# blue-green algae! help!



## OrangeAugust (Jul 23, 2012)

Uggghghhh I've had a bit of a blue green algae problem in my 10 gallon tank. It began when my tank started getting direct sunlight in the afternoons. It got under control enough for my snails to eat it when I stopped turning on the tank lights... but then my plants were dying because it wasn't getting direct sunlight for long enough. Anyway, i started turning on the tank lights again, but the BGA came back. it wasn't too noticeable until I switched from dark gravel to white sand... within a few days the sand was coated with BGA! ewwwww. My snails don't eat it off of the sand :roll:. So I tried to vacuum it up tonight, but it's too heavy to get sucked up all the way. It comes off in nasty sheets.  So I vacuumed it and dropped the algae in piles and I had to scoop it out with a net. It's really bad. How do I get rid of it?!


----------



## xShainax (Feb 11, 2012)

Hydrogen peroxide and a bubbler. I used both on the BGA in my 6.6 gallon and it hasn't come back in a few months. Just be weary about the leaves melting. You can find more information online.


----------



## marktrc (Jun 6, 2012)

google one two punch algae. i am going to try the first part tomorrow i think. i am going to take out some of the fish and see what happens to the ones i leave in. i dont have a powerhead or circulator so i think i willl just stir the water with something. i dont know if i can stir it for very long though but ill try.


----------



## VJM (Feb 7, 2013)

I believe you will need antibiotics to totally eradicate it. Hopefully someone who knows what kind will come along. I am guessing Maracyn, but definitely search that because I am not sure.


----------



## Stone (Jan 6, 2013)

here is a link with all the algaes and cures....http://www.guitarfish.org/algae


----------



## OrangeAugust (Jul 23, 2012)

Thanks, everyone.
One thing I read is that it occurs when there are low nitrates and high light... My test kit doesn't come with a bottle to test for nitrates, but I would think that it should have enough nitrates because the tank has been running for about 7 months. Should I do WC less often to give the nitrates a chance to build up? I do WC about once a week now.


----------



## marktrc (Jun 6, 2012)

i have a 20L. the light is not very high. indirect sunlight for a few hours in the morning. thats all. 

i decided to do the first part of one two punch. i put 5 tablespoons of hydrogen peroxide in the tank and just mixed it around. i only have a sponge filter on that tank so i just used a cup and swirled the water around for 15 mins. this is my betta sorority but it also has saimese algae eaters and neons. i took out most of the bettas but left some in to see what happens. 

i removed 80% of the water after 15 mins of stirring and the fish seem fine. i am going to wait an hour to see if the fish are still ok. then i will add the rest of the bettas back in. 

i have anacharis, dwarf sagi, microsword and a few diff anubias. anacharis kind of fragile so ill see what happens in the next week or so. i also saw a feeder shrimp alive in there.

on a diff tank.. 55 gal... i used maracyn for 5 days at full dose and did a black out during the treatment. the BGA has not come back after a few months. the reason i am trying peroxide instead is because maracyn gets expensive.


----------



## marktrc (Jun 6, 2012)

the plants are still ok and so are the fish. problem is... so is the blue algae. i believe i underdosed slightly to be on the safe side. next time ill add an extra tablespoon of peroxide and mix more... plus i do have a water circulator on order from amazon. im trying to avoid adding the excel because of mixed opinions side effects.


----------



## marktrc (Jun 6, 2012)

anacharis are dying partially. some of the leaves have fallen off but some are mostly ok. the other plants are fine and the fish are fine. also saw a shrimp which looked healthy


----------



## OrangeAugust (Jul 23, 2012)

Do you still have the algae?


----------



## Sparrowhawk (Nov 19, 2012)

I've dealt with blue-green algae twice now, and I don't know if this will work for you, but...

In the first tank that got it, it was in an isolated area of long stems, so I just manually removed it and did a blackout for a couple of days. The plants were fine without light for that period of time, nothing was lost except the algae-fied clippings, haha.

In the second tank that got it, it was everywhere! Luckily only on the top portions of the plants, so I just cut it all out, basically. The tank looked rather bare, but things will grow back. This time I blacked out for a full four days. Again, the plants were fine during that period, so I wouldn't worry too much about depriving your plants of light for a couple of days!

