Algae problem

[glolite]

Yeuch blue-green slimy algae in my big tank I've tried minimal lighting, less food and a nitrate songe for weeks and the problem still persists. As the nitrate sponge is active for 6 weeks (so still active) is it safe to use protalon 707 a proprietary algae remover?

 

[iggy01]

Glolite, what is your nitrate level? B.G.A. is often seen in tanks with low nitrates.

This link gives several options to try and may be useful to you.

I've only ever used Protalon 707 once and I had several fish deaths in the following weeks ( very unusual ). It could have just been a coincidence of course. I have also seen reports on this forum of people using it without any problems.

Good luck!

 

[glolite]

Thanks iggy. My nitrAtes are between 5 & 10;NitrItes nil and ammonia nil. The heater in that tank packed up overnight so temp down to 23 this morning. I've put in the spare and am waiting for the temp to come back up to do a water change but perhaps I shouldn't this week as that will take the nitrates down further.

Thanks for the link, very useful. My rainbow cichlid is looking puffy and red around the gills so that tank isn't having much luck at the moment. I wonder if the algae is irritating him as it's pretty heavily infested. Not sure what to do really as if i do the blackout treatment I can't keep an eye on the cichlid, don't want to use proton with a sickly fish, can't manually remove it because it's all stuck in the sand and breaks up, so really I'm stuffed

 

[iggy01]

You've got my sympathy!

Just for info, there's been some threads on the dreaded cyano over in the plants and planted tank forum just recently.

Might be worth a read if you haven't already done so.

Good luck!

 

[glolite]

Thanks. Do you think it's worth adding nitrate in the form of plant fertilise?

 

[iggy01]

Is your tank well planted? Cyanobacteria is often seen in planted tanks because the nitrate is constantly getting used up by the plants. It often appears in tanks with nitrates below 5 mg/l. Once the cyano has become established you have to kill it off first, usually by a blackout or anti-biotics. Just adding nitrate at this stage doesn't always work.

When it has been killed off you need to make sure the nitrate doesn't drop too low again. This is usually achieved in a planted tank by adding KNO3 (potassium nitrate). As for tanks with no or few plants, I would have thought a normal fish load would be enough to stop nitrate falling.

Do you know how reliable your nitrate test kit is? I've got two, both bought in the last 6 months and both give totally different readings.

 

[yvez9]

i had a small outbreak recently on the top of some leaves

i was lucky to catch it before it got on the substrate. I just removed the plant that was covered and trimmed the others.

 

[glolite]

The tank has some plants but I have cichlids and a silver shark, both of which nibble the plants. I had the algae problem so put in one of those nitrate spnges. Could that have made it worse? My readings today were ammonia nil, nitrites nil nitrates between 5-10

 

[iggy01]

The tank has some plants but I have cichlids and a silver shark, both of which nibble the plants. I had the algae problem so put in one of those nitrate spnges. Could that have made it worse? My readings today were ammonia nil, nitrites nil nitrates between 5-10

Sorry glolite......you did mention you had cichlids (plant destroyers) in one of your earlier posts.

I don't know whether the nitrate sponges would make it worse or not. I think once it has a hold, it can take a lot of shifting.

Hopefully, once your cichlid is okay you may be able to do a blackout. Even if it doesn't cure it completely, it should give you a bit of a respite for a while.

I think yvez9 had the right idea by attacking it as soon as it was spotted.

 

[netobeto]

what i would do is add an algea eater fish that worked for me.

 

[Bloo]

Yes but algae eaters do not touch cyanobacteria.