blue algea

[adriaand]

I have blue algae in my tank.
What causes it and is it harmful?:eek:

[solex69]

Size of the tank vs amount of fish in there? Most common cause of blue algae is over population of fish in the tank
Do you have any cleaning crew in there? Snails, some corys?
What lights do you have in the tank? How long do they burn each day?
How much aquatic plants do you have?

Your tank will look & smell quite nasty in a few weeks if this isn't treated accordingly.
I suggest an immediate water change with a proper gravel vac.

Cheers
Dale

[adriaand]

A blue 34w and a 18w white light.I switch the blue one on @ 7am and then @ 9am the white one comes on till 5pm and then the blue one goes off @ 6-7pm
1 Algae eater as the cleaner.
I have no aquatic plants,only plastic plants.
The algae is on my breeding tank on the plastic suction cups inside the tank
Its not that overpopulated and i've got a cascade 150 HOB filter for a 100l tank.
My ph is 7.6.
Ive read that it is because the tank is to clean and that i need real plants to dirty the tank up a bit and then my ph will drop but i cant take the risk.

[solex69]

Lights sounds fine
Algae eater is a nobb, doesn't help much in any tank :) lol. Wish I can catch mine
Get some proper aquatic plants into the tank and discard plastic ones. Get some guppy grass or duckweed (or any fast growing plant) if you can...very fast growers and excellent in assisting your tank getting healthy
How many fish have you got in the 100l at the moment?

huh? You need plants in there to help you control your algae. Why the concern for the pH dropping?

BTW, what fish are you trying to breed?

[adriaand]

Round about 15-20.

Breeding guppies that i give away.

[solex69]

Ok cool, that's ok. Just get some real plants in your tank, do a water change + gravel vac and you should be fine.

Where you based? If CPT, come get some plants from me. PM me to discuss further if you're interested

Cheers
Dale

[adriaand]

Im in jhb.Thanx anyway.

[Campbell13]

Blue algae!!!!
Funky!

[TyroneGenade]

1 Algae eater as the cleaner.

What type? One of those useless plecos that poop more than eat Algae?


I have no aquatic plants,only plastic plants.

1. Get some real plants. I suggest Hygrophila polysperma. You need rooted plants that can pump oxygen into the substrate which can turn the anoxic environment into an oxic one (where there is oxygen). This will prevent the nitrate there from turning into ammonium to feed the algae. Also, an anoxic environment turns acidic which liberates phosphate from the substrate. Green-blue algae growth is governed by the availablity of phosphate. The leading source of phosphate is fish food.

2. Once you have the plants do not feed the the fish for a few days and do a massive water change. Once starved of nutrients the algae will simply vanish. Keep doing water changes as the break down products are toxic. Doing things this way, the algae can vanish in as little as 3 days.

Guppies are quite effective algae eaters but few if any algae eaters eat green-blue and black brush algae. Normally, adequate plant growth will out compete the blue-green algae for resources. Black brush algae is more of a problem.

Variatus platies are the best-remove-algae-from-plants-and-plants algae eaters out there. They are damn pretty too. For glass you can't beat the chinese algae eater for bang-for-your-buck algae clearance. When it gets big and lazy, exchange it for a small one. (Britsle noses are good too.)

tt4n

[carl p]

ive got algae problems aswel how do i ID the algae, ive got a 60L with 6tiger barbs 5platies, 1 loach, rainbow shark, and a useless plec, and 2 angels, how long can they go without food, ive got 1 sword plant and a couple of fast growing cabomba carolinia ( i think) and 3 stems of giant hygro in there and there all growing fast, and only 1 15w red daro light, im defnitly overfeeding i think how much food is enough....

[TyroneGenade]

Hi Carl,

What does the algae look like? Can you post a picture? Blue-green algae looks like a blue-green slime. Black brush algae looks like black wiskers or strands growing on the plant leaves or bog wood etc... Hair algae is also blue-green algae (a species of spirogenella). The brown or green algae on the glass is real algae (i.e. a plant) and a good algae eater (like a young chinese algae eater or bushy/bristle nose) should be able to take care of that.

The fish you describe would be fine without food for a few days but the problem would quickly resurface once feeding has begun as you have very many fish in the tank. You may be better off increasing the frequency of water changes. Getting more stem plans would be a good idea too. They are easy to trim and you can literally stuff the tank with them but still see the fish.

Get rid of the useless plec.

I'm very envious of your fast growing Cabomba.

tt4n

[carl p]

i tried to take a pic of the algae but not with great sucses, ive noted on the back of aquarium theres normal green algae and infront brownish green blotches, i thing im going to starg the fish for a day or 2 and maybe get a bigger filter aswel

for howlong can u starf a oscar, his about 13cm from nose 2 tail.. theres algae in there aswell

[TyroneGenade]

Sounds like you have normal algae. Don't bother with starving the fish. Get a proper algae eater and do more frequent water changes.

Fish can take as much as 2 weeks without food (some can go longer and others shorter).

You may also want to get an algae scraper to manually clear the algae.

tt4n

[carl p]

got myself a magnetic algae scraper this afternoon, worked like a charm, by tomorow my DIY canister filter will be up and running at a total cost of R300 and wil defnitly help with the exces food in the tank.