blue algae

[chris1805]

Please help me guys.

I have a 60 liter tank (60x30x36cm) with a 24W LED light. It should be a amazone biotope but currently it's more like a blue algae farm. The light are only on for 8 hours a day. There is peat in the filter and some dead leaves in the tank so i do have tannings. There are plants in my tank (not many though) and i found out my po4 and no3 were both at 0. I started adding them so that my plants were able to grow and hopefully out compete the algae. Sadly this is not working I have already stripped the tank completely cleaned everything but it grows back quite rapidly. I am affraid that if i use a blackout it will have the same result as cleaning everything but just worse for my plants... I really have no idea what to do anymore... Would maybe lowering ph help or adding more tannings of less lighting hours?

 

[chris1805]

This is how the tank currently looks like 1 day after i cleaned the tank..

 

[Linus_Cello]

How long has the tank been running? What type of filter are you using?

 

[chris1805]

Tank is running since october. Algae problem started arround december. There is a jbl cannister filter under it with a capacity for a 120L tank. It's fully running.

 

[gerald]

I would just give it more time; usually the plants get the "upper hand" eventually and the blue-green slime (cyanobacteria) declines. It's very common in new tanks for the first few months. I have more trouble with it in tanks with a low fish load than in those with a high fish load - i guess maybe because the high-load tanks have more available nitrate for plants.

 

[chris1805]

So should i keep adding nitrates and phosphates or stop it? The fish load is indeed quite low.

 

[gerald]

I am certainly NOT the best person to ask about fertilizers - I don't use any - but from what what I've read and heard, adding more nitrate WITHOUT adding phosphate often tips the balance in favor of plants. A couple years ago I tried using some hollow beef bones as spawning caves. Blue-green slime LOVED it. Bone contains lots of calcium phosphate. I knew that already, but didn't realize it would be soluble enough to affect BG.

 

[Dale Hunkins]

Move your lights up a couple of inches.

 

[abrooks12376]

I wouldn't add nitrates to a stocked tank. What else do you dose? How often you clean the cannister? Best way to rid bga is erithromycin. Pull the bio.media before and use carbon after.

 

[themountain]

I would try Hydrogen peroxide ...always worked for me! Just a 1mml \per liter of a 3% solution and a 50% water change the next day. After a week there will be no blue al

 

[chris1805]

Move your lights up a couple of inches.

Sadly i can't move the lights up. I covered some leds by bits of tape and now the light is dimmed quite a lot.

 

[chris1805]

I would try Hydrogen peroxide ...always worked for me! Just a 1mml \per liter of a 3% solution and a 50% water change the next day. After a week there will be no blue al

This will be my last solution. I have very sensitive fish and not feeling a lot for this. Also no idea were i could get this.

 

[chris1805]

Yesterday i dimmed the light and again added some phosphates and nitrates since there was zero of both in the tank which makes it impossible to grow for the plants. Yesterday the Po4 was at 0.5 and the No3 was at 10 after adding them both.

 

[dw1305]

Hi all,

Yesterday i dimmed the light and again added some phosphates and nitrates since there was zero of both in the tank which makes it impossible to grow for the plants. Yesterday the Po4 was at 0.5 and the No3 was at 10 after adding them both.

I agree with Gerald, if you wait it will go away.

I don't see any problem with adding some plant nutrients, but you almost certainly didn't have 0 ppm NO3- or PO4--- in you tank. The problem with testing for both these anions is that it is quite problematic, even with analytical grade kit.

You only need very low levels of nutrients for many "low light" plants to grow, basically if you have water and light plants will grow. I like to use some floating plants as both a shading element and also because they have access to aerial CO2. You can use these for the <"Duckweed Index"> to tell you when you need to feed you plants.

It isn't legal to use antibiotics against cyanobacteria in the UK, but it treats the symptom, not the cause. The same really applies to H2O2. If conditions remain suitable for cyanobacteria they will soon re-appear. Cyanobacteria are universal in damp situations.

In my experience cyanobacteria outbreaks are associated with systems where there aren't many plants and the filter has impeded flow, often because organic matter has ended up in the filter, often when it has been use as a syphon.

I don't have any floss of fine sponge in the filter, I have a coarse sponge on the filter intake (which I clean regularly), and just coarse sponge and/or ceramic rings, Eheim coco-pops etc in the filter.

cheers Darrel

 

[themountain]

This will be my last solution. I have very sensitive fish and not feeling a lot for this. Also no idea were i could get this.

You can get that in every pharmacy and you dont have to worry about sensitive fish, if you are not raising shrimps not one individual is harmed by the procedure. I have wild Ramis and Licourice gourami in a different tank...it cant get more "sensitive" than that

 

[Karin]

Just keep doing water changes, keep the filter clean, water circulation, take the algae out by hand (before the cleaning step) and do not add any phosphates or nitrates. Just clean and clean. They will eventually disappear. Do not over feed the fish. If you can, add some floater plants like Salvinia or Ceratopteris.

