HELP: Poisonous Algae?

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peter.norman

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Jan 5, 2007
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I have a 55g planted aquarium - assorted plants I don't know the names of - with 5 blue rams, 3 small angels, 10 cardinal tetra's, and 5 cory's.

The tank is 4 months old and it initially suffered an algae bloom, that died away once the plants took hold - I have a CO2 injection system, which the plants thrived on.

About a week ago this long whispy algae appeared on one plant - I removed the leaves and thought nothing else of it. But it soon covered the whole plant, and now covers the whole tank - practically. I checked the water params (nitrate, nitrite, etc...) but nothing seemed amiss. i thought I'd upgrade the lighting to T5 and was awaiting the fixture to arrive thinking increased ligthing would help the plants to outgrow the algae...

This morning I found a dead blue ram, and the others gasping. i checked the water again. same normal parameters - this time I checked FE content and got a zero reading?

The only thing i could think that killed the fish, which has been in the tank for a month, is the algae. Is this possible? If so what can i do other than remove all the plants and start again?

HELP:help: :help:
 
What color is it? Any pics?

There is such thing, not an alage. But mostly mistaken as one since its green. But its a colony of bacteria.
 
It sounds as tho you are describing hair algae. Kinda light green in color and looks like hair sorta. It does not kill fish.

Whats your tank temp? Higher temps decrease the amount of dissolved o2 in the water. You need to increase areation if your fish are gasping and all your water parameters are OK. Something is out of balance in your tank. I would firstly check the co2 system and go from there.

As far as the hair algae, check your phosphates, most likely you will find they are high.

Blue
 
Blueiz said:
It sounds as tho you are describing hair algae. Kinda light green in color and looks like hair sorta. It does not kill fish.

Whats your tank temp? Higher temps decrease the amount of dissolved o2 in the water. You need to increase areation if your fish are gasping and all your water parameters are OK. Something is out of balance in your tank. I would firstly check the co2 system and go from there.

As far as the hair algae, check your phosphates, most likely you will find they are high.

Blue
Click to expand...

Temp is between 25 and 26 C. I'll reduce to 24 tonight?

It's dark in color (almost black on some plants) and very strong. I uprooted a plant and tried to pull it off the leaves (some of the strands are an inch long) but the leaves ripped before it would give way. I'll try and take a picture this evening and post it.

Thanks for the feedback. I do't have anything to check phosphates but i'll pick something up tonight
 
that sounds a bit more like BBA.. try using excel on the tank (after youve stabilized your water for the fish, of course) some people say to double dose, but i found that a normal dose worked just fine for me.
 
First, addressing your Fe reading...you really cannot test for it, so don't bother. Unless you have atomic spec in your house, you will not be accurate. Those Fe test kits are worthless. That said, it sounds like y ou have thread/hair algae, which can come about with excess of traces and too much Fe. Lighten up on the traces and get some water movement going. The algae isn't poisonous. Amano shrimp and Cherry Barbs love to eat it...SAE eat it too. It is not poisonous, but it sounds like you have low O2 in the column, so your fish are suffering. Get some surface movement going. Pull up your output to the surface for a bit. You can spot treat will some excel in a syringe on the affected plant. Prune affected plants and tease off what you can with a comb or toothbrush, get an eating crew, and lighten up oon the flourish, or whatever traces you dose, as well as iron. It will clear up.

If it is black though, you may have BBA which is usually due to CO2 issue...so if you can snap a pic and post, that would be helpful.
 
Anyone know how to insert images to posts? I've got a picture of my algae issue on my computer but it looks like i need to publish it to the web?
 
After you hit the "Post Reply" button, there will me an paper clip icon at the top, click on it and a new window will open that will allow you to upload pictures from your computer.
 
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