Bga Headache X2

[Whitey_144]

Hi,

I'm having algae problems, Its so frustrating!! the algae seems to be carpeting the plants and I believe its Blue Green Algae BGA. Please could you help me!!! details are below, what can I do? would a catfish eat this? as I want to get one anyway. (I have same problem in both my tanks).


The last 3 weekends and today I did 70% water changes (bigger percentage than I use to) and manual removal as much as possible, but by each weekend it's back to same as before.



Water is usually ammonia & nitrite 0, nitrate 40/100 (hard to tell, but red on the API test), quite neutral PH 7-7.4 and 160 TDS (but over the last few weeks I've lowered it to 90.

I have 2 flurescent bulbs (powerglo I think) on the Rio 240.

I've been dosing easycarbo and TPN+ before and didnt see that helped, so last month I haven't dosed, plants are vallis, anubias so are ok, Vallis is actually doing well and spreading everywhere. I did put in about 3 root tabs about 3months ago.

I've tried a blackout for a few days a couple of times, which works, but it slows the plants down and the algae is quicker to grow back, so probably doesnt help long term.

(Also my Amazon swords arent growing big, they have turned miniature and the java moss has died from suffocation of the algae

please help, before I give up!

thanks!
Adam






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[m_attt]

Do a big water change then 7 day blackout. Then need to add more potassium nitrate when adding ferts .

 

[Whitey_144]

Do a big water change then 7 day blackout. Then need to add more potassium nitrate when adding ferts .

thanks for your reply.

ok, I'll try another blackout, most i've done before is 4 days, is 7 safe? can I quickly peek for 5mins every now and then to feed the fish?

How many days without light before the plants die?


when you say potassium nitrate, is this all included in TPN+? is this different to the Nitrate I test for, because on my test, I think Nitrate is about 60-100, which I thought was alot?

 

[Ps3Steveo]

No peeking dude, give it 5 days.

 

[Whitey_144]

HELP!! I seriously need help!!!

I did a blackout for 5 days, yesterday all the fish were fine and the BGA gone except a few tiny patches. So I turned the lights on for about 7hrs and did a 50/60% water change whilst cleaning debris on the sand (I dont often clean the sand), I then dosed about 13ml of TPN+ (into 220/30litres tank). All was good, but today I got home, turned the lights on and saw that 9 of 20 cardinal tetras are dead!!

The angelfish are fine and the apistos are fine, in fact the 2 females both have fry.

What could have caused this? I don't think it was bullying, because only the apistos chase them away from the fry, but never far and not to mass death!

I've also done large water changes before, the heat does drop when I put RO water in, but then I put hot tap water to even it out...not had deaths before (I also used prime liked normal on the tap water).

The only things thats different to before is the long blackout (although i've done shorter ones before), the larger TPN+ dose (hadn't been dosing anything recently) and the substrate clean. Any ideas what wiped them out?

The remaining cardinals are very skittish and sitting on the sand, as soon as i turn the lights out, they are fine and hovering about 3 inches up and acting normal. I'm thinking maybe its too bright? (and with less plants/BGA) less cover stressed them out too much? The lighting is two T8 powerglo bulbs on a 4ft tank.

Also, I can already see after 1 day the BGA is growing back. I'm sure within a few days it will be completely back....what to do?!!! I was going to do another blackout, after seeing it didnt get rid completely, but now that fish are dying, im scared to blackout straight away until im confident not more will die.

PLEASE HELP!!

I will try to get some photos up.

ps, I did a water test today, TDS is 111, ammonia & Nitrite 0. Nitrate looked slightly lower than normal, around 40 (which is weird as I does with TPN+), PH, i couldnt tell (bad lighting).

is there potassium nitrate in TPN+? or just another nitrate?

 

[Ps3Steveo]

Apisto violence, any money on it as they are evil when they have young or spawn.

 

[Whitey_144]

Apisto violence, any money on it as they are evil when they have young or spawn.

I thought this, but there is another space and they've spawned many times before without killing any. The females are the only ones that chase otehrs away, but once they are over 6 inches away the mum goes back and the tetras have space. (although i think this is another added stress).

could stress from lights, water change etc have killed them?

More importantly now, how do i get rid of the BGA so that i can stop doing stressful blackouts. I read low nitrate is a cause, and people have said add potassium nitrate. Is there only one type of nitrate? and is this the API test and also included in TPN+?

