Green Ceiling

[Mr Limpet]

I’ve been in the hobby since 1976 and have dealt with every sort of algae at one time or another, but this is a new one for me.
The green appeared in one of my tanks several months ago and has since spread to 5 out of my 11 tanks. It seems to be a diffuse slick rather than a film, and when removed mechanically it returns amazingly quickly. Besides giving off a strong chlorophyll odor it stains my hands when working in the affected tanks. The stains are almost as difficult to remove as methylene blue.
If anyone has any experience with this horror and was successful in combatting it, please share it with me.

 

[connorlindeman]

I’ve been in the hobby since 1976 and have dealt with every sort of algae at one time or another, but this is a new one for me.
The green appeared in one of my tanks several months ago and has since spread to 5 out of my 11 tanks. It seems to be a diffuse slick rather than a film, and when removed mechanically it returns amazingly quickly. Besides giving off a strong chlorophyll odor it stains my hands when working in the affected tanks. The stains are almost as difficult to remove as methylene blue.
If anyone has any experience with this horror and was successful in combatting it, please share it with me.

View attachment 360596

I encountered that same algae in a new tank of mine. I found that adding a healthy amount of surface agitation as well as cutting back on lighting intensity and nutrients solved the issue.

 

[Mr Limpet]

I encountered that same algae in a new tank of mine. I found that adding a healthy amount of surface agitation as well as cutting back on lighting intensity and nutrients solved the issue.

Unfortunately, the tanks with the algae are breeding/rearing tanks with sponge filtration. Too much agitation would be problematic. Even after a major water change the algae always bounces back after a day or two,

 

[MaloK]

Floating cyanobacteria, also known as blue-green algae... Fueled by high nutrients level especially by nitrate and phosphate.

Intensify your water changes for a while, Like 20% every other day for 2 weeks. This will slowly replace all the water in the tanks without shocking everything.

With more surface movement, it should regress quite rapidly. Most Algae problem are reversible only with water movement and nutrients depletion, I very rarely need to touch the light.

 

[GaryE]

Epiplatys dageti? They can handle full throttle sponge filters and more. We caught different Epiplatys in Gabon, but they were in water that was really moving fast. I was surprised by that.

Heavy water changes, and less light helped here. I have it in a tank that gets diffused light and was sketching plants to block it in my head as I found this thread. So that too. Potassium nitrate helped in the past, but it's a controlled substance now.

Cyano. I hate it.