Cyano (bluegr algae) problem, how do I know the cause?

[crissy7399]

I keep having a problem with cyano blooming in my tank, covering my substrate, my plants and my driftwood.

If it IS from dead-spots, how do I fix this without spending a lot of money?

I have a 46G bowfront tank with a 70G cannister filter. I do have real plants, but it's not stocked like most planted tanks, a 96W light, and no CO2. I only have 6 xray tetras, 1 german ram, 3 ottos, and 1 frog. I had some others, but it seems that every other month, one fish dies. The last one was my E-nose. I'm wondering if it's due to the cyano? They never seem to die with a real reason.

Also, I checked my Ammonia and Nitrates and they were both zero (nitrates, possibly higher) and this was a check after 24 hours of removing all the cyano I could and doing a 30% water change, which was done about 3 days ago. Normally, when checking, my A is always zero, but the Nitrates are almost always 20-40. I figured the nitrates being zero was due to removing the blue-green algae, but that seems kinda backwards to me.

I'm 99.9% certain I did not err in my testing. What else should I be testing?

Thanks for any help!

 

[crissy7399]

Someone told me to use erythromycin, but if I don't correct the problem, it will just come back right?

 

[SANND]

Have you tried a week of total darkness? Just cover the tank and do several water changes and after 5 - 7 days it should be fine. I think I've read on other sites of people using peroxide squirted directly onto the algea you can't physically remove but I'd research that well before trying.

 

[crissy7399]

I don't know that I would want to do a full week. Wouldn't that stress the fish pretty bad? I also don't want my plants to die.


If I just switched to plastic plants (which I didn't WANT to do), would that keep all the algae away, or is it too late since it's already gotten established in my tank?

My dad's tank has never had algae, but he's never had any real plants either.

I just wanted to make it as much like "home" for the fish as I could. Although, I don't really want unhealthy plants in my tank either.

 

[SANND]

The toxins from the BGA can be harmful to your fish, much more stressful than a few days without light. The lights out won't stress the fish out. The plants might wilt a little but they'll come back when the tank is healthy again.

I leave the tank lights off when I travel for work or vacation which is sometimes as long as 2 weeks with no problems.

 

[crissy7399]

If you leave lights off that long, do you not feed the fish during that time? Or do you use the vaca feeder things you can buy?

 

[SANND]

Do you mean for when you do a blackout? You can feed them.

If you mean me while I'm gone, no I don't use a vacation feeder. They can nosh on plants, algae (if there's any), baby snails and snail eggs until I get back.

 

[Mahamotorworks]

Check this thread out.

http://www.myfishtank.net/forum/aquatic-plants/43690-erythromycin-bga.html

It is from when I got BGA. Hope it helps.

MAHA

 

[crissy7399]

thank you mahamotorworks. I didn't see that thread when searching.

 

[calico_]

The toxins from the BGA can be harmful to your fish, much more stressful than a few days without light.

uh? I never heard of it. really???
I have some BGA in my tank but it doesn't really bother me, I scrape it away when performing partial water changes and that's it...

 

[crissy7399]

I would totally agree that it probably is harmful, just due to the horrible smell it produces. Surely there is something bad in that!

 

[JoluvsGuppies]

Crissy, a 3-4 day black out will do just fine in your tank. I have done this before, and worked well. This will not hurt your fish. But when taking the cover off the aquarium, i recommend taking it off at night so they can adjust to the light in the morning.*SUNSMILE*

 

[Katie217]

So wait... Im confused here honestly, if BGA is infact a BACTERIA and not a REAL algae, what would a black out do?
Anyways, get some eythromycin and dose ( I think ) is 200somethingorother per 10gals...I cant remember exact but oh well.

 

[JoluvsGuppies]

Yep its a bacteria ..I think its called Cyanobacteria..HOw it works, i have no idea either..I just know it stops the growth.You still have to correct the problem after the block out..Maracyn is the way to go..

 

[crissy7399]

Crissy, a 3-4 day black out will do just fine in your tank.

Thanks, however, I have already done this twice. It does work for a while, but then comes back. So, I'm trying to figure out what is causing it. It's not coming back nearly as fast as it did before, and I have shortened the timer on the lights, so maybe that helped.

However, my Nitrates have been staying at zero, so I think that needs to be resolved because it will just keep triggering it. So I have added a fish, and contradictorily added a few plants too, but I think I don't have enough in there to compete with the BGA in the first place. And I do plan to add some more fish in the next week or so. Due to the death of previous fish which I did not replace, and I've never fully stocked the tank.