# Help complete algae remedy sheet



## IUnknown (Feb 24, 2004)

http://www.aquaticscape.com/articles/algae.htm
This is a good website for identifying algae, but it doesn't give any suggestions on how to prevent each algae. Does anyone have a link where this information is compiled? If there isn't one would people give fill in some information from there experiences or from stuff they have read. Tom barr has a lot of good recommendations, but its not compiled anywhere.

Blue-green

Brown 
diatom. Caused by high silicates in new tank substrates. Will go away eventually as tank matures.

Green water 
Po4 overdose? I don't have experience with this, but have read problem/solutions before.

Film

Spot

Fuzz 
I have problems with this, my dosing should be correct, except that I might not be dosing enough po4.

Hair

Thread

Staghorn 
I had this when I had a goldfish planted tank a lot. So maybe from high No3 and Po4?

Brush


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## Anthon (Feb 26, 2004)

Personnal recommendations (sorry for the bad english)

Blue-green : 
BGA loves ratio N low; high temperature (low O2 ???)
they are great to use HCO3 or CO3 as C source
they are very good to compete for N and they can use N2 but they are bad to compete for PO4 => don't like high N ratio

Green water : comes from NH4 overdose + PO4 present ?
UV for 2 days then coagulant to eliminate traces or black out for 2 - 3 days + coagulant

Spot : comes from high PO4 + high light (influence of N ratio ????)
Neritina snail very good vs it

Brush algae : 
loves low PO4 tanks and high N ratio.
solution : decreasing N ratio by adding PO4 or (if both PO4 and NO3 are high) by using NO3 exchange resin to decrease NO3


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## niko (Jan 28, 2004)

I will post only what I know works:

-BGA
200 mg erythromycin per every 10 gals for 3 days.
Do a water change after this trying to remove all BGA remnants.
Done. Guaranteed.

-Hair algae
3 to 10 day complete blackout of the tank. Plants will suffer or at least look ugly after that.
Will return if parameters are not in line.

- Beard algae
Well, there is no cure for this type of algae. Once detected you have 2 choices:
1. Do nothing and hope it will develop and disappear
2. Remove ALL plants and equipment that has the smallest amount of that alge on it (not a guaranteed approach)

- Staghorn
Reduce the N to 0 using anything available - water changes, resins etc.

- Bladerworth
Manual removal of even the tinies piece you notice. Takes patience and perseverance but it will disappear if fought constantly.

- Green water
The following work but are not guaranteed:
Blackout
UV
Diatom

To reiterate once again: Best approach to keep algae non visible is to provide great conditions for the plants to grow. Not a guarantee but it's the most practical approach.


--Nikolay


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## IUnknown (Feb 24, 2004)

Good info that I will add,
http://www.csd.net/~cgadd/aqua/art_plant_algae.htm


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## IUnknown (Feb 24, 2004)

Fuzz algae

I think this might also be known commonly as Green Dust?



> I had been fighting with the glass walls' algae in the form of green dust for years without success. I need to clean the glass at least once a week to keep it clean. Strangely, I hardly have spot algae.


I'm going to try, 


> F-
> Try scrubbing it all off, then immediately do a large 50+% water change, add nutrients back.
> 
> Turn off the filter, let the algae settle then lightly vacuum them up.
> ...





> One thing I've noticed with green dust. It's
> related to PO4 - either directly, but more
> likely indirectly. I noticed that when I
> was dosing massive amounts of PO4 - there
> ...


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## Anthon (Feb 26, 2004)

From http://www.csd.net/~cgadd/aqua/art_plant_algae.htm I disapprove with that :



> BBA thrives in situations of high phosphates. Phosphates come from fish waste, excess food, and occasionally will be present in the water supply. The best way to eliminate BBA is to let the plants out-compete the algae for the nutrients.
> 
> In heavily planted tanks, BBA will often show up when the plants have used up all the nitrates. This causes plant growth to slow or stop, which leaves the excess phosphates available to the algae. By supplying extra Nitrate to a planted tank, we allow plant growth to continue until all phosphate is consumed. Then plant AND algae growth will slow/stop. As long as a usable (5-10ppm) level of Nitrate is maintained, the the plants will continue to use up the available phosphate, effectively controls BBA and other phosphorus-dependant algaes. See the article "Adding Nitrate to a Planted Tank" for detailed instructions on how to increase your Nitrate levels.


