# Slime black algae



## Gab79 (Nov 26, 2004)

Hallo, at first sorry for my english. Since 3 weeks i have a problem with a sort of slime black algae. That algae appears as a patina on the superior part of plants specially during the lighting period (8 hours/day). I can easily remove that patina but the day after the problem persist. 
What i have to do?


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## Erirku (Oct 5, 2004)

It might be BGA? Although mines was small black tufts, that were easy to get rid of. You can do Tom Barr's method: 
1) clean as much of it off, and do 50%+ WC
2) Keep up with NPK ratio
3) do a 3 day balck out, with no light
Even though it has woked for Tom and others! I've BGA, is a cyanobacteria, which isn't a true algae.
Last option: Erythromycin


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## trenac (Jul 16, 2004)

Gab, welcome to APC... That looks like Slime algae to me. Called blue green algae (BGA) also know as Cyanobacteria. Most of the time it appears blue/green in color but also can be black, brown, purple, yellow and red in color. BGA is not a algae but are prokaryotes like bacteria.

You can rid your tank of it by using E-mycin (my preferred method) or a blackout, read this.

However to keep the this algae and other algaes from coming back you need to keep your tank balanced...Nutrients, C02 & lighting.

If you post your water parameters, tank specs, wattage etc., we can let you know if you have a balanced tank. The first thing I see is you need to up your lighting from 8 hours to 10 hours daily.


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## Gab79 (Nov 26, 2004)

Here are my tank parameters:
Tank size: 180 net liters
Lighting: 4x39w T5 6500K 8 hours/day

Water paramaters:
KH 4
GH 6
Ph 6,6-6,8 (i am using Co2 24h/day)
No3-Po4: i am adding them by KNO3 and KHPO4 solutions to reach +/- NO3 5 ppm PO4 0,5


At microscopic (an old and not powerful microscope..) view that patina appears as a series of globules with a dot on the center.
Thanks all.


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## trenac (Jul 16, 2004)

Gab... Your parameters look good and you are working on the N03/P04 issue; make sure to keep them at a 23 to 1 ration (exp:10ppm/N03 to 0.4ppm/P04).

The only thing I see is the daily lighting needs to be increased to 10 hours daily, plants need at least 10 hours up to 12 hours daily to photosynthesis correctly.

Then to initially get rid of the slime algae do a blackout or use e-mycin. Before starting the treatment clean as much off by hand as possible and do a 50% water change. 

Also make sure to keep your C02 between 20-30ppm and do weekly water changes.


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## Cavan Allen (Jul 22, 2004)

Gab, 

You have a breakout of the dreaded gray slime. It is a cyanobacteria similar in nature to the 'BGA' that is more commonly seen. Its proliferation is brought about by an extended shortage of nitrates. You will often see BGA shortly before it appears. 

In the past, I have never been able to kill it with any antibiotics. The easiest and most effective way to get rid of it is to do a blackout. 3 days will often do the trick, but do 4 if you don't have any really sensitive plants. Before that, do a large water change. 

If you have access to a UV sterilizer, you might try running one 24 hours a day for about a week before you resort to the blackout (along with water changes). If that doesn't do the trick, it can't hurt to keep it on during the period of (total) darkness. An effective diatom filter can also be an effective tool, though it rarely if ever does the job by itself. 

I once got rid of it by totally rescaping and resetting the tank. 

To prevent its return, make sure your plants have an adequate supply of macronutrients as Trena mentioned. It's really not any more complicated than that.


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## Gab79 (Nov 26, 2004)

Thanks all for the replies.
Before applying an antibiotic treatment i tried with Protalon 707 ( produced by Esha) and 2 days blackout. Actually the situation is ok. I can see few residuals of the slime only on some plants and always in the same point. I hope in a complete solution. This is a pic of 2 days ago. I made some changements especially for the glosso "bed" and i'am waiting the complete re-growth.


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