Sime
Fish Crazy
I’ve recently been battling the BGA or Cyanobacteria as it is also known, so I thought I’d share what I’ve done to overcome it. My tank is a Juwel Rekord 60 – 12 gallons and heavily planted.
It all started one morning when I saw a small amount of it lining the very edge of some lilly leaves, it wasn’t anything major, just a small amount so I scraped it off with my hands – it comes off very easily usually and leaves a horrible slime on your fingers.
A day later it was back but denser than before, so again I scraped it off and left it. It carried on like this for a day or so until I went out for the day and didn’t see the tank until the following night….. the BGA had spread rapidly!
It now covered most of my cabomba (probably due to its small fine leaves catching it) and the tops of my vallis were all matted together as it was so thick, the sides of the tank had it on the glass and around the black box which houses the heater and my stem plants were riddled with it hanging off the roots etc – and this was just in 36 hours. It continued to spread the next day and soon overtook everything. My lighting was on for 9 hours per day - so it obviously avored this.
I did a fair bit of research and thought that the most natural way of getting rid of it before resorting to medications would be to go down the blackout route, although this may not work as there was so much.
So my method was as follows:
- all lights were switched off for a total of 84 hours, (just over three days)
- I removed the CO2 from the tank,
- 50% of the water was changed,
- I cleaned the filters and put a new filter pad into the top,
- covered leaves were removed and walls scrubbed,
- The pump was cleaned so that it was working well and positioned so that it made a small surface movement to make sure there was some oxygen in there for the three days,
- black bin bags were wrapped around the tank 3 layers thick to stop and light at all getting it, and the outlets for the power leads were stuffed with newspaper.
The tank was uncovered after 84 hours and I couldn’t believe that a huge amount of it had vanished! There was some left on the glass which appeared to be dead as it flaked off easily when I scrubbed it. Not only BGA, but all spot and hair algae had gone too. My vallis didn’t survive too well and a good 50 / 60% had to be taken out as it was completely yellow but that’s better than still having Cyanobacteria in there.
A small thing to point out is that not one tiny bit of light should be able to get into the tank – no matter how small - when doing this method. If you’re in doubt (as you cannot always get around each side of it) turn the room lights out and the tank lights on for a minute after wrapping it up and see if any light is shinning out from beneath it.
It’s now been uncovered and running with the lights on for 8 hours (4 on, 4 off, 4 on), CO2 back in etc just as before for 3 days and fingers crossed… all is fine.
My advice to anyone would be to not take this lightly – the first signs of BGA should not be ignored and action should be taken right away to prevent a massive breakout. The blackout method is certainly the best thing to start with as it completely eradicated it – I would follow the steps above and then keep the tank covered for at least 72 hours. Your fish will be fine and the plants will not be effected too much. Also make sure your nitrates are not too low as this is said to cause it, mine are at 20 so it proves it can still survive in higher conditions.
I am now armed with Maracyn incase it returns – it’s a horrible thing to get and I completely sympathise with anyone who gets it, but don’t panic and strip everything at once, try the blackout first off.
That's my experience so far anyway, I completly know what its like to be covered in the stuff. I hope it may be of help to someone else
It all started one morning when I saw a small amount of it lining the very edge of some lilly leaves, it wasn’t anything major, just a small amount so I scraped it off with my hands – it comes off very easily usually and leaves a horrible slime on your fingers.
A day later it was back but denser than before, so again I scraped it off and left it. It carried on like this for a day or so until I went out for the day and didn’t see the tank until the following night….. the BGA had spread rapidly!
It now covered most of my cabomba (probably due to its small fine leaves catching it) and the tops of my vallis were all matted together as it was so thick, the sides of the tank had it on the glass and around the black box which houses the heater and my stem plants were riddled with it hanging off the roots etc – and this was just in 36 hours. It continued to spread the next day and soon overtook everything. My lighting was on for 9 hours per day - so it obviously avored this.
I did a fair bit of research and thought that the most natural way of getting rid of it before resorting to medications would be to go down the blackout route, although this may not work as there was so much.
So my method was as follows:
- all lights were switched off for a total of 84 hours, (just over three days)
- I removed the CO2 from the tank,
- 50% of the water was changed,
- I cleaned the filters and put a new filter pad into the top,
- covered leaves were removed and walls scrubbed,
- The pump was cleaned so that it was working well and positioned so that it made a small surface movement to make sure there was some oxygen in there for the three days,
- black bin bags were wrapped around the tank 3 layers thick to stop and light at all getting it, and the outlets for the power leads were stuffed with newspaper.
The tank was uncovered after 84 hours and I couldn’t believe that a huge amount of it had vanished! There was some left on the glass which appeared to be dead as it flaked off easily when I scrubbed it. Not only BGA, but all spot and hair algae had gone too. My vallis didn’t survive too well and a good 50 / 60% had to be taken out as it was completely yellow but that’s better than still having Cyanobacteria in there.
A small thing to point out is that not one tiny bit of light should be able to get into the tank – no matter how small - when doing this method. If you’re in doubt (as you cannot always get around each side of it) turn the room lights out and the tank lights on for a minute after wrapping it up and see if any light is shinning out from beneath it.
It’s now been uncovered and running with the lights on for 8 hours (4 on, 4 off, 4 on), CO2 back in etc just as before for 3 days and fingers crossed… all is fine.
My advice to anyone would be to not take this lightly – the first signs of BGA should not be ignored and action should be taken right away to prevent a massive breakout. The blackout method is certainly the best thing to start with as it completely eradicated it – I would follow the steps above and then keep the tank covered for at least 72 hours. Your fish will be fine and the plants will not be effected too much. Also make sure your nitrates are not too low as this is said to cause it, mine are at 20 so it proves it can still survive in higher conditions.
I am now armed with Maracyn incase it returns – it’s a horrible thing to get and I completely sympathise with anyone who gets it, but don’t panic and strip everything at once, try the blackout first off.
That's my experience so far anyway, I completly know what its like to be covered in the stuff. I hope it may be of help to someone else
...... Bad memories!!!
'orrible ain't it!!!!!!!