I saw many BBA in tanks where PO4 were near to 0 and NO3 not. Versus BBA adding PO4 will certainly have a better effect than adding NO3. 
Adding NO3 in a tank with high PO4 and BBA will probably increase BBA growth.


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## plantbrain (Jan 23, 2004)

BBA=> CO2 in every case I've dealt with if the other parameters where dealt with appropriately.

Staghorn, similar to Green water but the conditions are often worse or lingering, high fish load, feeding, anything that causes some imblanace in relation to NH4. Trim and remove. Goes away if you correct the conditions and trim it off.

Green spot=> low PO4 or sometimes CO2.

Green fur on glass, inoculated. Akinosemdesmus zoospores that reattach in about 1 hour or less after scraping off. Likes high light, good conditions, often goes away on it's own. Scub glass and then vacuum quick or run micron filter or UV while scrubbing. 
Not particular hard to get rid of.

BGA, come on, blackouts work best and cost nothing, how can anyone argue with FREE? They take the same amount of time as Antiobiotics and not everyone has access to drugs over the counter nor should they. It's also as effective. 

BGA that infest our tanks does NOT Fix N2.
There's plenty of N in our tanks to have a very healthy growth of BGA even if your Lamott test kit reads 0 pppm. Do you have fish? Snails? Plants? Gravel? You have enough N for BGA.

The nicest BBA I've seen came from a tank with 0.0ppm of PO4, meanwhile my tanks are loaded with PO4 and BBA free. I lower the CO2 down, I get BBA.

Hair algae, there's about a dozen or so things that fall into this group.
Oedogonium, SAE's are useful. General good conditions

Manual removal etc.

1st: Trim off all that's there, correct conditions(most often CO2 and NO3 are too low)
Water changes water changes, big water changes, clean filters, vacuum detritus off substrate surface, "Fluff" plants, stir things up but not gravel, 
Add nutrients back.

Regards, 
Tom Barr


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## Anthon (Feb 26, 2004)

plantbrain said:


> BBA=> CO2 in every case I've dealt *with if the other parameters where dealt with appropriately*.


I think that you should explain what for you are appropriate parameters.
Do you agree with the fact that high N ratio (which can mean very low PO4) is good for the algae (and bad for the aquarist) ?
In my experience adding more CO2 without enough PO4 will be good for the algae. But I agree with you that adding CO2 with quite high PO4 will kill BBA.



> Green spot=> low PO4 or sometimes CO2.


You mean low PO4 will kill algae or it will help it to fell well ?



> BGA that infest our tanks does NOT Fix N2.


Really ? Could you develop this point please.



> There's plenty of N in our tanks to have a very healthy growth of BGA even if your Lamott test kit reads 0 pppm. Do you have fish? Snails? Plants? Gravel? You have enough N for BGA.


I agree with you as I assume it love low N ratio.

Anthony


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## gpodio (Feb 4, 2004)

plantbrain said:


> Green fur on glass, inoculated. Akinosemdesmus zoospores that reattach in about 1 hour or less after scraping off. Likes high light, good conditions, often goes away on it's own. Scub glass and then vacuum quick or run micron filter or UV while scrubbing.
> Not particular hard to get rid of.


Tom is this the same as dust algae? If so, I also notice an increase of dust algae when iron levels are too high.

Giancarlo Podio


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## JLudwig (Feb 16, 2004)

niko said:


> - Beard algae
> Well, there is no cure for this type of algae. Once detected you have 2 choices:
> 1. Do nothing and hope it will develop and disappear
> 2. Remove ALL plants and equipment that has the smallest amount of that alge on it (not a guaranteed approach)


For infestations: AlgaeFix and copper sulphate with both knock this one out, this will kill all your inverts, be prepared for followup GW bloom due to nitrate spike (have UV near by). SAEs are not for my tanks, so this is my only option.

The best advice I can give is to be aggressive. By this I mean, actively pick, prune, dose, change water and if this fails to improve things (you're fighting an algae for months) throw in the towel, breakdown, bleach everything, start anew. Mistakes in the first 3-6 weeks (the break-in) can be hard to recover from... Every plant can be replaced, I put up with an algae for two years that I eventually had to bleach out of my house... I should not have waited that long...

Jeff


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