So far I haven't seen a recurrence of the stuff in either of the tanks that have been affected by BGA. With blackouts, you've gotta remember that people ship plants all the time and they survive, so do what you gotta do to get rid of the algae.

I hope that helped somewhat, I haven't had my coffee yet so may not be quite coherent enough to explain stuff. >.<


----------



## RobertTheFish (Jun 6, 2011)

What kind of snails are you using?
I have MTS for my gravel and they've gone right to work. I don't even think they sleep. 

Somebody else on here will know, but I think MTS will take to sand, from what I've read. Anybody know first-hand?

If not MTS, then maybe you could borrow some plecos from somebody? I bet they'd eat it. 

Also something I can't speak for but just an idea, you may try loaches. I know they like sand and I've heard they munch anything on the bottom. 

I just think there's probably a safer alternative then throwing chemicals in there.

Good luck!


----------



## OrangeAugust (Jul 23, 2012)

I have nerite snails in my tank with the bga problem. They eat the bga from the glass and plants, but not from the sand. I have MTS in my 55 gallon with soil/sand substrate and they love it. I think I'd need a lot of them in my 10 gallon, though, enough to mix up the sand and keep bga from blanketing the surface of the sand.


----------



## marktrc (Jun 6, 2012)

the bga growing like crazy in the tank that i treated with peroxide. now i got it covered in a blanket for a black out for a week. we will see what will happen.

i also got some hornwort out of a tub from outside. it has bga. i rinsed them in tap water and then put them in dechlorinated water. i can see pieces of bga. i put them in a jar and put them in a storage locker. i will keep it there for a week and see what happens.

next i will order some excel and do some experiments =)


----------



## OrangeAugust (Jul 23, 2012)

I might end up doing fake plants in that tank and move the real ones to my 55 gal. That way I can block out the sunlight during the day when I'm not home, and then put on the tank lights once the direct sunlight has moved. Right now my plants are doing poorly because it gets direct sunlight for a couple of hours (causing the BGA), but the rest of the day there's not enough light to keep my plants alive. If I leave the tank lights on in addition to the direct sunlight, my plants do ok, but the algae gets worse.


----------



## marktrc (Jun 6, 2012)

finally see the bga getting less. its gonna prob be a 2 week blackout


----------



## Mashiro (Dec 2, 2012)

Erythromycin is a great treatment for blue-green algae. I've used it twice on two different tanks and it's like a charm.

Just follow the instructions on the package. I used API's Erythromycin.


----------



## marktrc (Jun 6, 2012)

ive used ethromycin as well which did work but killed one cory. it is also cost about $10 or so to treat about 20 gals. so im looking for something that works that doesnt cost that much.

so i have heard that for some people black outs work. i have now blacked out my 20 gal that was very infested with bga for 2 weeks. looks like the bga has disappeared but i still see some kinds of algae on there. hope its not bga. the fish and plants are still alive. plants are more yellowish then green. ill post in a week or so if it comes back.


----------



## Taima (Aug 7, 2013)

I have used products meant for reef aquariums, Red Slime Remover specifically, to eradicate that dark blue-green slime algae in a small betta tank I have. I am a little apprehensive about putting straight Erythromycin in established tanks. I know RSR has antibiotics in it, but I've never had any issues using it. 

Also, be wary of cross-contamination with your other tanks, it can transfer easier than you would think.

I know that stuff is a pain, hope you have success getting rid of it!


----------



## Stone (Jan 6, 2013)

Here is a site with all the algaes and cures http://www.guitarfish.org/algae , I would suggest finding the cause of the blue green algae and keep it from coming back, just getting rid of it to have it come back is just not much fun


----------



## jadaBlu (Feb 14, 2013)

This article does cover the reasons for BG algae it's the last one listed in the article:

http://www.miyabi-aqua.com/tips-and-techniques/the-war-on-algae

I hope it helps!


----------



## snowflake311 (Jun 19, 2013)

I had a big BG algae problem so bad I went crazy one day and ripped my tank apart and did it all over. This was on a 80gal planted tank too. It got on the substrate more then anything. 

