Green slime algae

[Erk]

Im starting to get some green slimy algae on the glass and on the waterfall out of the bio wheel filter. The brown driftwood is starting to turn green also....any ideas on how to fix this? Too much of something, or not enough of something? 2x96watt CF 6,700k plant tubes, no pressurized co2 yet, and no UV sterilizer.

Thanks a lot!

[ellwa]

any direct sunlight?

[Erk]

Thanks for the quick reply ellwa.....I really dont think it gets any direct sunlight....maybe the lights are ON too long? 10-10?

Thanks

[ILLUSN]

CHECK PHOSPHATE, IF IT'S ZERO PROABLY TOO MUCH LIGHT AND NOT ENOUGH CO2. HOW MAY FAST GROWING PLANTS DO YOU HAVE? I HAVE SLIME ALGAE IN MY HOREMANNI TANK, IT HAS HIGH LIGHT HIGH CO2 BUT NO FAST GROWING PLANTS AND MY SLOW GROWING ECHS CAN'T REALLY OUT GROW THEW ALGAE

[scott bowler]

illusn why the cap lock dude hehe

[Grae]

hi mate

I am guessing your light may be too intense for not running co2.
I dont know tank specs( litres and size) so it is a guess.


Graeme

[Erk]

Thanks for your help! I ordered the Red Sea Turbo CO2 Bio-System yesterday, should be here on monday, so if I dont have enough CO2, hopefully this helps! I checked phosphate last night, and that is another stupid test, but it didnt look like the results were 0, so Im just gonna sit and wait for the Turbo to arrive!

Thanks again!

[Erk]

HOW MAY FAST GROWING PLANTS DO YOU HAVE?

The only fast growing one Im aware of is the Hornwort

[duck]

Check your Nitrates,If it's slimy and cover's your plants and wood you could have blue green algea(BGA)
Increase your Nitrate's for one,The lighting is for what size tank? alot of lighting for no CO2 at all.

[Erk]

The nitrates were very high thursday night, and I did a 40% water change last night (Friday) I havent checked them again yet. The tank is a 46 gallon bowfront (3ft long)...real CO2 will be here on monday! Its been some experimentation until now with various cheaper things, and obviously its not gonna cut it. I follow the seachem dosing schedule with the flourish line, however, the only bottle I dont have is the phosphorus

Thanks a lot everyone

[ILLUSN]

Erk, grab a few cheap bunches of wyseria (hydrophila difformus sorry spelling wrong) and maybe add a little duckweed both of these grow VERY fast and will quickly consume all excess nutrient, thin the duckweed every 3 or 4 days so it dosn't compleaty block the surface and you should have algae under control (withCO2 of course)

[nicholas76]

Throw a few of these in your cannister.



http://www.aquariumsuppliesaustralia.com.au/store/cart.php?m=product_list&c=133


Not a long term fix but may help you gain some control of the algae bloom.

[Erk]

nicholas76 what were you referring to in that link? The nitra zorb? I do think my nitrates get a lil out of hand in between my weekly water changes, but I thought the zorb would absorb all the nitrates? I havent been dosing the tank with nitrogen cause of the nitrates being high, and figuring the nitrates I already have would be considered enough to work with the phosphorus and potassium I dose?

Thanks for your help...I do still have an issue with this algae on everything. I picked up another otto this weekend. Still no SAE at my LFS

Thanks!

[nicholas76]

HI,

It wont suck it all out but will reduce it significantly ( in my experience ). It kept the nitrate level to under 5ppm in my planted tank for example.

Again this might not be what your after but if your readings have exploded but it may assist you in getting it under control during your water changes.

[Erk]

Thanks a lot, I will get some in the near future, and throw it in there...should I replace the bio-chem zorb pouch with this nitra-zorb pouch, or put both of them in the cannister? Its a rena xp2, so I dont have that much room for all this stuff down there?

Thanks again!

[Erk]

Sorry thought I would mention I currently have the foam and the bio chem stars, and ceramic rings in there, with the bio chem zorb...thats why I say I dont have a lot of room..the area I have to use additional media is pretty much full already

Thanks

[ILLUSN]

Use both together biochem zorb will take out nitrates, but if they're still high the nitrazorb might be needed, how's your phosphate, did you add any fast growing plants? is the co2 helping?

