobacteria or blue green algae. I’ve tried Algaefix and it doesn’t work. I hope you find a solution to it and then tell me please.

 

[Uberhoust]

I too am fighting cyanobacteria. It is in my two tanks that just happen to have aquarium soil. I make some headway only by cleaning it off every day. It doesn't appear to be affecting the fish very much. I tried blacking out the tanks but it just killed some of my plants. I suspect it is in my tanks with aquarium soil because I cannot vacuum those as effectively during the cleaning. I have changed out the substrate on two tanks and will be monitoring how they do compared with the tanks that still have aquarium soil.

 

[Heather7465]

BGA treatment with 200mg of erythromycin phosphate for every 10 gallons of water (40L) is effective and will usually eliminate it within a few days. If still observed after 4-5 days then repeat the treatment. Charcoal filtration and UV equipment must be turned off before applying. By treating it may have some effect on the biological filter so track ammonia and nitrite levels. Also, I read some algae eaters won't eat blue green algae because of it's toxicity.

 

[StevenF]

Your treating this as an algae issue. What are you doing to help the plants? In my experience algae doesn't kill plants. Salvinia is a floating plant It gets all th co2 nd light it needs from the top of the leaf. In my experience with floating plants is that most of the time they died from nutrient deficiencies.

meaning one or more of the 14 nutrients is missing from your water and fertilizer (if you are using one) As a result the plant stops growing, gets weak, and dies. in contrast the nutrient needs algae and bacteria are lower than plants. So if the plants can't grow to because of a nutrient deficiency algae will grow very fast. For reasons we don't fully understand when plants do well algae snuggles.

if you provide your water test results and pictures o the plants it might be possible to identify some problems. If you are using a fertilizer list the brand, how much you are dosing, and the size of the tank. These request apply to Uberhoust ThatFishGirl6331 and fishfinatic77. Some nutrient deficiencies may be easy to spot while others are harder. So there is no guarantee of finding the issues. But it might help you figuring it out eventually.

 

[FishFinatic77]

I too am fighting cyanobacteria. It is in my two tanks that just happen to have aquarium soil. I make some headway only by cleaning it off every day. It doesn't appear to be affecting the fish very much. I tried blacking out the tanks but it just killed some of my plants. I suspect it is in my tanks with aquarium soil because I cannot vacuum those as effectively during the cleaning. I have changed out the substrate on two tanks and will be monitoring how they do compared with the tanks that still have aquarium soil.

This is interesting. I have sand in this tank, which obviously I can't siphon like gravel. Do you think maybe that's causing it?

 

[FishFinatic77]

Your treating this as an algae issue. What are you doing to help the plants? In my experience algae doesn't kill plants. Salvinia is a floating plant It gets all th co2 nd light it needs from the top of the leaf. In my experience with floating plants is that most of the time they died from nutrient deficiencies.

It killed the plants by completely covering them, and essentially preventing them from getting any nutrients. It covered the roots of the Salvinia.

 

[FishFinatic77]

if you provide your water test results and pictures o the plants it might be possible to identify some problems. If you are using a fertilizer list the brand, how much you are dosing, and the size of the tank.

I can get some pictures of the plants tomorrow.
I'm using Seachem Flourish for the fertilizer. I used to dose every week, but I only do it every month now because I thought that might be worsening the problem.
The tank is 20 gallons.

 

[ThatFishGirl6231]

This is interesting. I have sand in this tank, which obviously I can't siphon like gravel. Do you think maybe that's causing it?

i also have sand

 

[Lajos_Detari]

This blue-green algae is not an algae but a cyanobacteria.
From my experience, it gets into your tank mostly through some plants. The plants were most likely planted on places/ponds with polluted water that had this cyanobacteria.
In the outside pond, it will kill off all the inhabitants as its toxic and it really stinks.
Do not to breathe in the fume.
Wear glove and don't touch it with bare hands.

For treatment, you can either :
1) Use Ultralife Blue-Green Slime Stain Remover which someone suggested above. OR

2) Use Erythromycin (an antibiotic) as suggested by Heather above. Since it's an antibiotic, please use it according to instructions to prevent it from coming back and becoming resistant to the antibiotic. Please use a minimum of 5 days or up to 7 days(best). Becareful that it may have impact on your beneficial bacteria(BB). Change more water and more frequently if that happen.

