Big time Algae problem :O(

[mandoborg]

Hey folks, my tank is getting infested with Algae and i'm starting to worry. It looks like Black hair all over my plants. The driftwood has green Alage starting to cover it as well. The plants seem healthy and the fish are fine, but visually it's starting to look kind of nasty. My paramters from a few minutes ago are :

PH 6.0 ppm
Ammonia 0ppm
Nirtite 1.0ppm

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Nitrate 5.0ppm
Phosphate 2.0

Per Rivercats advice i've cut my light/CO2 cycle to only 6 hours a day.

I've been dosing Green Leafs PPS system, and every three days or so i alternate between API LeafZone and Seachem Flourish, just until those bottles are empty and to give my plants something differant !!

My question is, is this a lost cause at this point ?? I've tried the peroxide and it didn't touch the stuff. I've been reading about Seachem Excel working, but what is going on in my tank ?? It's even starting to grow on my Hydro Japan sp.

I've put so much work into this tank it's discoraging to watch this stuff take over.....

Jim

 

[mandoborg]

Heres the other stuff that's taking over everything that doesn't move in my tank........

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[Rivercats]

Remind me what lighting and bulbs you have too. When you spot treated with H2O2 did you turn your filters off?

 

[mandoborg]

It's a 29 gallon.............. i'm using the Finnex Ray2 daylight LED set-up........ I indeed turned the filters off for a good 1/2 hour........The stuff didn't touch it unfortunately.......... I have no hangs ups at all in removing plants, but that's not going to solve the problem of what's the cause. I'll keep at it with the Peroxide, but i'm not holding out much hope at this point.........My Anubias' are growing better beards than i can !! Hey ya gotta laugh right ??

Jim

 

[Rivercats]

Try using 3ml peroxide to every 1 gallon of water and slowly squirt the algae as close to it as you can get. Every once in a while you get some that needs to be hit twice but I don't find that very often.

You can if you want also use liquid carbon (Excel, Metricide 14 day solution, or API CO2 Booster) along with the CO2. You could do 1ml for every 5 gallons of water or even 1ml per 2 gallons of water.

Almost forgot you can also do a 24 lights off once a week to help knock the algae down.

 

[Billbug68]

I personally have had better luck spot treating with excel. How long have you been running the lights 6 hours? The problem isn't going to get fixed in a matter of days. If you're running co2, try cranking your co2 up a little higher, your nitrates look a little low, as well.

 

[mandoborg]

Billbug, I switched to the 6 hour light cycle about three weeks ago. Last night i went ahead and spot treated one of my Anubias' to give it another shot. It fizzed like a bottle of Sprite for a few minutes so we'll see what happens. I'll try edging up the CO2 for a couple days and see if that produces results.

Rivercat, i'm kind of confused by your comment of " Try using 3ml peroxide to every 1 gallon of water and slowly squirt the algae as close to it as you can get'. I've been using straight peroxide sucked into a large syringe and hitting it where it counts. Is this not the right way, or is that formula for actually adding peroxide to the water ? Never heard of that so i don't think that's what you meant......i'll wait for a reply on that one !!

Thanks to both of you for your advice and i'll keep at it.......... next step is to go with no light for a couple of days i would imagine.........

I've been reading so much on Algae because i want to get rid of the source if i can nail it down. It'll be nice to eradicate this bunch, but if it just comes back again i've gained nothing........

Jim

 

[Rivercats]

Have you been using a certain amount of peroxide in the tank? I was just letting you know you can use up to 3ml of peroxide to every gallon of tank water, that's all. So say you had a 50g tank you could use 150ml of peroxide for one treatment.

You know if the peroxide isn't working, which is really weird you should try using a liquid carbon like Excel. When one doesn't cut it try the other. Plus if you would do an actual say 2 or 3 day black out, then spot treat, and try using a siesta period. Run lights 3 or 4 hours, give them a 2 hour lights off, then run them 3 or 4 hours again. Some algaes need long light periods to grow well and this might be enough of a combination to finally get rid of the stuff.

 

[mandoborg]

Ahh thanks for clearing that up for me !! I'm WAY below those levels of peroxide per gallon. In fact, i've only been treating one plant at a time out of concern for how much i could use. I'm glad i'm well below that level.... I just noticed the stuff i treated last night is a dark maroon color this morning so i think somethings happening !! I havea bottle of API CO2 booster ( liquid carbon ? ) just hanging around here that i used before setting up my CO2 system, would that work if i hit it with that or should i wait a couple of days ??

The change in color has made me kind of excited that i did something to it !!

I'll start playing with the light cycle the begining of the week if it comes to that......

THANK YOU so much again for your help !!

Jim

 

[Rivercats]

You can use either the peroxide or liquid carbon. On BBA I've always had the best luck with peroxide.

