christian Posted October 25, 2006 Report Share Posted October 25, 2006 Hi all hope all is well. i was wondering if anyone else has had troble with a green slime like algie growing in there tank im havin lots of troble with it and cant get rid of it with algie cure etc has anyone got any ideas on how i could get rid of it would be really apprieciated thanks from chris Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
antwan Posted October 25, 2006 Report Share Posted October 25, 2006 Hey there, sounds like you have cyanobacteria. Easiest and best way to get rid of it that I've found is to use Erythromycin. You can get it on prescription, not really sure on dosage rates though sorry. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ljtan55 Posted October 25, 2006 Report Share Posted October 25, 2006 Hey Chris, heck yeah, been down that road lots The basics are cut down lighting, move your tank away from the window, get fish that eat the stuff (bristlenose plecos, otos, Siamese algae eaters, or borneo suckers for cold water tanks), and scrub scrub scrub. And adding more plants will suck up the stuff in the water that feeds algae. Don't bother with the algae cure, its never worked for me, and using algae weedkiller stuff is scary. But if ya want a virtually unused bottle of algaerid I've got some I wanna get rid off Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hazara Posted October 25, 2006 Report Share Posted October 25, 2006 Definately light can be a prob - can you take a pic of the algae? I had an algae explosion and cutting a few hours/day off my automatic lights fixed it, I'm slowly creeping back up the light now the sun is higher and not getting the angle to hit the tank. Go Kerikeri - I went to school there 20 years ago... really miss the place - would love to go back. Used to fish off the Stone Store jetty, and the Mosquito fish and crayfish I caught locally were some of my first wet pets, (apart from eels that is). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoandWilly Posted October 25, 2006 Report Share Posted October 25, 2006 cyanobacteria means you have high phosphates and probably high nitrates aswell, to get rid of it without buying a prescription med, cut down the amount of food your feeding, or switch to a low phosphate food (we found swapping our brand of fish food got rid of it in days), also do a few xtra water changes to try lower the phosphate already in the tank. Keeping the lights off for a few days and covering the tank when its in direct sunlight will help Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
suphew Posted October 25, 2006 Report Share Posted October 25, 2006 As what JoandWilly said, but wanted to stress a couple of points 1) using meds to treat might work in the short term but you need to find the cause otherwise it will just keep coming back, plus using those meds will often cause other far bigger problems like killing all the bacteria in your filter. 2) Algae problems are always caused by a balance issue, light vs nutirants vs C02. Often the only way to work out what the problem is, is to adjust things and see what works. As others have said a common problem is sunlight on the tank but just as common is not enough light, which causes the plants growth to slow down which in turn means less uptake of nutirants by plants, feeding the algae. By far the easiest way to start addressing algae issues is to do the easy stuff and see what happens, reduce your feeding, increase water changes, and generally make sure your house keeping is on the ball. (gravel vac, filter cleaning etc etc). IT might take a few weeks till you see improvements but just hold in there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caryl Posted October 25, 2006 Report Share Posted October 25, 2006 Fish will not eat it either. I have erythromycin if all else fails. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
christian Posted October 26, 2006 Author Report Share Posted October 26, 2006 Hi all thanks for the helpful hints just to give you an idea the tank is an aquaone 850 in hood lights and filter. Ive tryed a few things like suggested without to much luck such as lowering the hours of the light ive even tryed no light for about 2 weeks and still no luck i have a pair of bristlenose catfish in there its a real worry can come back next day and algie is back where i just cleaned but i will check nitrate levels . thanks again guys for all the help Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ljtan55 Posted October 26, 2006 Report Share Posted October 26, 2006 It grows without light??? Whoaaaah..... Just wondering, is it close to a window at all? If it is, maybe you should move it. And what colour is it? Bluish green or just green? I'm using this thing called phos-zorb which sucks the phosphate out of the water, could be just a gimmick but my indian fern went from coated with brown algae to green again. Its pretty expensive, and it needs to be changed bout once a month, but it worked for me.... If ya could post a pic of it, that could help identify the problem. Good luck with it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sharn Posted October 26, 2006 Report Share Posted October 26, 2006 phos zorb isnt a gimmic thankfully and works wonders for helping releive algae problems if theyre being fuelled by phosphates. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
artful Posted October 27, 2006 Report Share Posted October 27, 2006 Cynobacteria is not necessarily caused by high nutrient levels. It can get in there in any number of ways. It is after all more closely related to a bacteria than an algae. Why don't you try dosing with vodka, it could do the trick. Try 1ml per 100ltrs for the first week then add another 1 ml per 100 ltrs a day. It's a persistant little blighter! Good luck. If all else fails you could resort to bleach. Remove the fish first though of course! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alanmin4304 Posted October 28, 2006 Report Share Posted October 28, 2006 Careful with the vodka, I used it and it caused a bacterial bloom. I don't think nitrate contributes to cyno because it is a nitrogen fixer. Lots of water changes worked for me once and another time I had to resort to antibiotics. Try the easiest and work up the scale. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ira Posted October 28, 2006 Report Share Posted October 28, 2006 That's what it's SUPPOSED to do, Alan. But if it was big enough to cause a problem, you used too much. You only want a small bacterial bloom. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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