Algae attack

[flowerhorn]

Hi! I'm seeking some advise on how to control/eliminate this type of algae?

It will cover the stems and leaves of my plants, and it spreads amazingly fast over the gravel. I tried siphoning it out from the gravel, and after a day or two, it will start to grow back again.

I've tried ocean free algae remover, but it did not help. Instead i lost lome fishes.

Hope to hear your comments. Thanks

[timebomb]

Hew,

What you have in your tanks is known as Blue-Green. It's not an algae but a bacteria.

A complete blackout of the tank for a few days is known to kill it. But then again, that would only be a temporary solution as Blue-Green can make a quick comeback. In fact, even if you physically remove all of it entirely, it will appear in your tank again within a few hours.

The best way to eradicate Blue-Green is to tweak the conditions of your tank. Blue-Green comes about for a variety of reasons, foremost of which, I think is a lack of water movement. In my tanks, I see them in the front of the tank, just under the substrate. Blue-Green is known to thrive too when there's too much light.

Loh K L

[FC]

Hew,

I once had them in between the gravel and the side glass wall. I eradicate it with anti-biotic from KL. I placed the tablet in the gravel. It took 3 doses over a week to clear it.

I heard about the black-out but I am not convinced the effectiveness of this method. The tank conditions must not, in the first place, condusive to their growth.

[timebomb]

I eradicate it with anti-biotic from KL. I placed the tablet in the gravel. It took 3 doses over a week to clear it.

The antibiotic is known as Erythromycin but I could be wrong about the spelling. It's a controlled drug. In other words, you can't buy it over the counter from a pharmacy without a doctor's prescription. I don't know if the rules are the same in Malaysia though.

Having said that, I would like to point out that I no longer use or even recommend using antibiotics to kill off Blue Green. It can have unintended consequences, one of which is that it may cause harm to yourself or a family member. Before, I didn't know better. Now I do.

Antibiotics are controlled drugs for a very good reason. Let's not get ourselves or anyone into trouble just because there's an undesirable bacteria in our tanks. As Freddy has also pointed out, the best method is to tweak the conditions of the tank such that they are condusive to plant growth and not algae/bacteria growth.

Loh K L

[joteo]

MK,

My fathers tanks receive direct sun from an angle and the tanks are very hot and are placed outside. They did not have any areation.

He had A LOT of BGA problems. He also feeds a lot to his betta. Much more than I feed my fish.

My dad's solution? Change water like crazy. Scrub like crazy. 100% changes are not uncommon. Finally he added sponge filtration. BGA seems to be under control.

My tanks are in a balcony where they get more than 13 hours of sun and sometimes up to 6 hours of direct sun (depending on the year).

I didn't have BGA problems until I came back from a long trip. It's either that the same equipment was used for my fathers' tank on mine and transferred over or it was due to excessive feeding and excessive light. I do not know which for people's accounts of events keep changing when you try to get the truth out of them and they try to save their own hide.

For me, I changed the water more frequently, put down the shades of my balcony for weeks. Cut feeding from once a day to once in 2 or 3 days, depending on my mood.

When I forget to put down the shades, I notice the BGA problem will come back with a small sheet on the sides of the glass where water movement is slow. I quickly remove it (some unfortunately floats back in the water) and it stays away for a while. Until I forget the shades again.

The sad thing is that now that it's been in my tank, it always takes just a little bit for it to come back again.

joanne

[flowerhorn]

Thanks you all for sharing with me your knowledge about this BGA. For the time being, i'm just going to try what KL has suggested. A complete blackout. I might change my filter media too.

Will update this thread if there is progress.

[flowerhorn]

Hi again,
I'm glad that the BGA seems to have dissapeared after having a total blackout for a few days as what KL suggested. I had done 2 water changes during that blackout period.

I have reduce the lights to 4 hrs a day since 3 days ago. So far no signs of the BGA. Hopefully it stays that way.