What is this??

[hsherman1986]

Ok, so I have been battling some sort of hair algea in most of my tanks for a bit, haven't been able to get rid of it. That is not what I am worried bout at this point though (unless you have any pointers to get rid of that as well, it is a dark green/black hair looking algea). On this hair algea in my barb tank is a blueish green slimy stuff growing on it. I have no idea what this stuff is, it looks like it would be hard, but i just touched it, and it is really soft and slimy. It looks almost like dried paint. It is growing on top of the hair algea in my barb tank, and on my moss ball in my community 20g. Any ideas?

 

[rich311k]

Sounds like cyano. Does it come off easily in sheets?

 

[hsherman1986]

yea, it kinda took some of my moss ball with it though.

 

[rich311k]

That is cyano or BGA. How heavily planted is the tank? A blackout will kill it.

 

[hsherman1986]

the one that has the moss ball might be considered heavily planted. I have two mossballs, three anubias, a red wentii, three misc swords (not sure what they are called, but one is about 8", one is about 4" and one is about 3"), and a cabomba.

The barb tank is lightly planted, three or four amazon swords, two mondo grass, and some dwarf hairgrass.

Both are 20g, btw.

Would a blackout help with the hair algea?

edit:I also have a random plant with pink leaves in the community tank. Not sure what it is, found it at walmart. its pretty good sized though, around 10" tall, 6" wide.

 

[rich311k]

A blackout will probably not help with the hair algae. How much light do you have and do you add CO2? Any fertilizers? The cyano usually occurs do to Nitrates going to zero. The hair algae is a nutrient imbalance or lack of CO2.

Rich

 

[hsherman1986]

don't do c02, but my fiancee does do ferts. I am not sure how often though, he is in charge of the planting and aquascaping of the tanks. I choose and care for the fish. Not sure about the lights either, I know we upgraded them for a different color, but not sure on the wattage.

I am about to test for nitrates since you mentioned that is what causes it.

edit: ok now what? nitrates in the community tank are 10ppm, and in the barb tank, between 40 and 80 (it is that funky shade of red, that you can't really tell, but it tells you it is time for a water change).

So, i plan on doing a water change in the barb tank today to bring the nitrates back down to their normal level.

Should I go ahead and do the blackout in both tanks?

 

[An t-iasg]

Moved to Planted Tanks forum.

 

[rich311k]

A blackout should get rid of the cyano. Manually remove as much as you can and do a large water change. Cover the tank with blankets black bags etc. Be sure no light gets in. Do it for at least 3 days. No peeking, no feeding nothing. Then do another large water change, when you uncover the tanks. You should have nice clean tanks.

You will need to figure out why, so it doesn't come back. How much light is on the tank?