Is This Blue Green Algae (Cyanobacteria)

[Byron]

thank you.
I never have cyanobacteria in my other tanks with gravels even when my 55gal have very high nitrate one time.

but beside the sand i also know that i kind of overfeed this tank because i see my corydoras are not growing fast enough. My first thought was the honey gouramis and ember tetras eat all the food before it get to the bottom of the tank.

i should increase the flow for this tank and lessen the food.

Sand per say is not an issue, but allowing it to become organic-loaded obviously would be, as would any gravel substrate. Also, water flow has absolutely no relevance.
[I deleted the sentence here about cyano on my filter return as I realized I had confused brush algae with cyano, sorry for any misunderstanding.]

Cories need proper sinking foods, and Ember Tetras are not going to be able to eat this before it reaches the substrate, nor will gourami. In tanks with both upper and lower fish, I add the floating flake/mini pellet food for the upper fish, and then the sinking pellets/tabs for the cories.

 

[hansgruber7]

I'm basing the flow idea on this article. Anecdotally, it seemed to help when I increased the filter flow and added an airstone:

How to Get Rid of Blue-Green Algae in Freshwater Aquariums

Do you have a mysterious, blue-green slime taking over your aquarium? Find out how to get rid of blue-green algae (or cyanobacteria) once and for all.

www.aquariumcoop.com

It says:
Cyanobacteria "commonly occur in warm, slow-moving, and nutrient-rich bodies of water. In the aquarium hobby, we have frequently seen blue-green algae pop up wherever organic waste has a chance to stagnate in certain areas of a fish tank. This can happen if:

• The current in the fish tank is too slow
• Hardscape is blocking off a corner of the aquarium that also gets exposed to constant light
• The substrate is collecting debris because the gravel hasn’t been vacuumed in a while and there are no animals to churn it"

 

[Stan510]

Flow can help. It's not a cure. I've seen where with a 45 degree return BGA seemed to have a hard time growing on sand. When I had a more across the back of the tank circle flow...it grew fast in the dead pool center. But,that's not saying the 45 degree cured the problem.
Sands are the thing when I got back into the hobby after a near decade break..and I saw so many posts more about BGA than ever before. I know sands and high light levels just create a good life for BGA while gravel is hostile you might say. Gravel even helps filter the water as the current runs over it along with the proper filter of course.
You don't see many BGA problems on that dark clay pellet looking Amazonia gravel. White fine sands? Could be within a few short weeks or less of a new tank.
But the fastest way to rid a tank of it is a combo of clean filter and shorter photoperiod. No chemicals needed for that.

 

[Byron]

I'm basing the flow idea on this article. Anecdotally, it seemed to help when I increased the filter flow and added an airstone:

How to Get Rid of Blue-Green Algae in Freshwater Aquariums

Do you have a mysterious, blue-green slime taking over your aquarium? Find out how to get rid of blue-green algae (or cyanobacteria) once and for all.

www.aquariumcoop.com

It says:
Cyanobacteria "commonly occur in warm, slow-moving, and nutrient-rich bodies of water. In the aquarium hobby, we have frequently seen blue-green algae pop up wherever organic waste has a chance to stagnate in certain areas of a fish tank. This can happen if:

• The current in the fish tank is too slow
• Hardscape is blocking off a corner of the aquarium that also gets exposed to constant light
• The substrate is collecting debris because the gravel hasn’t been vacuumed in a while and there are no animals to churn it"

No argument with this, I think I may have said much the same in one of the earlier posts (here or another thread). The issue I was getting at is that I have seen people claim cyano is caused by low flow, period. It is not; it is caused solely by organics in the presence of light. Without the organics, it cannot exist in an aquarium. The flow may well determine the cyano will be over there instead of over here, but it (the flow) is not the cause. So increasing flow is not in my view going to help, unless the organics are dealt with.

 

[shaziasadiqah]

Sand per say is not an issue, but allowing it to become organic-loaded obviously would be, as would any gravel substrate. Also, water flow has absolutely no relevance.
[I deleted the sentence here about cyano on my filter return as I realized I had confused brush algae with cyano, sorry for any misunderstanding.]

Cories need proper sinking foods, and Ember Tetras are not going to be able to eat this before it reaches the substrate, nor will gourami. In tanks with both upper and lower fish, I add the floating flake/mini pellet food for the upper fish, and then the sinking pellets/tabs for the cories.

I'm basing the flow idea on this article. Anecdotally, it seemed to help when I increased the filter flow and added an airstone:

How to Get Rid of Blue-Green Algae in Freshwater Aquariums

Do you have a mysterious, blue-green slime taking over your aquarium? Find out how to get rid of blue-green algae (or cyanobacteria) once and for all.

www.aquariumcoop.com

It says:
Cyanobacteria "commonly occur in warm, slow-moving, and nutrient-rich bodies of water. In the aquarium hobby, we have frequently seen blue-green algae pop up wherever organic waste has a chance to stagnate in certain areas of a fish tank. This can happen if:

• The current in the fish tank is too slow
• Hardscape is blocking off a corner of the aquarium that also gets exposed to constant light
• The substrate is collecting debris because the gravel hasn’t been vacuumed in a while and there are no animals to churn it"

Flow can help. It's not a cure. I've seen where with a 45 degree return BGA seemed to have a hard time growing on sand. When I had a more across the back of the tank circle flow...it grew fast in the dead pool center. But,that's not saying the 45 degree cured the problem.
Sands are the thing when I got back into the hobby after a near decade break..and I saw so many posts more about BGA than ever before. I know sands and high light levels just create a good life for BGA while gravel is hostile you might say. Gravel even helps filter the water as the current runs over it along with the proper filter of course.
You don't see many BGA problems on that dark clay pellet looking Amazonia gravel. White fine sands? Could be within a few short weeks or less of a new tank.
But the fastest way to rid a tank of it is a combo of clean filter and shorter photoperiod. No chemicals needed for that.

thank you everyone for the help. I am new to the hobby and having this cyano thing, sick fish and unbalanced tank really help me learn more especially with such a helpful community like this forum.

a little update, i do lessen the feeding ever since i found the plant with the cyano on it. I deep clean the tank and filters and remove any cyano left in the tank and reduced the lighting while also stop any ferts from going into the tank and so far i don’t see any cyanobacteria in the tank no more.

once again, thank you

 

[Lajos_Detari]

Did you sterilize your plants before putting them into the tank?
And what plants do you have?

