# Help with BGA (Cyano) alage: Came back after total tear down



## Dax420 (Apr 1, 2008)

So I have a 5G Marineland Hex kit with the integrated BIO-Wheel filter. I have a single 15W daylight CFL pigtail bulb in it. No CO2, no dosing with ferts. 8 hour photo period. I only have a PH test kit, so don't ask for other water parameters, I just don't know.

I had the tank running for a year with a medium sized Java Fern, a tiny little Hygro (that never really grew much) and a large clump of Java Moss held down with a lead weight. I had black coated gravel in the tank for all of this time.

Everything was going well, the Java Moss grew so much it basically took over the tank, which was fine with me but then I got a serious BGA outbreak that quickly took over the tank. It coated the leaves of my Java Fern and turned the huge moss into a slimy lump of plant mass. It also would completely cover the acrylic sides of the tank. I couldn't clean it from the sides of the tank until it grew thick enough to peel off in large sheets. I did my best to hand clean the Java Fern but there was no practical way to manually remove it from the Java Moss.

Finally in a fit of desperation I tore the tank down to bare glass (acrylic). I washed the tank out with dish soap, cleaned the filter and hood assembly, chucked out the gravel. I saved the Java Fern and Hygro by leaving them in a fishbowl of tap water (with no dechlor) and then manually removed the BGA from them. I also kept the nitrifying bacteria alive on my bio-wheel by not washing it and putting it in the bucket with my fish during the tear down.

I setup the tank again using pool filter sand as the substrate, about 2.5". I planted the Java Fern and Hygro but I tossed all of my moss out as it was beyond repair. I replaced about 75% of the water with water from the original tank that I filtered through coffee filters and 25% dechlorinated tap water. Things went fine for about a week...

Now the Cyanobacteria has come back. It started directly where the water from the waterfall off of the filter hits the pool filter sand on the bottom of the tank. Now it has spread out and is covering about 50% of the bottom of my tank. So far none has taken hold on the tank walls and only a little bit on my Java Fern. It is VERY obvious that the BGA colony is centered around the water coming off of the filter hitting the tank bottom.

So questions:

a) Did I make a foible by keeping the cynaobacteria alive on my bio-wheel? Should I have cleaned the bio-wheel too and dealt with the tank cycling again?
b) What are my options at this point, with regards to getting rid of this junk once and for all?
c) I was considering starting a dosing schedule with Flourish Excel, would this help with the BGA problem?
d) I was considering starting a DIY yeast CO2 injection, would this help with the BGA problem?
e) Would increasing my PH help?
f) Help?


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## xspy (Mar 29, 2008)

This is a good article on BGA AQUATIC EDEN It gets down to the nitty gritty of BGA. There are also successful BGA stories here in the forums. Good luck


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## Varig8 (Dec 25, 2007)

Too bad you had to go to all that trouble of tearing down your tank and starting over.............This last year Ive set up 6 additional tanks, doing the usual waiting out period of the cycling process to get rid of the "algae" blooms and settling down to a nice clear tank without all the unwanted green algaes. After the 3rd tank I starting dosing with fertilisers AND Seachem Flourish Excel at 5 X the normal dose or even a little more. I found that this doesnt have any negative effects on any other aquarium plants with the exception of Susswassertang and Monoselenium Tenerum-it will literally melt these away. I think I probably had every type of unwanted algae growing in these tanks also. Now I only OD the Excel once every 2 or 3 months for long hair algae, which is the only one that comes back. I did notice that it has a slight irritating effect on snails (they tend to race to the surface and crawl above the water line where I happily smash them!! I think it also is a very slight irritant to freshwater shrimp as they get "excited" and swim around erratically for an hour or so after dosing, but I have never noticed any lasting effects or deaths due to the OD of Excel. I have CO2 injected in all my tanks (I highly recommend if you want to grow exceptional plants) and Ive recently had a problem with fungus on my swords-I was told by a Thai breeder to use Almond tree leaves in the water-they are reputed to be a good anti-bacterial, anti-fungal, will reduce high PH, and also are reputed to discourage algae growth! I have seen them sold as Ketapang leaf, but we have the trees here, so I just went back in the alley and picked up some old leaves! They are also reputed to enhance the immune system, promote appetite, and enhance breeding and spawning especially with Bettas & Angels, and some Cichlids. After using this "tea" in my tanks, I havent had any more fungus outbreaks and the 2 swords that didnt die of the fungus recovered and were eating the very next day!! Ive never had this happen with over the counter chemicals....I recommend you give them a try!


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## legomaniac89 (Mar 19, 2008)

Ouch thats some wicked cyano.

I had BGA in my 20g and I treated it with Maracyn 2. It's active ingredient is erythromycin and apparently, BGA doesn't like erythromycin. I dosed the tablets for about a week and the BGA was gone completely.

You could also combine this with increased Excel dosing and a siesta period with your lighting for a real knockout punch.

If you don't know, a siesta period is something like this... Lights on 5hrs, off 2hrs, on 5hrs. The plants are unaffected by the lighting, but algae hates it and will begin to die off.


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