 

[Ps3Steveo]

Quoted from reliable source

[background=rgb(0, 0, 0)]Often caused by very low nitrates. It is fairly common to have it growing in the substrate against the front glass from where it can spread. Sometimes it appears with new setups that have had light and ammonia present at some point. Dirty substrates and filters may also bring it on. Poor water circulation is another possible cause.[/background]

Anything else in there that could be a cause? Whats your nitrite like? As for deaths mate Apistos are very unpredictable when spawning no matter how many times they have before.

 

[cuda]

Cardinals are a soft water fish and possibly with the large water change you hardness has increased a lot more than usual? A sharp change in temp may also have shocked them. Try adding ottos, snails, and siamese algae eaters they will do a lot of damage to the algae.

 

[Ps3Steveo]

I give up

 

[Whitey_144]

Quoted from reliable source

[background=rgb(0, 0, 0)]Often caused by very low nitrates. It is fairly common to have it growing in the substrate against the front glass from where it can spread. Sometimes it appears with new setups that have had light and ammonia present at some point. Dirty substrates and filters may also bring it on. Poor water circulation is another possible cause.[/background]

Anything else in there that could be a cause? Whats your nitrite like? As for deaths mate Apistos are very unpredictable when spawning no matter how many times they have before.

thats interesting, it says ammonia. Ammonia and nitrite are always zero, but there was a lot of muck on the substrate which i removed this week, maybe that added to it, but not always detectable.

The male apisto can be aggressive, but always towards apistos or even the larger angelfish, its more the female that goes for the cardinals if they get near, i suppose between all 3 of the apistos they may have got stressed from being chased from each area of the tank.

ive bougth a sunglo bulb, and i wil remove the reflectors, do another blackout, large water change and then give a day without lights, and then see what happens... fingers crossed!

Cardinals are a soft water fish and possibly with the large water change you hardness has increased a lot more than usual? A sharp change in temp may also have shocked them. Try adding ottos, snails, and siamese algae eaters they will do a lot of damage to the algae.

thats true, they are but I use RO water and do one/two bucket RO one bucket tap, i test the TDS during the changes and its never swung too much...however, this could change the PH i believe which could be another stress factor.

I read fish cant eat BGA because its toxic (bacteria not algae), but i think snails might be able too, do you know which type might eat it?

 

[Ps3Steveo]

No snails will eat it mate, nothing does really, most inverts pick at GDA.

 

[Whitey_144]

Some good news! after a few weeks of big water changes no real improvement, but after a good substrate clean, 1 of 2 bulb replaced and some new plants added with 10ml of TPN+ dosed everyday, ive had a week without and BGA growb back. I can see a couple of small areas, which I will remove tomorrow, but I think the ecology has changed enough to have stopped it.

Is the nitrate on the API test, same as potassium nitrate? If BGA doesnt like low potassium nitrate, will dosing TPN+ help, or does TPN+ also have a different type of nitrate?

 

[Ps3Steveo]

Its the same stuff mate. Sorry been a while since I been on this thread but do you have CO2 in there?

 

[Whitey_144]

no worries! so If it's the same stuff, dosing TPN+ should help stop the BGA.

I don't have a carbon setup, I have 2 tanks, soon to be 3 and wasn't sure I could afford CO2 on all of them. I had orginially been using TPN+ and easy carbo liquid C02 (but with work, its difficult to dose same time of day). But then both got this BGA problem and dosing didnt help, in fact I thought I was feeding the BGA. This week I just dosed TPN+ (and 2ml of carbon on the 1st day) and added a few root tabs with the new plants. If I start dosing liquid carbon again, I assume the plants will use more Nitrate up, and the BGA may comeback because of the low nitrate?

I'm going to do a 30% water change/substrate clean today (and 40%water change tomorrow to set the 3rd tank up), but as my API test kit isn't clear on nitrate levels, always looks red 40-100 on the test, is there a risk that over time nitrate will build up/lower after WC. The problem I'm finding is keeping a balance. But I assume a water change is good anyway to get rid of the bad organics the BGA like to use?

Is there such a thing as an electronic nitrate tester (or PH tester, can never tell this on the liquid API) thats not so expensive? (I have a good one for TDS).

sorry for all the questions! and thanks for your help.