I'm suspecting that this Cyanobacteria (blue green algae) come together with some plants that are planted in very dirty/polluted area.
It's a kind of bacteria and not an algae.
There was once I bought a bunch of Java Moss that came with this Cyanobacteria.
And I forgot to sterilize the Java Moss properly before putting it into my tank.

In the end, I restarted my tank all over again by throwing away all the substrate and plants(only a few plants), sterilizing my driftwoods and filter media with hot water, sterilizing my filter and tank with bleach as I can't stand the smell and having it in my living room.

Take note of strong light that may promote their quick growth.
What is the size of your tank?
Your 25W lighting might be too bright if your tank is only 2 feet.(60cm) (my guess)

Nowadays, I will sterilize and quarantine all my plants before putting them into my tank after learning a hard lesson.

 

[shaziasadiqah]

Did you sterilize your plants before putting them into the tank?
And what plants do you have?

I'm suspecting that this Cyanobacteria (blue green algae) come together with some plants that are planted in very dirty/polluted area.
It's a kind of bacteria and not an algae.
There was once I bought a bunch of Java Moss that came with this Cyanobacteria.
And I forgot to sterilize the Java Moss properly before putting it into my tank.

In the end, I restarted my tank all over again by throwing away all the substrate and plants(only a few plants), sterilizing my driftwoods and filter media with hot water, sterilizing my filter and tank with bleach as I can't stand the smell and having it in my living room.

Take note of strong light that may promote their quick growth.
What is the size of your tank?
Your 25W lighting might be too bright if your tank is only 2 feet.(60cm) (my guess)

Nowadays, I will sterilize and quarantine all my plants before putting them into my tank after learning a hard lesson.

i usually sterilize my plants using bleach but one time i did what i usually do with a new batch of plants and then they are all die. I don’t know what i did wrong because usually with 1 minute of bleach bath all the new plants i have will survive after i rinse well and put them in a bucket with dechlorinator.

after that in fear of killing just rinse all new plants with tap water and put it in the tank.

if i remember correctly i did smell something weird with the plants i use for this 33gal but since i don’t know how cyano smell back them i just put it in the tank anyway. I know it could be from that.

my tank’s size is 80x40x40 cm. I was buying a light that’s only 12watt for that tank but i feel like the plants especially the red ones are not thriving so i upgrade the light. Maybe i could use that 12watt light for a while until the cyano really gone because i think i still have it somewhere in my house lol.

now i can only see very few cyano almost like spots on the sand. I net it out everytime i see it, but it’s still showing even though very little.

i watch tons of YouTube video and they are all using either antibiotic or some kind of chemical to get rid of it. I really don’t want to do that if i really don’t have to.

do you think it’s already my time to really sterilize and start the tank from scratch again?

i’ll sterilize every new plants again in the future because this is really annoying.

 

[Lajos_Detari]

i usually sterilize my plants using bleach but one time i did what i usually do with a new batch of plants and then they are all die. I don’t know what i did wrong because usually with 1 minute of bleach bath all the new plants i have will survive after i rinse well and put them in a bucket with dechlorinator.

after that in fear of killing just rinse all new plants with tap water and put it in the tank.

if i remember correctly i did smell something weird with the plants i use for this 33gal but since i don’t know how cyano smell back them i just put it in the tank anyway. I know it could be from that.

my tank’s size is 80x40x40 cm. I was buying a light that’s only 12watt for that tank but i feel like the plants especially the red ones are not thriving so i upgrade the light. Maybe i could use that 12watt light for a while until the cyano really gone because i think i still have it somewhere in my house lol.

now i can only see very few cyano almost like spots on the sand. I net it out everytime i see it, but it’s still showing even though very little.

i watch tons of YouTube video and they are all using either antibiotic or some kind of chemical to get rid of it. I really don’t want to do that if i really don’t have to.

do you think it’s already my time to really sterilize and start the tank from scratch again?

i’ll sterilize every new plants again in the future because this is really annoying.

So, my suspicion is correct.
The cyanobacteria came together with the plants.

By right, sterilizing the plants for 1 min in bleach shouldnt kill the plants unless you overdosed the bleach.
Also, remember not to put the plants in tap water without anti-Chlorine.
The Chlorine will kill the plants.

Anyway, now the Cyanobacteria is here in your tank, I guess you have to follow the advice given from the posts above.

All their advice are very good though there is still possibility that it may return.

Finger crossed...

 

[shaziasadiqah]

So, my suspicion is correct.
The cyanobacteria came together with the plants.

By right, sterilizing the plants for 1 min in bleach shouldnt kill the plants unless you overdosed the bleach.
Also, remember not to put the plants in tap water without anti-Chlorine.
The Chlorine will kill the plants.

Anyway, now the Cyanobacteria is here in your tank, I guess you have to follow the advice given from the posts above.

All their advice are very good though there is still possibility that it may return.

Finger crossed...

thank you very much.

i add erythromycin to the tank and it's been two days. so far no more cyano.

i guess the plant that bought the cyano to my tank is the floating plants because that's where i see the most cyano are.