Plant bacteria disease?

[chris-in-sf]

Hi guys,

I haven't had to post any problems in a long time....

But since I set up my new tank and the plants started taking off, I noticed this stringy, spider web type algae that was growing on a lot of the plants. When you pull it out it's very sticky.

I told my very knowledgable LFS guy and he said it's not algae but a bacteria, and gave me Erythromycin to treat the tank. Unfortunately, it's not working or I'm not dosing enough for my 40 gallon, because it keeps coming back, like the same day I pull it out, it's back at night!

I'm very bad with plant names, but it's definitely choking out my red plants, seen here in front. It's always sticking to them and I have to pull it off.

http://chrissipe.com/fish/tank7-07b.jpg
(this picture is before the problem started)

40 gallon, 0 nitrite, 0 ammonia, 7.0 PH, water changes every other week.

To combat this problem, besides the erythromycin, I removed one 18w light bulb, stopped Co2 production, did an extra water change a couple of weeks ago.

Lately only one fish has died, that was 1 of 8 new pencilfish... but now I notice that another one is missing. :( I'm going to clean things up and look for him. Other healthy inhabitants include Oto's, 1 molly, 15 tetras, 5 cory's, singapore shrimp, a red tailed black shark, and a new pleco.

:help:
thanks
Chris

[UCF-Planted]

If it's Blue-Green Algae (Cyanobacteria) I had excellent success with Erythromycin, but make sure there is no carbon in the filter. Carbon in the filter will take out the med before it has time to work. Besides that I have prevented recurrence by helping the plants grow the best they can. Don't reduce the amount of light, but maybe reduce the amount of time the lights are on. CO2 is a must to help the plants outcompete the algae, and definately dose macro and micro fertilizers. Fast plant growth is the best way to eliminate algae growth, including Cyanobacteria. I couldn't get mine to disappear without meds, but so far no reappearance.

[plantbrain]

It's not cyanobacteria.
The antibiotics are not going to work.
If they were really knowledgable and showed them or brought it down, etc, they should have known better.

Oscillitoria is the blue green slime folks think of when they have Cyano.
There is another genus, but it's rare.

This is neither.
I'd actually like to stop by and see it and get a smaple if you do not mind. I'm in SF Sunday.

Regards,
Tom Barr

[chris-in-sf]

My LFS is Ocean Aquarium off of Van Ness in San Francisco. Justin is very knowledgable and his is the best store in the city.

http://www.yelp.com/biz/lYuIZKaSa3kOHzXKr7t7zg

I did not take in the suspect algae/bacteria, so Justin is off the hook. But I will this weekend.

All I can describe is I've never seen this before in years of fishkeeping. It's long and stringy, and sticky when you touch it. It's not slimy. It sticks to the plants and kinda looks very much like spider webs between plants.

Haha Tom, sure you could stop by on Sunday if you want.

Chris

[plantbrain]

I know Justin, they are good, but he does not know what this is.
It's not BGA either.

Yes, I'd like to stop by because this was a mystery "algae" once in the past and it never made it intact when folks shipped it to me.
It was milky mush.

I have a microscope and want to see what it is.
So I need some live material in the tank to see what it is and then identify it.

"Grey slime, snot algae" some called it.

They had a rather tough time dealing with it, but it's rare and not commonly seen. Antibiotics will not touch this stuff, we tried 4-5 different types, nothing.

That's why I'm interested.

PM me and I'll get the info etc, thanks

Tom Barr

[chris-in-sf]

I took it to Justin today. He says it's not bacteria, but hair algae.

He said I could treat it but it's a harsh treatment that would probably kill my singapore shrimp. so I opted not to do that.

He recommends setting the light timer to go off for a few hours in the middle of the day to reduce light. And feed less so my algae eaters will eat more. And I bought 2 amano shrimp to try to feed on it...

we'll see...

chris

[plantbrain]

Okay,

That sounds better.
It's likely Rhizoclonium then.
Cladophora is a bit rough to the feel, and you can see definite braching on the filaments with the naked eye.

Be glad it's the Rhizo!

It's pretty easy to kill.
But it does suggest you need to work more on the plant growth.

Sorry, I ended up working from 8am till 2 pm and was burned out to make it.

I can offer you some hints to beat it back.
The light idea really is not harmful, but rarely ever does anything.

I'd suggets trying some Excel and tweaking the ferts and CO2 some.
You can do 2x a week water changes, 50% and dose well, add somemore surface movement and add more CO2.

Keep things clean and stable, after a week or two it ought to go away.

You can do even larger % water changes also, when the water is low, take some excel, add 70% water, then spray it from a misting bottle on the infected areas. (say 20mls of Excel per 50 gal of tank)

Let it sit for a bit and refill the tank.
Follow directions from there.

If it's really Rhizo, it'll also die out after a 3 day standard blackout+ daily water changes and Excel treatment.

Few species can tolerant that multiple punch method.

But you should always focus on the cure, not merely treating the symtom/s.
Focus on the plants.Stay on top of things.

Regards,
Tom Barr


www.BarrReport.com

[justintoxicated]

I Think have this same stuff in my tank. Sometimes it appeared brown and othertimes a slimy dark green (maybe I have 2 types) The Brown stringy/fuzzy stuff would turn grey as it died. I peel the dark green slime off the leaves and toss it in my cherry shrimp tank and they go nuts. I have been fighting it for a year in my 10 gallon and I am finaly starting to win (I almost lost all my moss untill i tossed it in a shrimp tank). I did some serious Gravel Vacuming over and over and dosed heavily with excel, it knocks it out for a bit but then it starts back up. I'm going to switch to pressurized. Also adding more fast growing plants helped, but I had some really dirty Eco!

[plantbrain]

BTW, I recently ID'ed this algae.

http://www.barrreport.com/general-plant-topics/3302-grey-snot-algae-identified-aquarists-tank-sample.html

Regards,
Tom Barr