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Let us know the end result. :88)

Stu,
I battled with green water for 2 1/2 months. When I say battle I mean trying to rid myself of it, not because it hurt my water quality. The fish, where otherwise happy. I have an 80 gal tank with 10 discus, a 9" BGK, 3 blue rams, 20 cardinal tetras, 7 rummy nose tetras and 3 different kinds of corys. I'll tell you what, my fish did not mind the green water at all. I tried just about everything I could do get rid of the green water except chemical and UV sterilizer. Chemical I didn't try because that is a last resort. UV sterilizer I didn't try because I didn't want to buy one. But one day last week, my tank was at it's lowpoint with the green water. It was soooo bad I could barely see the fish, yet the water parameters were fine. Then, the very next day in the later afternoon I turned on my light because the tank seemed clearer and when I looked the green water was all gone. I did a water change that sameday and since then the water has been crystal clear. My take on this along with a discus breeder friend of mine was that:
The algea bloom (green water) multiplied in such a big way, (lowpoint in tank) that they ate up their food source and had nothing left and basically killed themselves off.
Algea need to constantly be eating or else if their food source is taken away the die off pretty quickly. But if you really wanted to get rid of the green water and you have an extra tank, I can give you a sure fire solution.

First you turn ofc your filters/canisters or sponge filter if you have any and take out your fish. Second, you add chlorine for swimming pool. Depending or your tank size you add the chlorine. (e.g. my 80 gal would have taken about a 1/3 cup.)Then, in less than an hour the green water is gone, totally killed off. Next, you add chlorine remover to your tank, double the amount that the instructions call for. This will neutralize the chlorine in your tank. Finally you wait about 5-6 hours and then fire up your filters again, then wait about 12 hours before your water filters thru and cleans up the tank then add your fish. I gurantee you the green water will not come back again.

It may look clear yet, but can come back in a hurry under the right conditions. If there are no fish in there, now would be a good time to hit it with that algae stuff. Just use a half dose. Then do a partial water change before putting your fish back in. That green water is made up of one-celled creatures and I believe they reproduce by fission or something similar. It only takes one AND the right amount of light and the right amount of nitrate/phosphate to set it off again.

cool thanks CD

update.

i've clean out he tank, with 60% new water 40% tank water from my big tank.

no fish in it yet. i'll give it a day or 2

its never lookjed so clear!

I use this:

[link=Aquarium Pharmaceuticals FW/SW Phosphate Kit]http://www.thatpetplace.com/Products/KW/phosphate/Class//T1/F73+1044+0402/EDP/43949/Itemdy00.aspx" style="COLOR: #C000C0[/link]

hmm ok..
before i go an start over i'll do a water change, and an wrap some towels around it.

non of my other tanks have had this so i dunno abou the phosphate thing

Try to bag some of that water and test the nitrates. I've had my lights on 12 and off 12 and never got green water. I usually do about 9-10 hours now due to other algaes.

Phosphates can be in tapwater. Ideally they want to be zero. I have 1.5ppm in my tapwater at this time.

When green water is present the tank needs to pretty much be sealed of light for a good 3 days to start. No light at all. Any light will fuel it.

i didn;t do a full dose i know that much..

maybe 3/4 dose.

i think mine might be caused by to much light? i had it on 10-12 hours a day..

i hardly have it on now. and the green water is getting pretty thick. i can hardly see the heater on the back wall now.

there wasnt any plants in the tank. and i feed once a day. i know algae doesn't harm them, but it looks shoddy

Did you do full strength or half? I'm very concerned about such chemicals. Even tho I advocate its use in green water, when all else fails, I always advocate half dose. You can always dose it again the next day if more is needed.

It is important to understand how the green water happend.

Too much light?

Too much nitrate?

Too much phosphate (mainly from fish food and/or tap water)?

My nephew's case was simple - you can't leave a light on for 14-16 hours without consequences. He was only 10 at the time and just didn't have enough sense to notice (and its in his bedroom ). He understands now. His phosphate read zero, and his nitrates were 10ppm. It was lightly stocked and the fish were not overfed. Light caused it and weeks of trying darkness, putting in a phosphate removing pad just in case (maybe it read low because the stuff was consuming it). Non of it worked and I don't understand how we could not get it back in balance. That's when I used the Algae Fix. I purposely bought the bottle of drops so I could cut the dose in half.

Last edited by Cory_Di at 02-Feb-2005 20:51

thanks Cory

i think to eliminate all possablities i'll shift the fish into another tank. then clean it out. and start again..

i dont want another fish going on me.

the stuff i got was Algae Cure by master aqua.

oh and she had no signs of any other desease. this wasn;t flaoting though. she was lying on the gravel.


