Algae problem

[MrsE88]

I have three tanks that have developed some unsightly algae that seems to be taking over.
Normally I let algae grow mostly unchecked because I like the natural look of it, but this stuff is different.
Can anyone tell me if it’s the bacteria kind? Will covering the affected tanks help any? I don’t have much experience treating algae.

As far as lighting goes they get natural light all day. I don’t really use my tank lights unless I’m taking pictures or viewing the fish. So less the 3hrs a day.

Tank one
I assumed bba but it get these bubbles under it and sluffs off the back wall

Tank two
This tank has always had string algae and that doesn’t bother me, but this slimy stuff with the bubbles is gross.
front

side view

and tank three. It gets less light then the other two, but the roots of my plants are getting this green slim on them

 

[duanes]

Looks like cyanobacteria to me.
I had it in a certain tank with low light tank, one that held only one pair of fish.
Unlike real algae that is often gritty to the touch, it would grow in slimy sheets on decor, plants, and substrate
I tried altering light intensity and hours, and was already doing every other day water changes.
In the end, to get rid of it I started using Rid-X to provide a population of more beneficial bacteria as competitors..

above, before the probiotic treatment.
Below a few weeks later.

I don't think it there is any generic type probiotic that works for all, it may depend on what type works best for the water in your area, but Rid-X was immediately available to me at places like Home Depot so I used it.
I would drop a TBSP in a filter sock, and a day or two later when I figured the bacteria had dispersed, rinse out the flour-like material the dried bacteria were supplied in, repeated this for about a month.
There may be other irradication methods but I considered this the most eco friendly.

 

[MrsE88]

Looks like cyanobacteria to me.
I had it in a certain tank with low light tank, one that held only one pair of fish.
Unlike real algae that is often gritty to the touch, it would grow in slimy sheets on decor, plants, and substrate
I tried altering light intensity and hours, and was already doing every other day water changes.
In the end, to get rid of it I started using Rid-X to provide a population of more beneficial bacteria as competitors..

above, before the probiotic treatment.
Below a few weeks later.

I don't think it there is any generic type probiotic that works for all, it may depend on what type works best for the water in your area, but Rid-X was immediately available to me at places like Home Depot so I used it.
I would drop a TBSP in a filter sock, and a day or two later when I figured the bacteria had dispersed, rinse out the flour-like material the dried bacteria were supplied in, repeated this for about a month.
There may be other irradication methods but I considered this the most eco friendly.

Thank you! That is how it looked before big sheets started coming off the back wall in my 135.
Does rid-x come in just one type or are there ones with added stuff I should watch out for?
I don’t want another bleach situation ?

Another question.... Is it harmful to fish?

 

[Rocksor]

Thank you! That is how it looked before big sheets started coming off the back wall in my 135.
Does rid-x come in just one type or are there ones with added stuff I should watch out for?
I don’t want another bleach situation ?

Another question.... Is it harmful to fish?

Rid-x powder..... there are other more expensive products like Bio-clean

52 pages of info

The Use of Probiotics in Aquaculture

This question is dope, but... what about tossing a few probiotic caps into the filtration and letting them dissolve? Anyone ever try this? They don't dissolve, they disperse.

www.monsterfishkeepers.com

 

[duanes]

Rid-X is produced as a bacteria that reduce sludge in septic tanks, I just used the one available at Home Depot.
There may be more that "supposedly" are made specially for aquariums, but.......
I take most of these "made for aquaria" products with a grain of salt. As an example, "aquarium salt", to me as long as the ingredient is NaCl, its salt, and I find any of those extra minuscule ingredients added said to be more suited to aquariums to be hardly worth the mark up, if they do anything at all.

 

[skjl47]

Hello; I had cyanobacteria algae in all my tanks a few years ago. I wound up going to extreme measures but did get rid of it and it is gone for maybe four years + now. I did not try the RID-X method as I did not know about it. If RID-X does work that will be so much simpler.
I have since tried RID-X in tanks and found no ill effects.

I did post a few times my method of getting rid of the cyanobacteria algae on this site. You may be able to do a search and find that information. A search might be quicker as I am restricted now and my responses have to go thru a review so can take some time before a post shows up. Don't know if you can PM me but I cannot PM anyone currently.

 

[TwoHedWlf]

Only thing that worked for me when I had an outbreak of cyano was a round of Erythromycin. Worked great, killed it off and over 15 years or so it hasn't come back.

 

[MrsE88]

Thank you @Rocksor

@duanes I’ll go with the rid x and see if that can get rid of it. Any suggestions on powder to gallon ratio? All the tanks are differ izes. 135+ 40g in sump, 65g, and 29g.

Hello; I had cyanobacteria algae in all my tanks a few years ago. I wound up going to extreme measures but did get rid of it and it is gone for maybe four years + now. I did not try the RID-X method as I did not know about it. If RID-X does work that will be so much simpler.
I have since tried RID-X in tanks and found no ill effects.

I did post a few times my method of getting rid of the cyanobacteria algae on this site. You may be able to do a search and find that information. A search might be quicker as I am restricted now and my responses have to go thru a review so can take some time before a post shows up. Don't know if you can PM me but I cannot PM anyone currently.

I’ll try and search again later. For some reason the search function only works on and off for me.

Only thing that worked for me when I had an outbreak of cyano was a round of Erythromycin. Worked great, killed it off and over 15 years or so it hasn't come back.

I recently saw that recommended to get rid of it, but also read it will crash the tank. Is that true? That pretty mush scared me away from wanting to use it.

 

[skjl47]

Only thing that worked for me when I had an outbreak of cyano was a round of Erythromycin. Worked great, killed it off and over 15 years or so it hasn't come back.

I recently saw that recommended to get rid of it, but also read it will crash the tank. Is that true? That pretty mush scared me away from wanting to use it.

hello; I did try the erythromycin a few times with mixed results. In my case the cyanobacteria algae came back later on. There were a couple other reasons not to use it as a main treatment.
One is the cost. In one small tank it would not be too costly but to get a decent dose in my three tanks would have required a considerable amount. Add to that the potential to create a variety of the bacteria portion of the cyanobacter algae resistant to the drug.

Since Erythromycin is a broad spectrum antibiotic I can see the good chance it will wipe out the beneficial bacteria. That was also one of my concerns.

Anyway after three episodes over a few years I decided to go a different way. I do hope the RID-X does work.

When doing a search try to narrow it down to posts by me skjl47 with the terms cyanobacteria and algae ( Maybe slime algae) The posts are likely over a year old but probably not more than three years. Good luck.

I can describe it again if needed and it seems my post nanny is not taking too much time today.

 

[TwoHedWlf]

I think it something like $2/pill for the erythromicin, a couple pills per 200L treatment. It's been a while. Was a pretty insignificant amount anyway. The difficulty is it's prescription only, so you need to get a vet to write you a script. Would have been cheaper from a human doc.