Blue Algae / Cyanobacteria

[BenPenh]

So I ended up striping the tank to a bare bottom after this stuff just wouldn't die... would love to know why it grew in the first place.. went crazy! First I tried removing the driftwood, nope... Then the plants, nope... So now i have removed the substrate also & just have the fish the water & the tank..... This is in my community 400L tank not my Discus but thought I'd be ok posting here.....

[BenPenh]

106064

[bluelagoon]

Looks like it may be too near a natural light source for too long a period.I see a curtain in the back ground.To me it looks more like algae than cyano.

[BenPenh]

Ok thanks. Yes you're right, there is a window close. Curtains will be firmly closed from now on then!

[pitdogg2]

I had problems like that that drove me nuts. Until i was home sick one day and noticed that there was 20 minutes a day that the tank had a sliver of direct sun. Just the corner that had the algae. It does not take much sun to cause a problem. This problem only was in the winter months when the sun is lower in the sky

[Leland F.]

Thats black beard algae. It's caused by either too much light, which I suspect is your problem with the window as others have already noted, or not enough CO2. Planted tanks near windows can be headaches. I did have a 60 gal. walstad tank that got light for a few hours a day, and never had problems though. If your not using CO2, you need to keep your lighting minimal.

-Leland

[undel]

If you keep this out of the direct light and it doesn't go away, flourish excel helped with my BBA problem. BBA is in our local water supply. :-/ It can help many plants grow more lush in lieu of co2, but melts others. It melts BBA really well. Also melts val and crypts though. :-/

[ktm4us6]

I also believe that is not bga, but if you do get it I have used red slime algae remover and it slowly disappeared in a couple weeks. https://www.amazon.com/Boyd-Enterprises-CC02-Chemi-Clean-2/dp/B00025YRJS/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1485203478&sr=8-1&keywords=red+slime+algae+remover

[bluelagoon]

I also believe that is not bga, but if you do get it I have used red slime algae remover and it slowly disappeared in a couple weeks. https://www.amazon.com/Boyd-Enterprises-CC02-Chemi-Clean-2/dp/B00025YRJS/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1485203478&sr=8-1&keywords=red+slime+algae+remover

You can use chemicals but a three day black out will also got rid of BGA and will also get rid of algae.I wonder what the stuff is made from.On one site it says no antibiotics and on another site it says no erythromycin succinate but other forms of erythromycin.

[Leland F.]

Using antibiotics to kill Cyanobacteria will temporarily get rid of the algae, but you haven't fixed the cause of why it's appearing. Most antibiotics are harsh on other inhabitants in your tank. Your algae is not Cyanobacteria in the pic though, it's black beard algae, which has a slight blue-ish green hue.

-Leland

[pitdogg2]

Large 75%+ daily water changes will get rid of algae.

[bluelagoon]

When ever there is some other way to fix things without chemicals,that would be your best bet.I have fish here up in their years who have never been exposed to antibiotics.I would never use a chemical to get rid of cyano or algae.There are other methods.