 

[MickeM]

Hi chris1805 +all..
I must add some comments ..
I can not see any algae-eating animal at all in your pic..(Snails (Planorbarius corneus) /small catfishes /shrimps..)
This leaves you with a tank that is totaly lacking any kind of effective and grazing algae+"rest"-eaters of reasonable/visable size..
.. and also.. the positive effects of the "non-visable" decaying/spoilage bacterias are often strictly limited in most fine-sized types of sand ..compared to large-sized sand/gravel.. !!

1- Many people avoid snails since they keep a very low pH/kH/poor of calcaeous material..(the poor regrowth of the shell may finally kill them??, they get soft and can easily "crack/ be cracked" !!.)
..and also.. many tank-owners think that snails are uncontrolable/"sent from hell"-animal..but it is often just a matter of what amount+type of food you give your fishes..(restproducts left over) !!!

2- There are not many species of catfishes that actually is the natural "perfect match" for Apistos , both fish-types often inhabit/enjoys swimming at the bottom-area + I guess they are rarely found in the same biotopes.. or at least not exactly at the same places as the majority of creek/
puddle-living Apistos???!!

3- I don`t really know if any shrimps enjoy a pH5-tank, but I think ph6 ought to work.. if you want to keep any shrimps at all!!

So... this may lead to a situation where you have a positive habitat for algaes as long as the plant-growth has not
yet been perfectly/enough established in the tank !! (Floating plants may help ..absorbing nutrients +shading some light from the algaes!)

What may help in your situation are some very frequent( every day..3-4 days in a row) small waterchanges (5-15%)..
and then , as Karin says, "take the algae out by hand" / hoovering !
This minimizes the amount of algae-cells/"individuals"/spores that may restart to grow after every separate waterchange..
.. and it may also help some plants to thrive better and get established in a good way !!
This method has worked for me every time!!!!

All these tips are my recommendations as long as the light-time used + temperature + the feeding of fishes remain at "normal" levels !!

Cheers,
Micke.

 

[chris1805]

Thanks micke, Sadly it's only a small tank so there are not really algae eating species that could really live in here. There is 1 octocinclus in there that was getting a beating in my other tank from my apisto's with fry. I tried the small water changes every 3-4 days but that is not helping me out (got all the algae out every times).

One thing that might come in handy to know how it all started. First of this tank was just a black water tank with the driftwood, more dead leaves and full of floaters. The roots of the floater became to long and started reaching the sand and even growing in the sand. So i decided to cut the roots off. The following started to happen: The algae started growing into the roots of the floaters, i tried to clean them but not all were a succes and i had to throw some away. Sadly they multiplied slower than the algae grow so i had to throw more floaters away each time and i was doing water changes every 3 days to clean the wood. Sadly the tannings got also less and less. So in my desperate move i tried placing lots of plants in it, but this also did not help. Currently i am simply thinking about doing a waterchange and remove as much algae as possible and than go for the blackout of 72 hours.

 

[MickeM]

OK Chris... I can see the problem with entering any small algae-eating creatures then.. (the risk of a quick death..?, if attacked by the tetras + Dicrossus sp.)
In the pic/this situation it also seems like you have got a quite " strong" light effect/set-up (for such a shallow/small tank), so this could add to problems when removing the floating plants as well I guess..(+ the possibility of remaining nutrients in the water+sand from the earlier set-up..).. + the unshaded light may be raising temp a few degrees as well.. compared to earlier set-up..?

If you will try "my" idea.. I think the partially hoovering of the sand every time+ small waterchanges is the key factor here( not much new water to set tannins+else chemically "free" from roots and "leaf-litter"..), but also to add some new floating plants+/ nice snails if possible.. (I never use the "cone-shaped" snails.. if they may eat any Apisto-eggs at night..!!?? ..+ another good thing.. Planorbarius corneus is one of few animals which even seem to eat blue-green cyanobacteria/algae if no other food is available for them!! )

In natural black water enviroments I would guess that the total/any light-effect reaching into any depth, to speak about, is strictlty limited..
The "blackness" may reduce this !!??
.. and also.. I really think we often misinterprets how long time/many hours(during the day) the sun radiation actually breaks through in a straight/90-degree angle toward the water-surface in our "small Apisto-creeks" .... (.. without being shaded from emersed vegetation in a djungle)..
In the main river- Yes!/Maybe? .. in a tributary creek , I would say- No !! .. watch pics in this link..

http://apisto.sites.no/page.aspx?PageId=83

.. so as you say.. reduced light-time is an option !!
and BTW.... don`t forget the cleaning of the inside glass every time..!

Good luck,
Micke.

 

[gerald]

I've never found any shrimp, snail or fish that is useful for eating cyano slime algae.