# Cyanobacteria and Algae in tank?



## LittleRock (Dec 3, 2015)

I am having a bit on an algae problem. 

It started out with what appeared to be Cyanobacteria, so I did some research online and a few sources suggested that I try using Seachem Flourish Excel to help deal with it (In addition to manually removing it with tweezers). It's been a week now, and although there appears to be less Cyanobacteria, there is now a lighter green thread-like algae. 

I dose Seachem Flourish Comprehensive at 0.5ml twice a week. I was dosing Seachem Flourish Excel at 0.5ml every day, however I have now increased that to 1ml every day. 

The light is the Marineland Advanced LED Strip Light, which is on for 8 hours a day.

My plants (I believe) are: Java fern, Java moss, Dwarf Hairgrass, and Salvinia Minima, and one unknown. The plants appear to be in good health, and there has been some pearling on the Java fern leaves. 

*
Housing:*
How many gallons is your tank? 5.5 gallons. 
Does it have a filter? Yes
Does it have a heater? Yes
What temperature is your tank? 80F
Does your tank have an air stone or other type of aeration? No
Does your Betta have tank mates? What kind? None

*Food:*
What food brand do you use? Omega One Betta Buffet Pellets
Do you feed flakes or pellets? Freeze-dried? Freeze dried blood worms and freeze dried brine shrimp
How often do you feed your Betta? How much? 3-4 pellets twice a day. 

*Maintenance:*
*Before* your Betta became ill how often did you perform a water change? Once a week
What percentage of water did you change? 50%
Do you vacuum the substrate or just dip out water? Vacuum
What additives do you use? Seachem Prime, Flourish Comprehensive, Flourish Excel

*Water Parameters:*
What are your water parameters? Please give exact numbers. If tested by pet store please get exact numbers. "Fine" or "Safe" won't help us help you.

Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 0
pH: 6.4
Hardness (GH): 1-2 (I have started to slowly add some crushed coral to the filter to help bring this up a bit.)
Alkalinity (KH): 1-2

*Symptoms and Treatment:*
My fish is healthy and acting normally


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## ThatFishThough (Jan 15, 2016)

Hair algae. Just get more plants; they will compete with the algae for nutrients, causing the algae to die.


ETA: Plus, your betta would enjoy more cover.


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## Kaxen (Mar 3, 2013)

Hair algae is the devil.

I've never had much success killing it with Excel even at high concentrations. Hydrogen peroxide does work. 

Cutting back on Flourish Comprehensive might help too. The plants you've got might not be absorbing enough of the nutrients to out-compete the hair algae.


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## trahana (Dec 28, 2015)

Gah, that's the same algae that I'm having trouble with too, its all over my java moss. 
Its the only algae in my tank that hasn't been affected by me getting more plants.


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## ThatFishThough (Jan 15, 2016)

Reallly? Hmmm. More plants helped me. Maybe it was something else I did, though...


I do agree though, hair algae is the wooorrrrsssttttt.


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## bigbucknc1 (May 19, 2016)

I've read ghost shrimp or amano shrimp will eat hair algae sometimes, also mollies and american flag fish, but dont think the fish would do well with your betta. But the shrimp might. Water changes help control it also.


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## trahana (Dec 28, 2015)

My ghost shrimp haven't done anything with it, but maybe I don't have enough. 

Does anyone know if Oto cats will eat this?


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## bigbucknc1 (May 19, 2016)

From what I've heard, no.


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## LittleRock (Dec 3, 2015)

Thank you for all of the replies. 

Today there is more hair algae growth, however I think that I see a patch that looks a bit white. I could be imaging it though.

Ottos are super cute, however, isn't a 5.5 gallon too small for them?

At the moment, I don't have the budget to purchase new plants, so that will need to wait. I guess that I can let the Salvinia Minima take over the surface (As I need to remove some on a weekly basis), but that would limit the light that the other plants get. 

Does my light schedule sound ok? What about the dosing schedule? Should I take Kaxen's suggestion and cut back on the Flourish Comprehensive?


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## trahana (Dec 28, 2015)

Otos are to small for a 5g, but my tank is a 40g and still has the same problem xD 

After reading 10+ articles on hair algae there seems to be a few different things:
- Siamese algae eaters and Amano Shrimp eat hair algae, to which only the shrimp would be good with betta. 

It seems a lot of resources has conflicting ideas about hair algae. Though it seems all think it is a good food for fish to munch on. 


> A) If its green - High iron. This can be because of - Water source has high iron content, out of balance fertilising, nutrient tab in the substrate leaching into the water column (poking through)
> B) If its black - Low co2 levels
> 
> Solutions -
> ...





> *Possible causes:*
> 
> 
> High light
> ...


I'm probably going to go with the second quote, so I will check my light hours, then dose fertilizer. After all, if we increase plant growth that means the algae will have more competition right?


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## trahana (Dec 28, 2015)

Just thought to give an update to who ever reads this later. 

I got three siamese algae eaters four days ago. They have eaten the hair algae and the plants are healthy. They also school with my pygmy cory, which is adorable since they have the same coloration but are totally different species.


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## LittleRock (Dec 3, 2015)

*Update:* I still have a hair algae problem. I have cut my lighting back to 7 hours a day, continued to dose x2 the recommended amount of Seachem Flourish Excel, stopped dosing Seachem Flourish Comprehensive, and I bought a new plant (6 strands of Moneywort). 

It feels like the hair algae is growing back faster than ever now. It is pearling madly (to the point where it looks like I put in a weak bubbler). All of my plants are growing very well, but I am removing algae daily.

On the bright side, the Cyanobacteria has pretty much died back to nothing.

As my tank is too small for any algae eating fish, I may purchase some Amano shrimp this week. I realize that adding the shrimp isn't fixing the problem. I still have an imbalance somewhere... however I'm stumped. 

Should I look into dosing Nitrates? Will this harm the shrimp?


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