Last edited by stuquarium at 02-Feb-2005 20:30

Sorry for your loss )

As hard as it was, did you look at her body to see if there was anything remarkable? Was it dropsy? Fuzz? Red spots or streaks? It could be coincidental - maybe.

What is the name of the stuff you used? Was it the Algae Fix I recommended or something else? Did you do half dose as I recommended or full strength?

I don't trust any of that stuff at full strength and I recommend Algae Fix because if it is safe for plants, I would percieve it to be a little safer for fish. At half strength, my nephews cories tolerated it well. It is a poison and when you consider decorations, gravel and other things displacing the water, a 10 gallon tank, for example, isn't holding 10 gallons of water.

Is your pH always that low?

We need to see those nitrates when you get a chance. If you don't have a nitrate tester, take some water to the fish store. If the nitrates are high, it would explain the green water. If they are really high, I would expect to see the pH dropping too. Urine, poop - it all creates acid.


Last edited by Cory_Di at 02-Feb-2005 19:34

shocking update!

after only one treatment of algae cure i found one of my female guppies dead.

i havent tested the water yet.

but i might have to empty the tank and start again. putting the new fish in an existing home.

sad day...
water tested
nitrite 0
ammonia 0
nitrate: untested
ph: 6.4



Last edited by stuquarium at 02-Feb-2005 16:23

hey everyone.

last week i posted something about green water in my tank, i followed the instrustions of making 50% water changes and leaving the lights off etc..

but after only a day of clear water. its back again over night...

should i still try the same old technique. or remove the fish and clean the tank. there is a little brown algae on the tank glass but that wipes off.

the tank is only 10G and houses 3 platies.

any ideas?

Last edited by stuquarium at 02-Feb-2005 18:53

nah not yet. i havent got any algaefix yet, either today or tomorrow i'll do it.

thanks for checking up Cori.

Have you done it, Stu? How's it going?

nope its nothing that complicated

simply 2 guppies. no plants, a light and a UGF with a powerhead.

so algaefix should work.

If you really want to try that, go with Algae Fix and try just a half dose to see if it works by the next day. Since there were cories in the tank, I was never comfortable using at full dose. Also, this stuff is fatal to inverts like snails, shrimp, etc. If you have a large snail population, including those who are in the gravel, you could end up with an ammonia spike from the die off.

Last edited by Cory_Di at 30-Jan-2005 15:56

thanks cory.

i was looking for a non med solutions, but it looks like i'll have to got with algae cure. it shoudl work, theres no live plants.


cheers!

Great article that Frank provides and it addresses planted, versus non planted. Not many articles distinguish these things.

I will tell you what happened with my battling it in my nephews tank. He had a 10 gallon with 4 danios and 3 cories - hardly overstocked. He was underfeeding the fish - they all showed signs of emaciation and I had to have him step up his feeding after watching how little he was putting in (after green water treatment). What caused the green water in his case was that he bumped his timer and the light was staying on for some 14-15 hours daily for weeks. He finally called me when he had pea soup.

I took my Whisper Diatomagic over there. It is a diatom filter which can do very fine polishing and is known to filter out everything from microscopic algae to ich parasites among other things. Within 15 minutes it was sparkling clean and the diatom filter powder had turned to a green sludge. I then had him keep the tank completely dark, drew the shade and had him skip feeding for a day. We then turned the room light on only for an hour in the AM and PM just to feed lightly.

After several days we allowed the lights on for about 4 hours daily, then returned to 8 hours lighting a week after that. One week later the pea soup was back. I repeated the cleaning with the diatom filter again. It returned 3 weeks later again.

Then, I realized that these were 1-celled animals that were reproducing. If even one remained it would continue to reproduce until we had pea soup again. This time, I purchased a bottle of Algae Fix. Because the tank had no live plants I was not concerned. I used only a half dose of the stuff. That was a one time dose almost a year ago and it has not returned. We have never had to deal with the pea soup in his tank again.

Algae Fix should be used as a last resort. I wouldn't take putting any chemical in my tank lightly and would try alternatives first. Unlike other algae chemicals, this one is relatively safe for most plants if used as directed. To be sure, I would even go just a half dose to see if that does it.

I have to look at the ingredients and somehow have a funny feeling that it may have the same ingredients as Flourish Excel, which also seems to hinder algae growth.

http://www.ponddoc.com/WhatsUpDoc/WaterQuality/AlgaeFix.htm

http://www.cichlid-forum.com/reviews/view_product_details.php?id=864

Last edited by Cory_Di at 30-Jan-2005 15:32

Last edited by Cory_Di at 30-Jan-2005 15:33

Hi,
You cannot prevent the green water algae bloom until
you remove the cause. You can eliminate it, briefly,
but it will return every time, as long as the causes
still exist.

I suggest you read this site:
http://www.otocinclus.com/articles/greenwater.html

It seems to be very complete.

Frank


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