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Thick green slime


yeeahboy

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Hey any any info would be great.

As stated above i have a green slime growing in tank. It seems to grow rather quickly.

has any 1 had this is there tanks and is there a remedy.

I have a 200L with 2x 4 foot flouros.

PH=6.5

Nitrate=0

these are the only tests i do

will post a pic if easier to identify

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Sounds like cyanobacter. Something is out of balance. Try lifting out as much as possible then do a total tank blackout for at least 3 days. Don't feed the fish during this time either. Then do a good water change and siphon.

It would be good if you can find the cause. Can be brought in on plants or in water from another tank.

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Yeeahboy didn't you just do a blackout and algae-fix treatment to get rid of green water? Sounds like something has got seriously out of whack in your tank!

Can you describe the slime some more (a photo would be even better).

- What shade of green is it - dark, light, bright?

- What is it growing on - glass, plants, water surface, substrate?

- How does it behave - does it peel off in sheets? Does it break up in the current or hold together?

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Sounds like cyanobacter.

Hi i did a bit of research. Yes i believe it is Cyanobacter.

I think it was bought in on new plants.

Is there any other method other than black out that may work. As i have a planted tank n dont want to kill plants aswell.

Iv'e siphoned most of it off gravel & washed down my drift wood with a hose. but even if there is a tiny bit in tank it mulitplys fast

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My ex gets big cyano outbreaks whenever she adds plant fertiliser.

So if you're doing that, I'd recommend not.

Outbreaks are usually the result of something being unnaturally out of balance. e.g. tonnes of one nutrient but none of another. This can be caused by adding tank fertilisers unnesecarily or deposits found in cheaper tropical fish foods (usually not a problem with regular partial water changes but worth mentioning)

Plants can surive without light for a few days, cyano can not. Keep it blacked out though, like completely blacked out. Unless your fish are starving they'll make the 3 days without any problems as well. But once its gone, if you haven't corrected the inbalance, it'll be back.

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  • 2 months later...

This is what I did;

Pills are usually 400mg each. It as been suggested 400mg/100L. Someone else said 250mg/100L but I think the 400mg/100L may be better.

Dissolve required number of pills in about ½ cup of water. They dissolve very slowly as they have a coating on them. Give them a stir every now and then to speed up the process.

Once dissolved add it to your tank, swirling the water around to spread it quickly. The stupid fish will think it is food and try to eat it but don’t worry about that.

You should notice the cyano dying off within 24 hours or so. It is important to keep siphoning up the stuff as it dies or it will pollute the tank.

After 3 days, dissolve and add another dose of pills (same as first dose), siphoning out the dead cyano remains as required.

People worry about it killing the bacteria in the filters but I kept my filters running the whole time and noticed no difference. I was told the bacteria in the filters is the wrong sort and is unaffected by the erythromycin. Something to do with gram -ve and gram +ve bacteria.

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