On my red pine there's a green algae smothering it. I don't know what it's called but its not beard or string algae etc..

It like smothers the plants by encasing them inside a green slime wall.

It kind of looks like a spider web that wraps around a plant to raise baby spiders in.

Any help on identifying and removing this algae permanently is vey much welcomed

Enzo.

PS I think the same sort of slime algae is covering my glass near the bottom of the tank

Sounds like Cyanobacteria

does it look similar to this?

Yeah thats what it looks like.

Definitely cyano then. Pull off as much of it as you can, get as much out as you can, then do a complete blackout of the tank for at least 3 days minimum. Do not feed the fish during this time either.

With a bit of luck that will be enough to kill it off.

If not, you may have to resort to using E-mycin, a prescription only medication.

Furan2 will work also and can be bought from your local pet shop.

Ok thanks for your replies.

Ill try to pull some off as much as i can today.

Hah!!! So that's what it is! I've only got it on near the bottom of my tank too, funny how it grows there! I've been syphoning it out, but it keeps coming back. I'll try a blackout too, and see how it goes.

Do you notice a musty sort of smell coming off the tank?

If so, thats the cyano.

The other way treat it is with erthymicin (sp?) which is a prescription only antibiotic. I only would do this a a last resort as it can play havoc on your filtration etc.

Please note E-Mycin is erythromycin

E-Mycin is a trade name for it. There are many others but that is the most common in NZ.

I just gave some roxithromycin to someone to try for their cyano. It is, like erythromycin, a semi-synthetic macrolide antibiotic. The Dr who gave me some assured me it will work exactly like the E-Mycin. 8)

don't syphon it with your mouth (i'm sure you wouldn't anyway) - some cyanobacteria are quite toxic to humans. You wouldn't ingest enough to kill you unless you had a good sized dose of it but it could make you a bit ill or give you a rash

Now you tell me! :roll: :lol:

don't syphon it with your mouth (i'm sure you wouldn't anyway) - some cyanobacteria are quite toxic to humans. You wouldn't ingest enough to kill you unless you had a good sized dose of it but it could make you a bit ill or give you a rash

Hmmm. I always start the syphon with my mouth, but don't ever get any more than a couple of drips in my mouth.

google cyanobacteria to find out all about it. It harms dogs in the hutt river occasionally

Ok well it's been a while since my last post on this thread.

Just tonight I have dosed the (120L) tank with 500mg approx. of Erymthromycin as directed by the internet gurus and by the friendly staff at HFF.

I've been putting off doing anything with this cyano except cleaning as much as I can out once a week, and now I realise that it was a bad idea

SO, I hope this erythromycin works well. :-? 8)

Only three 3 species are responsible for toxic blooms: Microcystis aeruginosa, Anabaena flos-aquae and Aphanizomenon flos-aquae (from 3 Genera). Even the blooms caused by these 3 species are not always toxic. All the other blooming and non-blooming cyanobacteria species are harmless. The species in your tank doesn't bloom but forms mats so I'm pretty sure you are on the safe side.

don't syphon it with your mouth (i'm sure you wouldn't anyway) - some cyanobacteria are quite toxic to humans. You wouldn't ingest enough to kill you unless you had a good sized dose of it but it could make you a bit ill or give you a rash

Ugh... I would really hate to think what sort of stuff I have swallowed starting the siphon

I just see it as a way of building up a good resistance to bugs - no hand sanitisers or antibacterial soaps in our house!

I think in the case of swallowing certain cyanobacteria, an immune resistance wouldn't really help

They produce a potent neurotoxins and hepatotoxins!

Ugh... I would really hate to think what sort of stuff I have swallowed starting the siphon

I just see it as a way of building up a good resistance to bugs - no hand sanitisers or antibacterial soaps in our house!