Strange bright green algae

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FishTanksOfCO

Candiru
MFK Member
Jan 28, 2015
154
71
46
Colorado, US
For the last few months (pretty much the entire time the tank's been set up) there has been this strange patch of bright green algae. It's sort of like a film on top of the gravel. I've wiped it off before, but it just comes back. Any help is appreciated.
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Hello; That you can "peel" it off the gravel does sound like the "slime algae" also known as cyanobacteria algae. If it does form in sheets or layers it may be that stuff.
If so it is a pest and a pain to control. I had it in my tanks and had to do some serious steps to control it.
 
Looks like Cyano which as the Big guy stated is actually a type of bacteria. Sometimes it is present in new tanks and gets under control as the tank matures. It's very difficult to completely eliminate in an established tank. I had to remove all the fish in a 75 that was effected by cyano and run a course of antibiotics just to kill the stuff and man did that tank stink as i was treating it.
 
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Cyanobacteria is thought to feed on phosphate so make sure you keep the water quality up and vacuum the substrate in that area will help.
There are treatments like antibiotics like erythromycin but I have never liked using them.
I have used hydrogen peroxide to kill the stuff but you have to be careful not to use too much or get it directly on any animals but it will kill a few types of algae including black beard.
 
Hello; I tried treating a tank with erythromycin twice. First it was not cheap and the stuff came back after a while.
I have gotten it under control in my four tanks now (fingers crossed). One tank has been free of the stuff (Let me call it CBA) for over a year now. It was an involved process.
I was replacing the carpet in my fish tank area with the 12 in by12 in commercial vinyl tiles so I had to tear down and move my tanks anyway. I set up a tank in another area sufficient to hold my fish ( I was lucky in that I had been keeping low stock for a time.)

I cleaned each tank with a Clorox solution and the gravel as well. I also soaked all the equipment in that solution. I rinsed all well and used prime after.

I have a number of live plants and placed them in a five gallon bucket of water and dosed them and many snails with the erythromycin. Not so much cost this way. I left them in the bucket a day or two.

After that it was a matter of sitting the tanks back up in the ordinary fashion. Once filled I dosed the tanks with more prime, planted the plants and added the snails. Later added fish a few at a time.

I also set my lights on a timer so that there is just under 12 hours of light each day. I keep to a light feeding schedule and have a lot of snails.

So far so good. One tank CBA free over a year and the others either at a year or close to it.
 
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