# floating green stuff?



## Marauder (Apr 17, 2006)

I have a weird problem. I'm not sure this is even the right thread for it.

I have some stuff floating in my 75 that looks like greenish, fine ground, pepper. It's definately not Duckweed. Duckweed is much, much bigger than this stuff. 

It's so fine that it flows right through the finest net I have. Paper towels seem to soak it up, but it just fills right back in again and quickly covers the surface. Tonight I lowered the water level a little and tried to scrape some off the side of the tank. It just smears and leaves a grey/green smudge on my fingers.

I've had this for about two weeks and seems to be getting worse. It's so bouyant that my filter won't touch it. I do not believe this to be green water.

Any ideas?


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## ianmoede (Jan 17, 2005)

Some big greenwater maybe? Try backing off the light some. Mechanically filter it out with filter floss or a diatom filter, then see if you can diagnose the source.


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## AaronT (Apr 26, 2004)

It sounds like you might have had Wolfia sp. introduced to your tank. It's like micro duckweed. Do you have a brineshrimp net? That might do the trick.


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## Marauder (Apr 17, 2006)

I'll get a brine shrimp net and see if that helps.

I might have bigger problems now though. About 10 minutes ago I spotted a small patch of blue/green algea in my tank. I don't get it. Every Sunday I do a 50% water change, and dose Pottasium to 20-30 ppm. I add 12 ml CSM+B every other day. Nitrate is maintained to about 10-20ppm during the week. Po4 is maintained to about 2-3 ppm.

It's been running for three years now and I have not had a major algea out break. This is the first time I've seen this Green/blue sheet algea.

Last week I upgraded my lights. I went from 2x55CF and 3x32NOF strips to a 4x54 HO T-5 Tek light.

Is this upgraded light doing this? What should I do about the GSA?


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## AaronT (Apr 26, 2004)

If you changed your lighting chances are you need to change your dosing. What size tank is this? The Tek light is likely brighter and causing the plants to use macros faster than you are used to.


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## John P. (Nov 24, 2004)

Probably a floating cynobacteria.


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## Marauder (Apr 17, 2006)

My tank is 75 gallons. The Tek Light has been running for 8 days now. Mathematically my lighting has only gone from 204 watts to 216 (110CF + 96NOF last week, to my current 4x54 T5HO) so I didn't change my fert regimine at all. I figured I'd just keep an eye on the plants.

The plants have been in a constant state of pearling since I turned the Tek light on. Must be the excellent reflectors.

As far as the floating green stuff... I used a brine net. It got maybe 80% of it. If it's anything like Duckweed, that's not enough. I'll have to try something else. 

The rate at which this stuff speads and covers the surface is identical to duckweed. A little one day, more the next, and completely covered by the end of the week. I had a little bit of it two weeks ago and today it's actually shading the tank.


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## John P. (Nov 24, 2004)

If you redirect the flow from you filter so it breaks the water's surface, it'll help.


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## hooha (Apr 21, 2005)

If the floating green stuff feels like cornmeal when you rub in between your fingers (hard, granular texture) then it's likely wolfia and I wish you luck. I have yet to iradicate it from any tank it's infected. If it's mushy, it could be some type of floating algae (blue-green, etc).

The problem with wolfia is that when you try to net it, invariably some of it sinks down into the water column, making it almost impossible to remove. I may try netting any i see every hour over a weekend when I have the time to see if I can finally get rid of it.


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## gibmaker (Jan 3, 2007)

Marauder said:


> I'll get a brine shrimp net and see if that helps.
> 
> I might have bigger problems now though. About 10 minutes ago I spotted a small patch of blue/green algea in my tank. I don't get it. Every Sunday I do a 50% water change, and dose Pottasium to 20-30 ppm. I add 12 ml CSM+B every other day. Nitrate is maintained to about 10-20ppm during the week. Po4 is maintained to about 2-3 ppm.
> 
> ...


Blue green algae actually isnt algae its probably cynobacteria, one of the oldest organisms on earth. It can appear from having a descent amount of dead leaves or plants or plant matter floating around in your tank that you cant see. I read that it can also appear from over fedding or just food that the fish dont find.


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## Ownager2004 (Apr 18, 2006)

Have you considered adding a fish or two that will eat it? When I used to have platies and guppies they would eat film off the surface and also eat algae. I bet they would eat whatever it is that is in your tank.


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## Marauder (Apr 17, 2006)

The floating stuff in my tank has a greasy, slimy feel to it. In the net it had a light green tint to it. It must be some form of algea.

As far as the blue/green algea is concerned, I probably do have some uneaten food in there. I have a several extremely shy loaches that seldom come out of hiding, even when it's feeding time. I suspect that they have not been cleaning up the frozen blood worms I've been feeding them.

I pulled a small amount of BGA out yesterday (about the size of a stamp). I have the same amount in there today. 

The nitrate test showed that N03 was 0ppm. That explains the algea. Couldn't have been low for more than a week. I guess that's enough though. I'm going to do a water change, clean out all dead leaves, re-dose the tank, and look for a way to skim that stuff off the surface.


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## howie (Jan 5, 2007)

I had a huge problem with BGA in my 16 gallon tank. I removed as much as possible and use two form of antibacterial medication by Maracyn. In two doses it was totally gone.


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## Marauder (Apr 17, 2006)

I believe I have everything back on track. I added two power heads, aimed slightly at the surface to whip up some more current. In days the surface film disappeared.

I did several large water changes, got my nitrates back up to 20 ppm, P04 to 2-3 ppm, and S04 to about 30ppm.

Right now I still have the usual BBA on my Wendelov (can't seem to shake that stuff, ever) and a little thread/hair algea. At least that algea is managable. In a week or so that should be gone as well.

I suspect part of my problems started with some new plants I got two weeks ago. When planting them I accidentally uncovered some Flourish Tabs. I found little chunks of fertilizer tabs ON my substrate that probably threw my water column ferts off. I vacuumed a lot of it out while doing the water changes.

The other problem was my high efficiency light that I didn't change my fert regime to match. That ran my nitrates low. That led to the minor GSA problem.



Ownager2004 said:


> Have you considered adding a fish or two that will eat it? When I used to have platies and guppies they would eat film off the surface and also eat algae. I bet they would eat whatever it is that is in your tank.


Those fish would get eaten in my tank. I have three 7" Hujeta "Gars" in there. Feeding them and my Loaches frozen live food (Krill and Bloodworns) will be done closer to water change day to prevent polluting my tank again. I also changed the loaches hiding spot to an area where I can see them eat.

Basically it was a series of things that caused my first major algea outbreak.

1. New light and plants on same day.
2. Digging up the substrate and uncovering fert tabs.
3. Not accounting for new lights power.
4. Allowing N03 to drop low.
5. Possible over feeding of fish.


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