[Erk]

I have the hornwort only still :( I think the co2 is helping a lil bit, I cant really say anything about the phosphate, the test is rather crappy, and I have been dosing with the seachem phosphorus as recommended in their dosing chart? Should I back off from this? I will get out tomorrow, and pick up some fast growing plants, and the nitra-zorb...and try to find some room in my cannister to put it in, with the biochem zorb.

Thanks ILLUSN...this website is wonderful, and very helpful! Timely fashion too!

[ILLUSN]

STOP ADDING PHOSPHATE!!!!!! :banghead
excess nitrate alone + high light = some algae
excess nitrate + excess iron +high light = LOTS of hair algae
excess nitrate + excess phosphate +high light = LOTS & LOTs & LOTS of ALGAE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

planted tanks are always a balance between light, nutrients, CO2 and plant load. if you have excess of the 1st 2 you will have algae problems (as I do in my rare swords tank) excess of 3 = dead fish (as in my now former bristlenose tank :cry:) give your red sea bio system a chance and try to use fast growers to soak up your nitrate ideally you want PO4=0 and nitrate = 5-20 ( though my discus dont mind 30). Sorry I cant be of more help.

[Erk]

Thanks ILLUSN, I will stop dosing with phosphorus and nitrogen, and get out to the LFS and get some nitra-zorb. Im curious if you think I should also stop dosing with the flourish iron, since the eco-complete says it is rich in iron? I have just been following the recommended dosing schedule from seachem, as given to me in a diffferent thread. I will also get some fast growers while Im out today.

Thanks for your help, I really appreciate it!

[psamers]

It sounds like you might have a dose of the dreaded Blue Green Algae. I have just had my second bout with this insidious pest. the problem here is that it isn't an algae, but a bacteria. Therefore the advice about light, algae eating fish etc just doesn't help. If it is cyanobacteria, you will find it may return as a think green sheet overnight, after a thorough cleaning, even though the lights are off.
I tried many of the solutions to be found online, but the only one that worked for me was to treat the tank with erythromycin. You will find references to this on the net. One of them is http://www.malawicichlidhomepage.com/aquainfo/algae_erythromycin.html.
I used a suspension of 400mg /ml rather than capsules, and dosed to 5mg/litre.

You may have to be imaginative about how you get the erythromycin. Perhaps your Vet may help.

[ILLUSN]

do you have any red plants in the tank? if you do you have enough light for them to be RED! if not keep up the iron. does your algae cover the substrate in sheets as well as the leaves and stems? if so it might be blue green algae. try erythromyacin. works a treat. keep at it and keep us posted if the fast growing plants and co2 clear up your algae

[Erk]

Thanks for your help guys! The algae is kinda blue greenish, but it doesnt really cover the substrate in sheets, or come and go overnight, but it does seem to come back kinda quickly. I picked up some wysteria last night, and rearranged a lot of things in the tank. I still had some "fake" gravel in the tank that I wanted to get out, and thats mostly where the algae was on the bottom of the tank, but not on the eco-complete. I will have to take a look at things when I get home from work. The LFS was sold out of the nitra-zorb for my filter, but I will keep looking for it. My red plants are red, so I will back off the iron, and just dose flourish excel, flourish, and flourish trace, and see what happens. I do have a vet friend that may be helpful with the erythromyacin if need be

Thanks for the tip! I will get some updated pics up hopefully by the end of this week, depending on how long it takes for things to settle out

Thanks again

[Erk]

Got some pics to share of the green algae....picked up some nitra-zorb for the cannister filter last night...hope that helps!

Thanks for your help guys!

[Erk]

here is a pic that shows the lil green algae spots on the glass

Thanks!

[Erk]

oops...wrong pic! haha! The bio wheel filter (black intake tube) will be removed eventually! Can anyone recommend what to use in these hang on the back type filters that usually use those carbon pads, since ive read carbon is no good?

here you go

Thanks a lot

[Erk]

Nitrates are 20 from the tap :shock: I never really watched these in the past, and never had problems, but since discus are "picky" with their water quality, I wanna get it right. I have a pouch of nitra-zorb in the cannister as suggested, with the bio-chem zorb, and ceramic rings, plus all the foam as required.

Suggestions?

Thanks a lot

[psamers]

Those photos don't look to me like blue green algae, I'd be dropping in a couple of bristlenose and expecting it to all be gone in about two days!

