That's it, I've had it - Blue Green Algae

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

Have you tried large water changes and adding kno3? That's how I get
rid of it.


--
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1970 280SE, 72 280SE | Old wris****ches http://watches.list.mbz.org

The ONLY thing that ever worked for me was Myracin. That product is
fabulous. Try it out, and follow the directions exactly.


Troy



"Richard Sexton" wrote in message
...

Have you tried large water changes and adding kno3? That's how I get
rid of it.


--
Need Mercedes parts ? - http://parts.mbz.org
http://www.mbz.org | Mercedes Mailing lists: http://lists.mbz.org
633CSi 250SE/C 300SD | Killies, killi.net, Crypts, aquaria.net
1970 280SE, 72 280SE | Old wris****ches http://watches.list.mbz.org

My LFS tells me that Myacin and a whole suite of other anitbiotics and fish
medicine are no longer legal to be sold. Any ideas on where I could get it
online ?

Thanks


"Shagster" wrote in message
...
The ONLY thing that ever worked for me was Myracin. That product is
fabulous. Try it out, and follow the directions exactly.


Troy



"Richard Sexton" wrote in message
...

Have you tried large water changes and adding kno3? That's how I get
rid of it.


--
Need Mercedes parts ? - http://parts.mbz.org
http://www.mbz.org | Mercedes Mailing lists: http://lists.mbz.org
633CSi 250SE/C 300SD | Killies, killi.net, Crypts, aquaria.net
1970 280SE, 72 280SE | Old wris****ches http://watches.list.mbz.org

Where can I get KNO3 ? Is that availabe at a LFS ? I do weekly large water
changes - nearly the entire tank actually, leaving just enough for the fish
to keep swimming, before I refill. Then I treat with something called
"ALGAEFIX". This knocked the crap out the BGA (as well as making the rest
of my plants look quite poor), and I contined the treatment for several
weeks, as it said in the directions. But once I stopped, with another
couple weeks the BGA reappeared and gradually got worse again. I don't want
to have to maintain my tank forever on medicine and chemicals. I ran it for
the first 4 years without a single breakout.

Shawn

"Richard Sexton" wrote in message
...

Have you tried large water changes and adding kno3? That's how I get
rid of it.


--
Need Mercedes parts ? - http://parts.mbz.org
http://www.mbz.org | Mercedes Mailing lists: http://lists.mbz.org
633CSi 250SE/C 300SD | Killies, killi.net, Crypts, aquaria.net
1970 280SE, 72 280SE | Old wris****ches http://watches.list.mbz.org

Grants Stump remover. Iyt can be gotten at any garden shop, hardware store
or at places like the BORG and yardbirds.

Bob
"Shawn" wrote in message
...
Where can I get KNO3 ? Is that availabe at a LFS ? I do weekly large
water changes - nearly the entire tank actually, leaving just enough for
the fish to keep swimming, before I refill. Then I treat with something
called "ALGAEFIX". This knocked the crap out the BGA (as well as making
the rest of my plants look quite poor), and I contined the treatment for
several weeks, as it said in the directions. But once I stopped, with
another couple weeks the BGA reappeared and gradually got worse again. I
don't want to have to maintain my tank forever on medicine and chemicals.
I ran it for the first 4 years without a single breakout.

Shawn

"Richard Sexton" wrote in message
...

Have you tried large water changes and adding kno3? That's how I get
rid of it.


--
Need Mercedes parts ? - http://parts.mbz.org
http://www.mbz.org | Mercedes Mailing lists: http://lists.mbz.org
633CSi 250SE/C 300SD | Killies, killi.net, Crypts, aquaria.net
1970 280SE, 72 280SE | Old wris****ches http://watches.list.mbz.org

In article ,
Shawn wrote:
Where can I get KNO3 ? Is that availabe at a LFS ? I do weekly large water
changes - nearly the entire tank actually, leaving just enough for the fish
to keep swimming, before I refill. Then I treat with something called
"ALGAEFIX". This knocked the crap out the BGA (as well as making the rest
of my plants look quite poor), and I contined the treatment for several
weeks, as it said in the directions. But once I stopped, with another
couple weeks the BGA reappeared and gradually got worse again. I don't want
to have to maintain my tank forever on medicine and chemicals. I ran it for
the first 4 years without a single breakout.

Ah, ok, the algaefix killed off the firendly bacteria and your
tank is a now going through the algae succession that occurs with
new tank syndrome.

Change 80% of the water a day. On about the 4th day it should be almost
all gone. Keep doing it till it is.

Marcyn is overkill. Water changes alone will fix this, you don't need
more chemnicals. You were right ion figuring out algaefix would eradicate BA
though.

kno3 is potassium nitrate. blue green alage thrices in low nitrate
conditions. Hydroponics stores are the best source of this as nitrate
from a petshop fertilizer bottyle is stupid expensive.

Don't you just love that smell of blue gree n alage?

--
Need Mercedes parts ? - http://parts.mbz.org
http://www.mbz.org | Mercedes Mailing lists: http://lists.mbz.org
633CSi 250SE/C 300SD | Killies, killi.net, Crypts, aquaria.net
1970 280SE, 72 280SE | Old wris****ches http://watches.list.mbz.org

Shawn you will never have good results at prevention/reoccurance
without using KNO3.

That's a plant nutrient, antibiotics, algefix etc etc etc etc etc are
not.

The focus is growing the plants, not becoming versed in algicdal
products.
I find them to totally useless.