I learned my problem was a dirty filter. My filter was so gross . I cleaned the filter out good every few weeks. Low o2 will cause this to become a problem.


----------



## marktrc (Jun 6, 2012)

bga still has not come back and the plants look greener. also what I thought was possibly some last remaining bga in the base of some plants growing up against the glass has finally turned gray. it was a delay reaction even though I stopped the black out.

also hornwort with bga that I had put in the closet has no bga. I put it in my 55g. the hornwort is not growing so im still trying to adjust light etc but no bga. im thinking blackouts are the way to go. trying to figure out the right amount of air stones and circulation to help plants grow without bga.


----------



## marktrc (Jun 6, 2012)

I see a tiny bit of bga in the tank. ill black out again once the plants grow back a little. prob in a week. I also see some black beard algae. this algae thing sucks.


----------



## OrangeAugust (Jul 23, 2012)

Yeah, I just moved out my live plants to my 55 gallon, and I just put in fake plants and did a blackout. Two of my plants had already died because of the blackout I tried to do before that, so I just got fake plants instead. It seems to have helped out a lot. There's a bit still left on the glass, but I think it's turning brown and my snail is also slowly eating it.


----------



## mersf559 (May 21, 2013)

iwent on a black out (no aquarium lights on) for 2 days then really limited my light use to about 5-6 hours a day and my BGA went away. I have a zebra nerite snail but he wasnt really doing any thing but taking a poop like crazy lol


----------



## equatics (Apr 26, 2012)

Vacuuming the gravel is what did it for me. And 50% water changes.

I recommend your using the Maracyn or other Erythomycin as directed. I really don't think it will do anything bad to water or plants, or Nitrifying bacteria (good bacteria).

Steven


----------



## Mashiro (Dec 2, 2012)

equatics said:


> Vacuuming the gravel is what did it for me. And 50% water changes.
> 
> I recommend your using the Maracyn or other Erythomycin as directed. I really don't think it will do anything bad to water or plants, or Nitrifying bacteria (good bacteria).
> 
> Steven


+1!


----------



## marktrc (Jun 6, 2012)

did a second black out but used foil and masking tape instead of towels. apparently the towels didnt block out all the light. now I see no sign of bga. I did it for 5 days. the fish seem stressed and one female betta died. they didnt come out to eat much because it was so dark. plants look fine.


----------



## equatics (Apr 26, 2012)

jadaBlu said:


> This article does cover the reasons for BG algae it's the last one listed in the article:
> 
> http://www.miyabi-aqua.com/tips-and-techniques/the-war-on-algae
> 
> I hope it helps!


This is from the part on BGA:

"Blue-green algae is a form of bacteria and not an algae. It will cover a large surface area if not treated immediately."

I would hope that people find a better list of causes of BGA. You really have to change the causes of the BGA before it will really go away permanently. BGA exists in the source of my tapwater.

As I said earlier, my problem was too much dissolved organic compounds in the water, and vacuuming the gravel a couple of times solved the problem.

I think the tank should then be treated as soon as possible with one of the different antibiotics like Maracin.

Sorry for repeating, but it is imperative that you find the cause(s) making the BGA bloom before trying other methods, and then use Erythromycin.

I struggled for two months or more with BGA, and I'd like to help anyone I can take care of it permanently in less time and with less losses.

Steven


----------



## marktrc (Jun 6, 2012)

ive use ethromycin before. while it is one of the meds that most fish seem to tolerate it did kill 2 of my cories. dont know if I spelled that right. ethromycin also is not cheap esp if you have a large tank. I have been experimenting with black outs as they are almost free to do and so far seems as safe as ethromycin. results may vary.

now that my bga seems to be gone, I plan to add more circulation. this seems to be one the common causes of bga. I have researched and tried a hydor nano 240.. it is a small circulation pump. this turned out to be too much circulation even for my 55gal. I believe many people who run this small hydor use it for reefs or plants but for bettas it is prob too much unless you have hard scape or something ro provide sheltered areas.

next im going to try a small internal filter or something adjustable.


----------

