Algae Disaster!

[Endgame319]

My mom was looking after my fish when I went on my 12 day vacation. I got home, and all my fish were still alive, but my planted 10g (only one plant in there right now, need to go shopping) was taken over by beard algae and this slimy green stuff that grows on the surfaces (could someone identify this please). What I wanted to know is how I go about cleaning it up and how can I prevent this in the future. The beard algae is really long and thick and I dont want to be pulling it off the plants if I dont have too. The lights are 2-15w flourescents, and I have a DIY co2 system running. And I havent used fertilizers yet. I was thinking SAEs because my local petsmart just got a shipment of them. Also, in my 25g (Very low light, no plants) I'm growing this splotchy green algae on the glass of the tank. It looks like it was sprayed on. It doesnt come off when I scrub it with a toothbrush and its starting to take over the tank. Any Ideas on how to get it off? My CAE doesnt touch it.

 

[Allivymar]

Wheee! Sounds like mom acted JUST like a mom and made sure those poor starving fish had plenty to eat

Theres a great article on algae here with pics and some suggestions on tx: http://www.plantgeek.net/article_viewer.php?id=9

I do suspect the slimy green stuff is not algae tho, but cyanobacteria. Those of us who have had it have mostly used erythromycin to get rid of it (I believe BrianNY used a 5 day blackout tho). You don't want anything to eat it; its deadly.

 

[marknmelissa]

A razor blade takes it off the glass lickety split.
-mark

 

[Endgame319]

When I looked closer, it looks like tiny hairs (1-2mm long) flowing with the water. I can also wipe them off quite easily, would a rag be safe to use? And the website said that beard algae never grows past 4cm, well I have this one clump thats probably 6-10 cm long. I can get some pics up tonight.

 

[madasafish]

Well, Alli's right that Cyano *can* be deadly, but I've had plenty of it over the last couple of months (almost all gone now), and my amano shrimp and plecos have all survived. And as I've added more shrimp, the cyano is almost entirely gone. There are different strains of the stuff, so it depends on that... If it is cyano, though, your best bet is to treat it as soon as possible with an Erythromycin-based medication such as Maracyn (*not* Maracyn-2).

Also, be awefully careful that the fish your LFS has are SAEs, not Flying Foxes. Siamese Algae Eaters are most immediately distinguishable from the Foxes by the fact that the black lateral line extends through the tail fin. The flying fox's black line stops at the caudal peduncle (base of tail). Also, the scales around the black line are a little more jagged on the SAE. There's a great article distinguising the two somewhere, but my bookmarks were lost when my computer was lost by Dell, so I'm afriad I'll have to ask someone else to link you to it (you can also look for it on google). Why care about FFs vs. SAEs? FFs are highly territorial, especially when older and larger. SAEs are more docile, more peaceful and semi-school. They prefer the company of each other, rather than isolation.

When buying SAEs, caveat emptor!