Nasty Blue/green Algea

[13thmonkey]

i have a nasty, resiliant blueish/green algea that simply wont be gotten rid of. i tried a algea killer for planted tanks so as not to kill my plants. but it didnt touch it. i have vacumed it all up and about a week later it is right back. i even tried a vacum with a 30% water change. im baffled.

 

[denis coghlan]

Hey,

I had the same problem with you in my mbuna tank, I would clean it up and then in three/fours days it would be back again. It is usually caused by a combination of two things, too much light and a high level of phosphates.

When I asked about the problem in this forum a year or so ago, it was suggested that I use a phosphate soak in my filter. I'm not sure of the name of the product but I remember that it was expensive stuff and a little out of my budget. My advice to you would be to carry out a large water change maybe 50% then keep a 25-30% water change weekly. Also make sure that you are not over feeding and that all food is eaten or remove by you are feeding. This should deal with you phosphate problem.

The next and most important thing is to reduce the length of time that your lights are on for. I used to have my lights running from 10am-10pm. This 12 hours period is not very long but it does allow for the increased growth of algae. I recommend that you used what is called a "siesta" period. This is simply a two-three hours period during the day when you set the light to turn off. This "lights out" period disrupts the growth cycle of the algae and severely limits its growth.

Carry out the above two suggestions and your tank should be free from algae within two weeks apart from the very minimal amount of growth.

Hope this is some help.

Regards

Note: Is your tank in direct sunlight?

 

[Nick Sw]

I`ve had it too, water circulation helps.

Totally agree with the above. Just to add very fine sand can also contribute.

 

[denis coghlan]

As fish killer no more mentioned, only consider using Maracin/Erythromycin dosing as a very final last resort as it is better to find the cause and cure it rather than continually treating your tank with any bacterial medication and it will wipe out your bacterial filter if you over dose.

This is a very good article about the cyano bacteria

I apologize about not mentioning the "total black out " phase as was mentioned above (it slipped my mind) but I still think that it is important to change the "something" in your tank that has caused the outbreak of BGA in the first place.

What length of time have you got your lights on for?

 

[fishstick]

A 2 hour light siesta, improving the water flow and reducing the food worked for me. But I know the bga is still there waiting for me to relax...

 

[13thmonkey]

i did the lights out/50% water change method and it worked out not to bad. my zebras do have some sort of an infection from bacteria though. dosing them with some API melafix. and that seams to be fixing things with the fish. fish infection came a week after gettin rid of the blue/green. here is the end result.