GAH! Algae bloom!

[Cinderwolf]

Okay so I left my tank in the care fo my grandparents for the past 2 days and over that time I have successfully grown a wierd algae ( that blankets the plants but stays off the walls) and it has killed my hornwort.. all of it!

I'
ll grab a photo of it in a bit but I am oo annoyed. I am goignt o try to recoup the hortwort in a bucket and Im gonne rinse off all the other plants to get the algae off. I am not sure how long thye had the lgihts on eevery day. but probably it was jsut natural sunlight.

[EvilVOG]

could be BGA (blue-green algae)... It's a bacteria not an algae despite it's name. I have an ongoing battle with it. mostly what i've been told is to dose it with an anti-fungal, or blackout the tank for 3 days (no light what-so-ever). i've been unable to keep it from coming back but the blackout thing worked pretty well.

[Cinderwolf]

Originally Posted by EvilVOG

could be BGA (blue-green algae)... It's a bacteria not an algae despite it's name. I have an ongoing battle with it. mostly what i've been told is to dose it with an anti-fungal, or blackout the tank for 3 days (no light what-so-ever). i've been unable to keep it from coming back but the blackout thing worked pretty well.

Oh I will look into that. its like.. thread like I guess but it has like blanketed the horn wort. made it look like a big green ball instead of a spiky plant its wierd. like as is a spider wed was on a pine needle

[EvilVOG]

yeah, sounds like what BGA did to the horwort i used to have. just covered everything in sheets of nasty green stuff.

[Cinderwolf]

Originally Posted by EvilVOG

yeah, sounds like what BGA did to the horwort i used to have. just covered everything in sheets of nasty green stuff.

Yup.. I looke dit up, thats what is it. GAH Its jsut one thing after anoher with this tank!

Any tips on gettign rid of it?

[Oldfishlady]

If it is thread like...it may be Spirogyra algae or water silk...or thread algae are two common type that like to grow more at the surface in hornwort.

BGA or cyanobacteria-it usually grow in sheets, smells bad, grows fast, can be blue/dark green in color and slime like feel to it-usually will be back within 24 hours after removal.

Can you post some pic...proper ID will help know what to do...

[Cinderwolf]

Yes, I will be sure to get soem photos today

[Cinderwolf]

Okay I got photos.

[Oldfishlady]

Looks like BGA.....the way I take care of that....manual removal daily...I like to use airline hose to siphon it out so that I am not removing too much water at a time...Increase water movement-add another HOB filter if you have one...it can take about a week to 10 days of daily removal.

What kind of fish are in the tank-you might be able to do a 3 day total black out too.....depending on what type of livestock in the tank you may want to remove them to a temporary container-manually remove all the BGA by siphon making at least 50-70% water change-use black plastic bags, blankets...etc for a total black out for 3 days....no peaking-the filter needs to be running full blast....
After the 3 days...big water change and vacuum-

[Cinderwolf]

There is just the betta. But wont a 3 day black out kill me plants? I will do a huge manual removal today or tomorrow. I am due for a water change anyway so I will do it at the same time.