New to the Forum

[jazzlove]

Hi,

I'm Wayne from San Antonio. I just wanted to introduce myself. I've been keeping discus for about 6 years. What a steep learning curve it's been...!:rolleyes: I have two show tanks, a 200, and a 150. I have 15 Great Lakes Discus from Cary Strong in my 200, and 12 various Thai hybrids in my 150.

All my fish are healthy, but I do have a problem with algae. I'm not sure whether it is blue/green or green. If left alone, it tends form thick mats close to the lights, very dark green in color. Does that sound like blue/green or green? I am in the process of cutting my lighting back from 12 to 6 hours a day, taking advantage of ambient lighting during daylight hours.

I know that I can treat blue/green with EM capsules, and I figure that cutting my lighting back will take care of the rest... Any other suggestions?

BTW, this is a great web site...:grin:

[oodi]

Hi Wayne... Welcome!!!

Judi
:)

[Tad]

Wayne,
sounds like you have some nice setups and discus...how about some pics!
One the algae issue: I would definately cut back the time and see what happens...I suspect it will resolve your problem.

welcome aboard,
Tad

[brewmaster15]

Hi Wayne,
Welcome aboard!Sounds like 2 really nice tanks! I'd like to see those pics also!


Cutting back the light should help. I would not use the erythromycin. even if it was blue green, It only fixes the immediate issue,not the underlying cause, plus It may make the med less effective in your tank down the road for a real problem.

another thing to consider is some bristlenose plecos... they'll work wonders in many cases.

-al

[aqua]

Welcome to the forum!
Like Al has mentioned, get a plecos. It will do the cleaning for you. I would not throw any medicine into the tank that has healthy discus unless it's a must.

[jazzlove]

Sounds like excellent advice, thanks to all. I have begun scaling back the light, with the goal of having the lights on only 6 hours daily in the evening. Right now, they are on 12 hr/day. I read in another post that salt can be effective at controlling algae. Anyone tried it? :confused:

I will take some pics with the digital camera and post a couple...