I might use H2O2. bleacj to clean equipment, but I jyust trim and
vacuum the algae out, that never harms the plants and removes the
problem.

BGA/Green water need killed and removed, or they will come back after
you correct the evnvironmental issues that caused the algae.

A 3 day blackout
50% water at the start and the end
Adding 1/4 teaspoon per 25 gal after each water change
Then adding 1/4 teaspoon at least 1-2x a week thereafter will prevent
BGA and other algae from ever bothering you.

Your plants will grow much better as well.

Algaefix, Antibiotics, Myacan, Snake oils will never make your plants
grow better.

3 day blackout is free.
Those are not.

try ordering from Greg www.gregwatson.com

Get:

2lbs or so KNO3
1 lb KH2PO4
1 lb Trace mix with Boron.

Dirt cheap and these actually grow plants and are very easy to dose and
add.

BGA will infect a tasnk about 1-2 months after treatment.
It's always there, so treating the reason why it appears..........poor
plant growth(even if you might not think so) will help prevent any
algae, not just BGA.

Just do this and do all of this advice and you will not have any BGA.
If you delete the KNO3, the BGA will simply come back.

The fisgh should remain in the tank etc, turn off the CO2.
The plants will be fine and live through 3 days of blackout, they are
sent via mail and can easily handle 3 days in the dark.

Regards,
Tom Barr












will

wrote:
Shawn you will never have good results at prevention/reoccurance
without using KNO3.

I took this advice and it has worked for me so far. I did the blackout
for 4 days in my large tank and I make sure to add a small amount of
KN03 weekly at water change time. I monitor the Nitrates and
Phosphates throughout the week and only add KNO3 when the measurable
nitrates are below 5ppm.

A 3 day blackout
50% water at the start and the end
Adding 1/4 teaspoon KN03 per 25 gal after each water change
Then adding 1/4 teaspoon at least 1-2x a week thereafter will prevent
BGA and other algae from ever bothering you.

This is sound advice, as I recommended above. However, I think Tom is
assumming we all have aquatic jungles with low fish loads when he
advises to add KNO3 twice weekly thereafter. Sure, it will ward off
BGA, but without sufficient plant growth you will suffer a green algae
breakout in my experience.

try ordering from Greg www.gregwatson.com

Get:

2lbs or so KNO3
1 lb KH2PO4
1 lb Trace mix with Boron.

I took this advice also and over did it. Once again, I had what I felt
were alot of plants. Hey, it was more than I ever had! At the time I
had 5 $2.99 bunches of plants and some java fern in a 55g tank. When I
added KH2P04 and KNO3, in no time I had green algae covering every
surface in the tank. Nice furry hairy stuff. It took bleach dips and
massive water changes to clear it. Now, I closely monitor both
nitrates and P04 (phosphate) and only add KN03 and KH2P04 when
necessary. In fact, I haven't dosed with KH2P04 again. I've since
bought some KCI potassium and use that for my K dosing. Now my tank is
running fine. I've also added many more plants and I expect to be
seeing my nitrate levels diminish throughout the week. I haven't yet
though, because the fish food going in has not yet equaled the plant
usage.

http://www.geocities.com/erviservy/plantsFeb13.jpg


Just do this and do all of this advice and you will not have any BGA.
If you delete the KNO3, the BGA will simply come back.

Another data point: In my fry tank I had long term BGA that I finally
had to take care of. The clump of java moss in there was turning into
the blob; a great big slimy ball of gelatnus goo. I used the Emycin
antibiotic treatment to kill the BGA and now use a very small dose of
KNO3 to keep it away.


steve

In article . com,
steve wrote:

wrote:
Shawn you will never have good results at prevention/reoccurance
without using KNO3.

I took this advice and it has worked for me so far. I did the blackout
for 4 days in my large tank and I make sure to add a small amount of
KN03 weekly at water change time. I monitor the Nitrates and
Phosphates throughout the week and only add KNO3 when the measurable
nitrates are below 5ppm.

A 3 day blackout
50% water at the start and the end
Adding 1/4 teaspoon KN03 per 25 gal after each water change
Then adding 1/4 teaspoon at least 1-2x a week thereafter will prevent
BGA and other algae from ever bothering you.

This is sound advice, as I recommended above. However, I think Tom is
assumming we all have aquatic jungles with low fish loads when he
advises to add KNO3 twice weekly thereafter. Sure, it will ward off
BGA, but without sufficient plant growth you will suffer a green algae
breakout in my experience.

Keep in mind blue green algae (cyanobacteria) thrives in low nitrate
environments so you shouldn't see it in a tank with a lot of fish.

I don't bother withthe blackout, I want my plants to keep going. I
just changes lots of water.

This is, by the way the problem with using algicides such as peroxide or
algae fix to eradicate the bactraial alage (staghorn, bba, cyanobacteria)
whcih seems to be about the only kinds of alage this stuff kills - once
it's killed the algae you now have the problems that your beneficial
bacteria is gone and the rotting dead alage causes a larger
ammonia problkem than you'd otherwise think. Your crypts will love
you - mmmmmmmmm ammonia - but now you'll get the algae succession
you get with a new tank. So, after using algicide youreally need to
change massiuve amounts of water for a while IMO.


--
Need Mercedes parts ? - http://parts.mbz.org
http://www.mbz.org | Mercedes Mailing lists: http://lists.mbz.org
633CSi 250SE/C 300SD | Killies, killi.net, Crypts, aquaria.net
1970 280SE, 72 280SE | Old wris****ches http://watches.list.mbz.org