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I'll preface this with the acknowledgement that it is stupidly early and my brain is not yet functioning... I can't seem to remember where to put algae threads, so if it's in the wrong place, feel free to move this, mods.

Okay... here's the question. I just cleaned my tank like, two days ago... and this algae just keeps coming back! It looks sort of like BGA, besides the fact that it's not blue-green... and doesn't stink to high heaven. It does sort of grow in sheets, and it's pretty easy to clean off. I don't WANT to clean it off, though... I want to know what's causing it and nip it in the bud!

My BN doesn't touch it (or if she does, she can't keep up), and it just starts to coat everything -- gravel, higher plants, etc. It's odd how it goes for the gravel, but only really settles on the leaves of plants that are like, six inches from the gravel and up.

Plants are four anubias nana (two larger ones, two tiny ones), two crypts (balansae and something else), crinum thaianum, a green ozelot sword (very small yet) and a grouping of uh... drat, some stem plant, sorta pinkish at the tips... Rotala indica? I think that's it... Some other scattered plants left over from various attempts at stem plants (which always seem to elude me).

In any case, lighting is a pair of screw in compact fluourescents, I forget the exact wattage... 20-something (23?) watts each. I'd have to check on that... and I need to get going to work. No particular fertilizers besides root tabs, because I always forget to dose.

Okay... fire away... what's causing this stuff to grow and what can I do to stop it?

Edit: Might help if I attached the photo... I told you I'm braindead this early in the morning!



Last edited by Kitten at 11-Nov-2005 08:03[/font]

~Meow. Thus spoke the cat.~

Looks like BGA to me Kitten. EM Tablets will get rid of it. I believe that is is caused by too much light and not enough nitrate. Is your tank near a window?



My Scapes

Hi,
It does indeed look like BGA. Here is a site that
describes the various types of algae, what causes it,
and how to eliminate it:
http://www.otocinclus.com/articles/algae.html

When I had it years ago, I also used EM.
I went to my family doctor, showed him an article
that advised its use in an aquarium, and he wrote a
script for me.
It cost me far, far less for the few capsules than
10 bottles of the stuff the LFS was selling for
the treatment.
I took the capsules apart, stirred the powder in a small
glass of tank water, and poured it back into the tank.
Problem solved.

The trick to all algae treatments is to resolve the cause.
Otherwise, every time, after treatment, the stuff will
come back.

BGA is actually not algae but a form of bacteria.
If you are interested, here is another site to show
that the stuff has been around longer than I have:
http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/bacteria/cyanofr.html

Frank


Last edited by FRANK at 11-Nov-2005 09:11

Last edited by FRANK at 11-Nov-2005 09:13

-->>> The Confidence of Amateurs, is the Envy of Professionals <<<--

Yup,

looks like BGA to mee too

I got it in a tank that for sure did not have any natural light. Instead I think it was cause by a lack of water flow throughout the tank as it started out on the opposite side of the tank from where the small filer was located.

EM, I used Maracyn, but not the Maracyn II, got rid of the problem in about 4 days. In addition, I relocated the HOB to get a better flow.

Ingo

Last edited by LITTLE_FISH at 11-Nov-2005 09:33

---

Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

Ack... lost my post, dang it! Let's see if I can remember what I said.

The tank is in view of windows, but they are east-facing and any bit of light not blocked by the angle of the blinds (just cracked open, facing upwards) is limited to an hour or so in the morning, before the light becomes more ambient than anything.

The part of the tank pictured is front and center, just in front of the filter, actually.

Is there a type of BGA that doesn't stink to high heaven? Because besides a... well, a wet plant smell, this doesn't stink like BGA. When I had BGA before, it was very distinctive, sort of rotten plant/egg/something. Very nasty. It doesn't grow quite the same as BGA, either... smaller sheets, not as slimy at all. Maybe I just have some funky version of BGA.

Bah, I don't know. I'll see what I can do with turning up the filter. *shrugs*

I'm thinking of treating myself to a new light fixture for the holidays, so perhaps that will help? Or hurt? Not sure... The bulbs are fairly new as it is, so I don't think it's anything to do with them. However, the lights ARE centered over the aquarium, which is where all the algae seems to be occuring. I find it interesting that all the algae problems are on the gravel at the center of the aquarium and any plant leaves that are close to the light (top, centered). Maybe it's the lights? *kicks them*

Erythromyacin did work for the BGA I had previousl... I'll try it.

~Meow. Thus spoke the cat.~

I could tell you my son has a 10 gallon tank with BGA all over it (He likes the swamp look) and it houses a newt, white clouds, zebras and guppies. It has a very weak filter (Little_Fish's point) and it's next to a window. I can the BGA out about once every two weeks a comes off in big sheets. I could tell you the BGA pearls and the water is crystal clear and all the fish do very well.

My Scapes

I could pull some BGA out of the five gallon to show y'all the difference between the two. The BGA is obviously a blue-green color, and stinks like something rotting. The algae I'm referring to in my 20 gallon is a dark green-green, and doesn't smell BAD, per se. The BGA is slimey, this algae isn't. Maybe I've got some new breed of BGA. Oh, heck, I don't know. I'll get more pictures when I get home.

~Meow. Thus spoke the cat.~

I've got the same thing only it's growing along the bottom half of my floating plants and sticking them together. I've been wondering what it was and the tanks that have it are actually my lower light tanks with 20-30ppm nitrates instead of my 2 brightest tanks that only have 5-10 nitrates. It's just a very dark green mass growing across everything but definitely not a blue green color and not slimey. The guppies actually eat some of it. I also know where I originally got it. I had some of those floating plants multiplying in a tub outside over the summer and they got all sorts of algae on the roots. I cleaned it off and figured it wouldn't be much of a problem but it came back starting with those same plants I brought inside.

Last edited by sham at 11-Nov-2005 14:05