green photo bacterial slime stuff?

[thetmaxx]

The tank keeps growing this green bacterial slime stuff. I found it on a website before that said it was actually bacteria. I was wondering if anyone here has had this before, and if they successfully removed it?

Thanks!!


(there is some brown algae in there too. any BW algae removal suggestions?)

 

[Wizzard~Of~Ozz]

It wasn't cyno bacteria was it? I hear it really smells and can be eliminated rather quickly with a blackout of a couple days.

 

[Elmware2000]

I have this icky stuff. Phosphate remover will disolve it, but the results aren't instataneous. It takes 2-3 weeks before you will notice any difference. You may also want to pick it off your plant as your plant will die from lack of light. If you get some snails, they seem to take care of this algae as well.

 

[Devilishturtles]

Cyanobacteria. Yes, it is a bacteria, often confused as an "algae" because of it's photosynthetic properties.

It sometimes means that you have an overabundance of nutrients in your tank that is feeding it. If your tank does not have live plants in it, I would do a large water change (atleast 30%), manually remove as much of the cyano as you can, and then black your tank out for about 4 days.

 

[thetmaxx]

I haven't noticed a smell. I'll try the blackout, and luckly there are no live plants in this tank. Also though, since I have a puffer in ther, I was thinking of feeding him a snail anyways, so it just might be the perfect thing to clean it up...

 

[cornfedfishies]

I had this problem in a 10 gal tank of mine. The 4 day blackout should work to kill the bacteria. I would probably do a daily 10% water change during the blackout just to help get the bacteria out of the tank as it dies off.

 

[Devilishturtles]

I would probably do a daily 10% water change during the blackout just to help get the bacteria out of the tank as it dies off.

This would actually not be a good idea. The purpose of the blackout is to starve the photosynthetic cells of life. Even with a little light that creeps in, they can continue to grow. Taking the "cover" off during a blackout and then doing a water change would let alot of light in.

A massive (50% or greater) water change should be done AFTER the blackout, but I would not even as much as feed the fish, peek in to check them out, or anything prior to the 4 days. It may be tempting, but they will be fine.