# Baby shrimp and BGA



## XRTech (Jul 15, 2007)

I have a 2.5g with baby greens and an outbreak of BGA[smilie=m: . Can anyone give me some tips on getting rid of the BGA without harming the shrimp? I was going to do a blackout, but i'm not sure how the HM and HC will react to that. I've starting small doses of NO3 (seachem).


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## Wood (Jul 27, 2006)

stop dosing the nitrate. dose a little phosphate and use Seachem Excel. Are you using CO2? What is your lighting schedule? Blackout will only hard the plants and once you turn the lights back on the bga will get worse.

Make sure you dose very very small amounts of anything as your tank is very small. Change the water 30% twice a week as well until it starts to dissipate.


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## Zapins (Jul 28, 2004)

HC doesn't do well with blackouts. I killed mine off after a 2 day blackout.


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## XRTech (Jul 15, 2007)

Thanks for the input. I forgot to mention that I am dosing the other maco nutrients and excel (small dosing using a syringe). Only noted the Nitrogen because I thought BGA started from low nitrates. On a good note, I just checked the tank and shrimp are good and the BGA seem to be peeling up. I've been doing 40-50% water changes weekly. I'm not using CO2 atm and my photoperiod is 8hrs.


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## Purrbox (Jun 1, 2006)

There are several strains of BGA, and as a result there can be several different reasons for it showing up. Low Nitrates is one (did you do a test with a calibrated test kit to check your levels?) but poor circulation is another. There's at least one other common cause, but I can't think of it off of the top of my head. 

In my experiance the best way to deal with BGA is a multiprong approach.
1. Check the flow in your aquarium to ensure that you don't have dead spots where the nutrients could be getting depleted and and not replenished by the flow. Adjust if necessary.
2. Remove as much of the BGA as possible and do a moderate to large water change.
3. Dose your ferts back to normal levels, making sure not to let anything bottom out.

Sounds like your aquarium is on the road to recovery but these step might help it out the door a bit faster.


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## FacePlanted (Aug 13, 2007)

I dosed EM tablets and my ghost shrimp were ok during the treatment. The greens might be more sensitive though.

I had BGA in the beginning of my new aquasoil tank. I think another cause of BGA is a very high level of dissolved organics (DOC). The new aquasoil was leaching organics and ammonia like crazy. Daily waterchanges did nothing, as well as kno3, and added circulation. Once these were ok however, I killed it with myracin and it never came back.

I found the EM was pretty gentle on the entire system, bio was ok, as well as the ghost shrimp and ottos.

Maybe you could test it on a test tank with only 1 shrimp in it and see if the shrimp is sensitive to the EM or not. If its ok, then use it to nuke the GD BGA. Be careful for ammonia afterwards from the dying BGA in the tank--do waterchanges.

This is just my suggestion based on my experience and what worked and didnt. Stupid BGA can be pretty frustrating.

Good luck!

-Mike B-


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## Adragontattoo (Jun 3, 2007)

I am fighting BGA on the side of the tank that gets indirect sunlight at the gravel line. I was having an issue with other algaes and it has mostly settled down now to BGA with heavy water changes minimum of once a week, multiple powerheads to catch the slow spots and adjusting the lighting.


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## Zapins (Jul 28, 2004)

Usually manual removal and water changes get rid of it, although increasing nitrates a little can also help in my experience. But #1 is manual removal.


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## rs79 (Dec 7, 2004)

I get rid of BGA in shrimp tanks by ADDING nitrate as Tom Barr suggested. In real stubborn cases you can use Flourish Excel which will hasten it's death and not affect the shrimp.

I've used this on maybe a dozen species of shrimp back before i understood you had to feed plants quite a bit and had an awful time with BGA. You won't find any here now.


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## XRTech (Jul 15, 2007)

BGA all gone and shrimp getting big! Thanks everyone for your input. I did manual removal and excel with macro ferts. Gone after about a week.


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