# Need help identifying and busting tenacious algae



## JNish (Sep 1, 2009)

Please help, I cannot get rid of this algae problem and it's killing everything. In fact, I think I have several types. I have green spotting algae that sticks to the glass and also a furry algae that covers the rocks. But my main problem is the slimy stuff that covers plants and gravel and starts to grow up the sides of the tank. I think it may be blue-green algae (cyanobacteria). I clean it out every weekend, do a 50% water change, and it grows back in about 3 days and by the next weekend is once again devastating my tank. Some tank specs: 55gal, 2x55W CFLs, DIY CO2 injection with reactor, fluorite substrate topped with black coral sand, and I also have been adding PMDD for the past couple weeks (~1ml/day). Plants include amazon sword (covered in fuzzy algae, maybe beard?), corkscrew val, java fern, dwarf subulata, green wendtii, wisteria, and moneywort. Pretty much everything except the sword plant is about to die because of these repeated outbreaks of algae. Any tips? I read 3 day blackout and Erythromycin treatment if it is cyanobacteria. Will this kill my plants?


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## JNish (Sep 1, 2009)

Oh, I should also add that I also have this tank set up in front of a north-facing window. I was thinking that having an extending light period may contribute to my algae problem, so I've timed my aquarium lights to only be on during daylight hours (though it seems like a waste of energy). It didn't help at all, though this may make a black-out rather difficult.


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## Dryn (Sep 6, 2007)

It is definitely cyanobacteria. I usually get a few spots of it when the tank is out of balance. I would recommend fixing the imbalance before I would resort to drastic measures (drastic measures = anything that you have to consider if it will kill all of your plants or not). 

I know "restoring the balance" is difficult to understand but balance is specific to each and every tank. 

On one hand you do know that whatever you are doing isn't working...

But how do you fix it?

My tank sits in a window and is considered "high tech" so I wouldn't say that it is the light. In fact, I know that it isn't the light. More likely than not, it is an imbalance in nutrients.

Since you said that you started PMDD a few week ago, was the tank like that before you started? Maybe that is the culprit. Change your formula.

There isn't any hard and fast rule to doing this hobby. If there was, it would have been commercialized by now. It's tough but you are just going to have to alter your parameters until you find out what works... by finding out what doesn't.


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## JNish (Sep 1, 2009)

The PMDD was started in an effort for nutrient balance. This algae has been a problem for about 2 months or so and steadily getting worse. I started the drops 3 weeks ago with no change (if not worse). I do notice my nitrates are low and plants haven't been doing so great since the cyanobacteria. Will the erythromycin hurt the plants? I feel like the cyanobacteria is doing the most harm right now, and once I can get that in check them all else will follow.


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## Big_Fish (Mar 10, 2010)

In the event you decide to blackout the tank, (I WOULD)
Get yourself a couple big cardboard boxes and some masking tape and close the tank off to all sources of light for 48-72 hours. I had some nuisance Cyanobacteria against the glass, but UNDER the substrate.
using electrical tape, I blacked out the front of the tank from the surface down. 
after 48 hours it was GONE. no other changes were made.
I'm putting the pictures up now at:
http://www.aquaticplantcentral.com/forumapc/algae/70531-bga-cyanobacteria-under-substrate.html


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## JNish (Sep 1, 2009)

Thanks Big_Fish, in fact I saw your post shortly after I treated my tank with erythromycin and noticed that my tank too had BGA underneath the substrate. The antibiotics didn't do much for the substrate, so I took your advice and covered the bottom with electrical tape. I think I'm going to leave it on there (it matches the black trim of the tank) since the tank is exposed to sunlight from a window and I noticed tons of growth on the sunny side. 

In terms of current condition of tank, I must say I am very thankful for antibiotics. BGA in the tank is completely gone and my plants are coming back to life. I had to do some major trimming to rid the dead parts, but things are starting to fill in and bubbling like never before. I do notice that that I had some hair and beard algae that are making their move, but am going to try to find some Siamese Algae Eaters to munch on that.

Thanks everyone for your help!


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