# The tale of two blackouts



## SnakeIce (May 9, 2005)

Last summer I went on vacation for a week and when I got back the 55 gallon tank had a blanket of blue green algae. My wife did the first watechange the day we got back and pulled it out by the handfulls. A week later I worked on the tank to figure out why my angelfish was so mad at me(turns out he disliked the duckweed, go figure) and again I removed a bunch but seemed to have made some headway against it.

After several weeks of physical removal keeping it down to bits only to have it grow again we bought an antibiotic and set to doseing the tank. Started with the recomended dose and then cut it way back as per on source I read saying that was adequate. The initial dose had it on its way out but the following reduced doses was like spitting at the rain. Finally I gave that idea up after stressing one fish to death and making others ragged.

As we got back into things it got to where it wasn't comeing back as fast but still there. Probably the lack of consistently feeding the plants aided its survival. 

So end of last week I did a 3 day 4 night black out. I'd say 90% of where the algae had covered cleared, but it wasn't gone. I ran normal light schedual for 2 days to feed the fish and give myself time to address what hadn't died off durning the black out. 

Yesterday I did a small waterchange and went over the tank well to find all the thick lumps of the algae that hadn't been affected by the last blackout. Last night I turned the light off after the timer shut it off and covered the tank again after doseing the tank well.

I'll dose the tank like normal schedual even during the blackout to ensure no shortage of nitrate will happen to try to keep the algae from comeing back.

Ounce of prevention... Don't take vacations , just kidding


----------



## SnakeIce (May 9, 2005)

After the covers came off the second time I still have little spots of the algae in a couple places. I am putting extra KNO3 in the tank to ensure it doesn't run low since I read that low nitrate gives it an advantage over the plants.

I'll keep picking it out as I can but I don't know what else to do. Medication killed fish and not the algae, blackouts only reduced the ammount and didn't kill it off... Not sure what else to try.


----------



## MiamiAG (Jan 13, 2004)

Tell us more about your set up and your fertilization regimen.


----------



## SnakeIce (May 9, 2005)

55 gallon acrylic tank with 48" triple t8 striplight, mostly profile substrate, fluval 304 with intake near bottom and output near surface in same corner and directed down the back of the tank.

85% planted with crypts, rest of space has java moss, Najas grass, rotala rotundifolia, java fern, and a couple small anubias nana. 

1 angelfish, botia rostrata, 4 ottos, 5 khulie loaches, 9 variatus platys + babies, and 3 black phantom tetras.

Fertilization idea is EI, but consistency is an issue we are working on. This is my wife's tank and she is trying to take care of the doseing. Lately been doseing more regularly. I've made stock solutions useing chuck Gadd's calculator to make things faster for her. The ammount of dry chemicals wasn't disolveing easily in a small container and the fish try to eat it if it is dumped right in. If the KNO3 was powdered and not granules it wouldn't be as hard to dose, but all I could find was grants stump remover which is granules.

I think the increaseing population and size of the platys is one source of an issue with the tank. More fish mass, more amonia produced yada yada yada.

On a positive note the plants are doing better and growing, and the BGA is returning much slower than it was befor.


----------



## mia55gallon (Mar 1, 2006)

*advice*

Try a 2-3X Overdose of Excell for a couple of weeks along w/the other stuff you mentioned and youll kick it in no time.


----------



## epicfish (Sep 11, 2006)

lol. This thread is almost a year old. Check the dates before posting. Hehehe. =)


----------



## bioch (Apr 8, 2006)

how can u tell teh fish were mad?


----------



## SnakeIce (May 9, 2005)

bioch said:


> how can u tell teh fish were mad?


By observeing behavior and the inconsistency from normal behavior.

Normally she spends the majority of the time I see her as close to me as the tank will allow. Generally that interest is about food, and wishful thinking imparts other more noble reasons for the behavior of seeking me out, but mostly it is about food.

Befor we went on that vacation she would become agitated and try to chase the other fish away if there was very much duckweed in the tank because it made it harder to see the flake food. Normally I kept it down to just the minimal amount because I don't like to see agression over something I can change.

Just befor we left I left more duckweed over the tank to reduce the amount of light getting to the plants so they would not run out of nutrients as fast. Nice theory but it didn't work since the duckweed growth did that much faster.

So when I get back I have a very hungry angelfish that will not beg and if I come into the room turns her back on me, while jerking her fins in a way I can only describe as agressive, or mad. As soon as I cleared away the duck weed she stopped except for a couple looks at the small amounts left while indicating her displeasure at the duckweed left.

Since then she has been as she was befor, always up looking at me.


----------



## MatPat (Mar 22, 2004)

Do you still have the BGA or have you conquered it?


----------



## SnakeIce (May 9, 2005)

I am sure you could find some in my current setups, but it isn't a big problem now. I wish I could say as much about hair algae. It is the thin stuff that branches and continues to lengthen to the point where you wonder if it could be harvested and used in some sort of textile.


----------



## blacksmith37 (Oct 10, 2006)

Glad to see you back, snakice; I was afraid the BGA got you. And I wanted info. 
I am having a BGA problem in a 55 that I maintain in a nursing home. I didn't realize it was not a regular algae for awhile and I thought the inmates were sneaking in extra fish food. But I just did a water change and cleaned the 2 pengiun 300 filters , turned out the lights ( 2-55watts HO and 1-40 watt) , and covered with a white sheet. There are lights in the lobby and they won't let me use black plastic. Do you think that will be dark enough ? It has been 2 days, should I keep it dark longer. 
I got some erythromycin that I was going to put in when I turn the lights on ; is that the med you used?


----------



## SnakeIce (May 9, 2005)

I dealt with this over a year ago now, I don't remember what antibiotic I used. I did a forum search that led me to what I used at the time.

The sheet probably isn't going to make it dark enough to kill the BGA, and an effective dose of antibiotic is going to wreck your bio filter which is hard on the fish. You didn't say if the tank is planted or not, but I would assume so since low NO3 is one of the nitch enviornments that BGA does especially well. It would also keep the plants from doing very well since they don't have what they need to grow and keep algae at bay.


----------



## blacksmith37 (Oct 10, 2006)

Thanks for the reply. No lights for 4 days and the sheet seem to have done the job, I see no BGA. I didn't like the white sheet either, but it is in the nursing home lobby and they would have none of my black plastic. I put in one dose of erythrimycin for good luck. I am now using only a 40watt , leaving the 2- 55 watts off. 
The plants were weakened or killed by some "helpful" visitor putting in algecide; which apparently helped the BGA. That is a problem with a public location. I can't leave fish food in the cabinet or the fish get grossley overfed.


----------



## epicfish (Sep 11, 2006)

Hm, was it pretty much light-proof? I keep peeking into my blackout thing to see how it's progressing. I know, I know, I'm not supposed to.


----------

