"Shawn" wrote in message
...
I can't take it any more. I simply cannot beat or keep up with the
blue-green algae outbreak I've had now for about 5 months. I've tried
everything. Blacking out the tank, removing my CO2 system, algicide
treatments - nothing works. It makes my tanks look like crap, and it's
killing all my plants. Their leaves are coated with thick slimy green
sheets of blue-green algae, and they're falling apart little by little.
My plants used to thrive and my tank was lush. My community fish
species don't seem to care one way or another, but for me it's just
simply not a joy to watch my tank anymore.

So now, looks like I face a compete take down. But I have some
questions :

1) Do blue-green algae cells die when dried, or do they just do dormant
? The BGA is infused through my gravel substrate so I need to
completely wash that out when I take down. But do I need to treat it
when bleach to ensure BGA's death ? Or will just rinsing and rinsing
and rinsing and then drying for a while do the trick ?

2) Can I save my plants ? These seems to be the things most covered by
BGA. Right down into the roots in the gravel substrate. Can I
bleach-dip the plants and kill the algae ? Or am I better off throwing
them out and starting over ?

3) My driftwood pieces are also covered in BGA. Should I boil ? Dry ?
Bleach ? What about other things like my filter components. If BGA
just goes dormant when dried, then something more drastic needs to be
done to ensure I complete do away with it, other than just drying.

4) How should I treat my empty tank and for how long ?

Thanks about it. Any other thoughts/advice would be well appreciated.
Thanks.

Shawn


I wouldn't try the complete tear down yet as Cynobacteria is usually
relatively easy to control, but it sounds like you have unfortunately hit
upon an ideal set of conditions for it to prosper. If your conditions
remain or return to this ideal set, then it would not take much for it to
survive your clean up.

If I remember correctly, Cyno is a nitrate fixer, so controlling your NO3
is one avenue. It does best in stagnant waters, so higher turbulence
often clears it out. If the passive methods don't work, then try some
Erythromycin.
--
www.NetMax.tk