Blackwater tank with leaf litter -> Cyano bacteria

[Mazan]

I see, well my son got in in the UK from Amazon and brought it out when he came. That time I had an outbreak in my big cichlid tank so I used all of it, it comes in a really small container. Its still available there, I thought the UK was the same as Europe regarding antibiotics etc? Incidentally I have currently 5 tanks running, I have only ever experienced cyanobacteria in those two.

 

[anewbie]

I see, well my son got in in the UK from Amazon and brought it out when he came. That time I had an outbreak in my big cichlid tank so I used all of it, it comes in a really small container. Its still available there, I thought the UK was the same as Europe regarding antibiotics etc? Incidentally I have currently 5 tanks running, I have only ever experienced cyanobacteria in those two.

From what i read it isn't all of europe; uk is different but also some other countries are different - Germany is a big nono on treating fishes as well (I think) netherlands - i don't really know - i live in usa. We have enough problems with bad politics we don't need banned drugs that make our fishes happy.

 

[MacZ]

Difference UK vs. EU is due to Brexit.

 

[Mazan]

Yes that is true Brexit...

Going back to the original topic, is there a reason I wonder that Cyanobacteria seems to occur in tanks with leaf litter? - The tank in which I have had two or three outbreaks (none really serious but annoying) has usually had a fairly thick leaf litter layer. The big tank not as much as the cichlids stir it up too much, but it did have quite a few leaves as well as a lot of branches etc. some of which still had the bark on which gradually disintegrated, maybe leading to a similar situation - build up of organic material?? I have not had a recurrence in that tank (touch wood..). My angelfish tank is densely planted so there is not space for much leaf litter, I put a few leaves in now and again - this tank has never had any Cyanobacteria. And the Guianacara tank is meant to look like the rivers where they come from, so I do add leaves but not too many at once and take them out before they decompose as the Guianacaras make a mess with their digging. This tank also has a higher flow rate than the others. The 5th is really a temporary tank so doesn't count, but it has a lot of plants and only a few leaves, on all the occasions I have had it set up it has never had Cyanobacteria.

 

[Ben Rhau]

Going back to the original topic, is there a reason I wonder that Cyanobacteria seems to occur in tanks with leaf litter?

I'm not sure if anyone can give you an answer with certainty, but it could also be that the tanks where you have a leaf litter bed have other properties that are ideal for cyanobacteria. For example, tanks that are optimized for heavy plant growth and/or more flow are more likely to be in balance in terms of the amount of light relative to nutrients and CO2 availability. If you have few plants, lower flow, and excess light in nutrient poor water, that's putting a demand on the existing plants to grow with not enough of what it needs, which could create stress and encourage opportunistic organisms to take over.

I have leaf litter beds in all my tanks and have not had cyanobacteria (knock on wood). But I also tend to keep a lot of fast growing plants.

-B

 

[Mazan]

Hmm that does all seem tp make sense as far as the big tank but the other one does have quite a lot of plants that all seem very healthy, and loads of floating plants.

 

[anewbie]

I have tanks with very low ec and no obvious cyanobacteria. So i don't think it is specific to leaf litter. Of course some have speculate the plant growth has an impact and it does have a lot of active plant growth:
I think this one has ec around 24; of course with all the frys maybe it is higher (it has 6 or 7 week old a. sp Blutkehl; of course i dread trying to catch them - i think there are 30 or 40. The male doesnt' seem to go after them so i guess they have little don't eat me signs.

Way off topic but those two plants in the back are probably going to need a larger aquarium soon. Maybe i should upgrade the 20 long to a 65?

 

[Mazan]

i dread trying to catch them - i think there are 30 or 40.

Pretty easy with traps made of plastic drinks bottles like Gatorade. Just cut of the top of the bottle and invert it inside the rest of the bottle to make a funnel, make a couple of holes in the bottle so that sinks easily, put some tempting food inside the trap then wait. I just caught all (except 1) of my Guianacara fry like that, they were also in a densely planted tank with lots of branches.

So this was the tank in question when it had leaf litter (the layer got a lot thicker but I don't have photos), but now there are far more plants:

The same tank recently (having removed the leaf litter and some of the floating plants: - the same tank where the little Guianacara fry were..

Anyway I do intend to add more leaf litter when I put the dwarf pikes in there (have to remove other small fish first..).

 

[NicoHKnol]

Beside other actions, nitrate up and cleaning, in worse cases i use

Blue Life Green Cyano RX​

i'am from the netherland, hard to find, but some shops have it.
Works really good.

 

[MacZ]

And another one that doesn't say what's in it.

The description tells me it might be an acid, as it says pH may drop.

 

[Ben Rhau]

My guess is that these mystery products are antibiotics (perhaps not disclosed?) or flocculants.

 

[Mazan]

To be honest it’s not too difficult to deal with just by removing it as much as possible and reducing light if necessary - as long as you deal with it as soon as appears and don’t let it spread too much.

 

[christian62]

Comme je l'ai mentionné dans mon autre fil de discussion, j'ai rencontré ce problème - un réservoir de taille similaire de 240 l (120 x 40 x 50 cm) et pas vraiment d'eau noire mais très douce. Cela s'est produit plusieurs fois, lorsque je laisse la litière de feuilles s'accumuler au fil du temps, j'ai commencé à avoir des cyanobactéries sur la litière de feuilles et les racines des plantes flottantes. Je n'ai rien essayé pour résoudre ce problème, j'essaie simplement d'éliminer tout ce qui est affecté. Il y a quelque temps, j'ai enlevé presque toute la litière de feuilles et le problème n'est pas encore réapparu. Mais je veux commencer à en ajouter plus bientôt. Les nitrates sont généralement proches de zéro, je ne suis pas sûr des phosphates.

J'ai ce probléme dans certain bac avec l'eau de pluie, donc pour moi ,la meilleur solution est d'éteindre l'éclairage de l' aquarium d'une durée de 7 jours. Quelque fois cela revient, mais je refais la même opération. après, cela disparais.

 

[Mazan]

Yes, it definitely disappears quickly with no light.