OR
3) Restart your tank all over again. But you need to sterilize everything that you are going to reuse either with hot water or bleach to kill off all the cynobacteria.
I used this option as I don't want to have any toxic algae and stinking smell in my tank and house.

Hydrogen peroxide and Potassium Permanganate probably can also kill this bacteria and can be used for sterilization.


Lastly, remember to sterilize all new plants and quarantine them before putting into your tank.

Here is a video on how to get rid of it:

 

[StevenF]

Well if you dose according to the directions on the Seachem website you will add 1.66ml per week. I used it for years in My RO water shrimp tank and it didn't work well. Most of the time my plants wouldn't grow.

Using Rotalabutterfly (a fertilizer calculator) your water will have (all values in PPM (mg/liter). Value in () is my target.
N 0.015 (2.26
K 0.067 (3)
Ca 0.03
Mg 0.24
P 0 0.00096 (1)
S 0.06
Cl 0.25
Fe 0.07 (0.03)
Mn 0.002 (0.015)
B 0.000197 (0.06)
zn 0.00015 (0.06
Cu 0.00002 0.01)
Mo 0.0002 (0.005)
Ni 0.0 (0.005)

My target levels are based on the nutrient levels found in plant tissue. Seachem assumes your water supplies most of the nutrients your plants need. If your tap water doesn't supply some of these nutrients you are definitely going to have problems (for me it was hair algae). for You itsCyanobacteria. Now your water will provide some of the nutrients needed as well as a soil substate but it seldom supplies all and aquarium substrates will eventually run out ofnutrients.

Getting out of this problem is not easy. Most fertilizers don't have calcium and magnesium because they don't dissolve easily with all the other fertilizer ingredients, but dissolve easily in the tank. Copper and zinc are also an issue because zinc leaches out of some metal pipes. Same for copper pipes. But if you have a new home with plastic pipes your tap water may have no copper and zinc..

After I gave up on Flourish and having tried 3 others and not finding one with appropriate Zn and Cu levels. I decided to make my own it was a steep learning curve but my first imperfect micro fertilizer was better than anything I had purchased.

But that said my tank was more difficult do the the RO water and inert substrate. If you are using tap water there may be other options. I'll await your photos and water test results.

 

[StevenF]

From my experience, it gets into your tank mostly through some plants. The plants were most likely planted on places/ponds with polluted water that had this cyanobacteria.

Most algae and bacteria can be found floating in the air with dust. I found a water loving fern growing in one of my orchid pots. Were I live it is way to dry for this fern to grow. The nearest plant that I know of in which it might grow is about 40 miles away.

If the water chemistry is favorable any algae floating in the wind can settle in your tank and start growing even if no plants have been added to the tank in years.

There are many types of cyanobacteria in the world. So are toxic others are used as food supplements. Most are harmless.

 

[Lajos_Detari]

Most algae and bacteria can be found floating in the air with dust. I found a water loving fern growing in one of my orchid pots. Were I live it is way to dry for this fern to grow. The nearest plant that I know of in which it might grow is about 40 miles away.

If the water chemistry is favorable any algae floating in the wind can settle in your tank and start growing even if no plants have been added to the tank in years.

There are many types of cyanobacteria in the world. So are toxic others are used as food supplements. Most are harmless.

Firstly, we are talking about different things here.
I'm talking about the blue green algae(cyanobacteria) and not the normal algae.

Algae can grow any where and almost in any condition as the algae spores can be spread easily through air but not the cyanobacteria.

Cyanobacteria won't appear in your tank unless it comes from the contaminated plants(or even rocks or woods) that you bought from the LFS.
The probability will be too high for you to get cyanobacteria blowing into your tank from the outside.
That is not possible.

Cyanobacteria can be killed by anti-biotic such as Erythromycin, unlike the normal algae.

After I restarted my tank, sterilizing my tank and throwing away the plants that were contaminated with cyanobacteria, the green blue algae has never returned to my tank.
Algae will grow mostly due to bright light(high wattage light).
My tank with 6W 60cm LED light never have much algae even though I turned it on for 10 hours per day.

You can read here about the health impact from toxin cyanotoxins.

Cyanobacteria

beachapedia.org

Cyanobacterial Blooms (Blue-Green Algae Blooms) - LG Sonic

Cyanobacteria blooms occur when cyanobacteria start to grow and multiple rapidly in freshwater lakes and reservoirs.

www.lgsonic.com

 

[Colin_T]

pictures of the algae so we can identify the problem?