Algae problem

[Paulsha]

image.jpegimage.jpegimage.jpeg

Don't know if this has been covered or if anyone can help.

My seem to of slowed with there growing and I have an algae problem.

The tank has been setup for 8 months and everything had been going well (discus are doing very well now and have grow quite a lot), however now some plants have algae on them and it keeps building up on the gravel. All the water parameters have been stable with 2 water changes a week however for the last month the algae keeps happening and plant growth has slowed.

Does anyone have any ideas??

[jmf3460]

it looks like BGA (blue green algae) google it. It is not actually an algae rather a cyanobacteria. there is an antibacterial medication you can add to the tank to rid of it called Ethromycin i think. IMO this is a mere bandaid, the cause of this BGA is likely not enough flow in those areas, increase flow to those areas or add an air stone. If i were you, i would siphon it all out, if it has a really funky musky odor then it is for sure BGA. once you get most of it out add an air stone and see what happens.

[DJW]

Algae is really good at outcompeting the plants for available nutrients, which might explain the slowing growth of the plants. You could try some root tabs after getting rid of some of the BGR. The plants are also in competition with the filter bacteria for available nitrogen... so if you can give them a little something like root tabs it may help.

[Paulsha]

I have an air stone running on a night and co2 during the day when the lights are on. Should I try turning off the co2 and running the air stone all the time.

The plant that has it on seems to be in the flow but I'll try moving it round.

Would purigen have anything to do with it as it seems to of started when I added that to the filter instead of active carbon after reading that was better for discus

[Paulsha]

The tank has a dirt bottom under the gravel so I shouldn't need root tabs, would additional fertiliser be needed and if so what would be best (is seachem flourish excel good)

[Chad Hughes]

The tank has a dirt bottom under the gravel so I shouldn't need root tabs, would additional fertiliser be needed and if so what would be best (is seachem flourish excel good)

The presence of algae is always related to a nutrient imbalance and may be too much or too little macro/micro nutrients, light (poor quality or too much/too little), too long photoperiod. Low CO2 levels.

[jmf3460]

this is not actually an algae, it is a bacteria. cyanobacteria, caused by stale stagnant water.

[Paulsha]

Tank is running the lights that came with the tank. Fluval Roma 240 litre

One Power-Glo Fluorescent Aquarium Tube 40W 106.68cm (42in) T8
One Aqua-Glo Fluorescent Aquarium Tube 40W 106.68cm (42in) T8

The CO2 runs at a light green/yellow on the indicator.

Would the seachem purigen be removing some nutrients or do I need to add some? Is there a way to test?

[Paulsha]

Would I be better replacing the standard outlet that came with the tank to a spraybar

[Filip]

Seachem purigen dont take plant nutrients out , its a plant safe alternative i have checked that on their technical support site , and its not the cause of BGA ,thats for sure .
BGA ussualy appears in new ,unmature tanks. Maybe you have done some big gravel and filter cleaning and your tank is now going through a Mini-cycle again.

Beside eritromicin and H2O2 treatments , you have i thin it was called Blue Exit product from Easy -life for this problem .

Natural ways to battle it are : more WCs and tank and algae cleaning rouine , High flow and current , more oxigenated water ,filter flos on pumps for finer mechanical filtration to trap the floating BGAs , more fastgrowing plants and most importantly patience, as it can be a long battle indeed

[Paulsha]

So to confirm the best way to tackle this without chemicals as I would rather not is to increase flow some how, add more filter floss to catch free floating in the filter, increase oxygen with air stone (surface movement) and remove as much as I can when I can.

Should I leave co2 running during the day?
Should I get some extra fertiliser for plants? If so which?
Would it be best to cut plants back a little or leave as they currently are just removing the blue green affected parts?

I am sure more questions will come up

[Filip]

So to confirm the best way to tackle this without chemicals as I would rather not is to increase flow some how, add more filter floss to catch free floating in the filter, increase oxygen with air stone (surface movement) and remove as much as I can when I can.

Should I leave co2 running during the day?
Should I get some extra fertiliser for plants? If so which?
Would it be best to cut plants back a little or leave as they currently are just removing the blue green affected parts?

I am sure more questions will come up

increase flow -pump with floss on the places where you got most BGA after you cleaned it your self , thats ussualy at the botom -gravel.

Leave the co2 on in -discus safe , green -drop checker zone (if you got drop checker).
i would recomend battle with leaner water column as you can get , so dont put extra fertilizers just PPS lowest dose .
Dont cut leaves and plants ,you can clean bga with hands its very soft algae.

Try it natural first for few weeks , if you get sick an tired you can always switch to chemistry.

[Jack L]

http://www.amazon.com/Boyd-Enterpris...+algae+remover

works and you get more for you money compared to ultralife

i had to deal with it in different tanks, D and other. i found plenty of conflicting theory on the web. the one tank the water flow was so high it was nuts, and the BGA still found a slow zone to take hold and spread.

in the end i used this and within a couple days it was all in my filter sock to dispose. the stuff stinks, and it spreads FAST, and it covers your plants and wrecks them. the cleanup crew ignores it, but after it was killed by remover, they did eat some of it.

the only thing i can point to is that it happened when i added some cabamba from a web seller, the other person i knew that got the same plant from them, also started having issues with BGA following that plant introduction.

i tried non chem, but found it useless, if i would have done chemi clean from beginning i would have saved some nice plants that took MONTHS to grow.

[Paulsha]

Thanks I'll take a look at that, is it easy to use?

Has anyone else used this?

[strawberryblonde]

Hi there,

I'm going to go ahead and repeat what I said back in August when you first had these discus and were having illness problems.

They are juveniles and you aren't doing what you need to do to raise them properly. You said back in August that you were going to remove the gravel, but you haven't done that. It's now been nearly 3 months and from what I can see in the pics you posted, your discus haven't grown much at all.

Now you have cyanobacteria in the tank, and even though some have told you that it's probably due to stagnant pockets in the tank and/or excess nutrients, you still don't want to fix it properly and do what's best for your discus.

1) You need to remove the gravel. You only have a few plants in the tank and they can be placed in pots or tied to driftwood.

2) With so few plants, you really don't need the CO2.

3) You need to do a lot more water changes. We talked in the other thread about reducing the water temp to 28C so that you can increase the amount of your water changes. And they should be done daily till your discus are 5".

These are just the very basic things that you need to start doing. Or you can ignore advice again and then come back in another couple of months with more problems. I'm only trying to help you grow out your discus and keep them healthy.

Your tank is trying to tell you that you need to make changes.