[ILLUSN]

Mate thats not blue green algae. get your nutrients under control and that will dissapear, if thats all the algae you have with 2x96W and no fast growing plants WELL DONE! don't worry about the green spot algae thats a normal part of a high(er) light tank. with CO2 nutrient control and some fast growers you'll have an algae "free" tank in no time.

[Erk]

Thanks ILLUSN, I had some issues with the light, and the co2 this past week, so hopefully this week works a lil better. I have the hornwort, and wysteria, and nitra-zorb in there now, so hopefully it starts getting a lil better soon. I havent been dosing anything except excel this past week, and it seems a lil better. Im glad its not BGA!

Thanks again

[gro]

what you guys say make sense and could be the reason for my bad luck.

had a thin layer of 'green sheet' algea too ...actually started in my java moss - i think possibly it was getting too dense, and then started forming on the glass.

psamers - you mention a bacteria - that may partly explain the HITH i got in one of my disc.

the vet said probly nitrates levels high that why he got it.

illusion - you mention wysteria to aborbe etc... - funny thing is that this algea stuff began as my back ground plants began to dwindle. (now gone -eaten) - thus not aborbing etc.

the vet wouldn't give me metro - and told me to use pimafix. - treated the tank for a while but disc died.

just thinking should i give the pimafix another go - just for the bacteria algea - ?? -

(never been good at chemistry)

[ILLUSN]

pima fix wont do anything for your bacteria or algae problems, give the tank a good clean (deep gravel vac srub glass wood etc). try using HEAPS of fast growers, when i setup my last tank (4x2x1.5) i started with 10 bunches of wysteria, 4 bunches of blue strictica in addition to my swords, the fast growers keept everything in check but required constsnt (every 24-48hrs) pruning. i didnt start fertilizing untill the blue strictica started showing deficiencies (wellow leaves with bright green veins) and the red horemanni's wern't red any more. give good light, GOOD CO2, and be stingy with the ferts (florish is proably the best, red sea is ok but watch out for hair algae, aquasonic not so good).
btw pimafix is useless for HITH use octozin by waterlife if you cant get metro.

[gro]

thanks for that...have been trying to find blue stricta for a while now but can't get it from my local shops ..have to take a drive...blue stricta has always done really well in my tank,

ps. won't be trying pima fix again....pps would you believe i paid $20 for a 20minute phone call to a vet who wouldn't give me metro and told me to use pimafix??

[TW]

Hi there

I don't know if this will help you, but I thought I'd share my experience with green hair algae. I couldn't tell if that's what you have or not. Pics tell the best story, so here some are shots of my previous problem taken 11.05.07
http://i95.photobucket.com/albums/l128/TankWatcher/90L/000_1176.jpg http://i95.photobucket.com/albums/l128/TankWatcher/90L/000_1177.jpg

To remove the hair algae from the hard scape only, I lowered the water below the level of algae on the wood & with a clean (as in never used) child's paintbrush, I painted Flourish Excel directly on the affected wood & hard scape & then filled the tank. Don't paint it directly on the plants as the leaves may melt & die - this is for HARD SCAPE ONLY).

This pic was taken on 13.05.07 and already shows improvement
http://i95.photobucket.com/albums/l128/TankWatcher/90L/000_1222.jpg

This pic was taken 30.05.07 & the stuff was now gone (pls forgive the glare & reflection in the pic)
http://i95.photobucket.com/albums/l128/TankWatcher/90L/000_1285-1.jpg

If you try this, do take care not to paint the Excel directly on your plants. Within days you should see the algae start to change colours (towards red) as it dies. What doesn't fall off on it's own will rub off easily with your fingers.

Next I tried it on BBA, but with a different method. I don't have pics of this, bit it did work for me. I have a clean medicine dropper that I only use for fish purposes. I sucked some Fourish Excel into the eye dropper & with the water still in the tank, I squirted the Excel directly on the plants. Doing it this way, it seemed that the Excel was diluted enough not to damage the leaves, but concentrated enough to kill the BBA. Within days, the BBA should start to turn reddish & die.

If you try this, I'd do a spot test first on a single leaf & see how the plant reacts. In fact, I would do a spot test on each variety of plant - cause different plants might react differently. Better to damage only one leaf than a whole plant.

Anyway, good luck with your plants.

[Erk]

Thanks TankWatcher I think the only algae I have no is the BBA and maybe a lil BGA in some areas....Im working on getting these things under control, but I really appreciate the advice, and the pictures were great too :D

Thanks again