 

[aqua_chem]

Or both. Some have claimed that they have a synergistic effect. Just not at the same time (eg, H2O2 in the AM, Excel in the PM, repeat).

 

[mandoborg]

Hey Ya'll, i just wanted to stop in and give you an update. I took Rivercats advice on the lighting cycle and went with 3 on-2 off-4 on........I spot treated again with peroxide Sunday morning after doing a 25% water change. I then spot treated with Seachem Excel Sunday night and also added a capful to the water. As of today, Tuesday, the stuff looks like it's finally going away ! I'm going to continue this lighting cycle for at least this week to see if i can get rid of it all. One question, with the exception of the Excel, i've stopped adding anything to the tank, Flourish, my PPS ferts............ should i start getting back to that........ my plants are fine, i just wanted to stop giving the aquarium anything healthy that might make the algae fight to survive !!

One possible side effect was one of my Angels has a huge bloated belly now and is kind of breathing heavy......i pulled her and put her in my sons tank which is a very basic no plants 10 gallon that i added two tablespoons of aquarium salt........... Is this a coincidence or a terrible side effect of too much peroxide/Excel ??....I was very careful to heed Rivercats numbers and i didn't put a lot of either one.............might just be an unfortunate coincidence........ i hope she pulls through........... she's my favorite ana is about 5 inches tall !!

THANKS AGAIN for your help !!!........feeling a little better about the situtaion..........i'm a new fish daddy, everything make me nervouse !!!

Jim

 

[Tamra]

I have been fighting that black tuft algae for years and have only just beaten it!! I've taken the wood out and soaked it in the recommended (at the time) bleach, then rinsed and let it sat in water, then added Prime to get rid of any latent bleach before returning it to the tank, and it did work but 1 spot that didn't turn a light color grew back, and then it spread again, covering all the wood and all the plants, trimming helped but kept my plants from getting any bigger.... I've used Excel a lot and it helps a little, if you add it every day...

Finally I noticed that any wood that got moved to my Malawi cichlid tank was clean within 2 days! Not sure if it was the 40 fish or the 2 large Pleco's, but someone loved it! I would then move the wood or plant back but it would grow back in a week or two... so the wood and infected plants all got moved permanently, the equipment was scraped clean and any remaining leaves got trimmed!! Now I have nary a spec and it feels sooo good!! I also am running a simple CO2 jug with a ladder so that may be helping... but loads of excel wasn't.. good luck!!

 

[Rivercats]

Hey Ya'll, i just wanted to stop in and give you an update. I took Rivercats advice on the lighting cycle and went with 3 on-2 off-4 on........I spot treated again with peroxide Sunday morning after doing a 25% water change. I then spot treated with Seachem Excel Sunday night and also added a capful to the water. As of today, Tuesday, the stuff looks like it's finally going away ! I'm going to continue this lighting cycle for at least this week to see if i can get rid of it all. One question, with the exception of the Excel, i've stopped adding anything to the tank, Flourish, my PPS ferts............ should i start getting back to that........ my plants are fine, i just wanted to stop giving the aquarium anything healthy that might make the algae fight to survive !!

One possible side effect was one of my Angels has a huge bloated belly now and is kind of breathing heavy......i pulled her and put her in my sons tank which is a very basic no plants 10 gallon that i added two tablespoons of aquarium salt........... Is this a coincidence or a terrible side effect of too much peroxide/Excel ??....I was very careful to heed Rivercats numbers and i didn't put a lot of either one.............might just be an unfortunate coincidence........ i hope she pulls through........... she's my favorite ana is about 5 inches tall !!

THANKS AGAIN for your help !!!........feeling a little better about the situtaion..........i'm a new fish daddy, everything make me nervouse !!!

Jim

A bloated abdomen wouldn't be from the spot treating. One thing about angels is they actually like greens in their diet. At least twice a week I microwave a few peas in a cup of water, let them cool enough that I can de-shell them, then I smush them up right before adding them to the tank to make it easier for the angels and other fish to eat them. Pea's will really help keep fishes digestive tract flowing well as they act as a laxative.

 

[mandoborg]

I was just reading about Peas last night !! I put some Zuchini in there and my Pleco devoured it !! I'll try the peas tommorow as i have none right now !! She's doing ok in the other tank............ My son, who is eight, said ' Maybe she's not sick at all Dad, maybe she's just getting fat ' !! I loved that !!!........The Algae is also working it's way away so i'm thankful of that..........

Rivercat i would have pulled my hair out a long time afo if it wasn't for your advice on multiple topics either directly or indirectly through your answers to others !!

THANK YOU !!

Jim

 

[Rivercats]

I add 3 slices of blanched zucchini daily to the 220g tank. The angels also nibble on that. They really do better with greens added to their diet.

Glad I can help when I can.