# cyanobacteria-How to get rid of it??



## Shadowcat3

Read the threads on this, blackouts, and EM. I'm thinking my xp3 just needs cleaning and a higher flow rate in my tank, since it's appeared on the leaves of some floating PennyWort in a quiet area of the tank. I do large WC every week or two but it popped up anyway. I have several largish catfish in the tank and feed what I wouldn't call heavily, but frequently for the fish population. Also planning on adding another large pump for better circulation........Any input??? I'm thinking a weeklong blackout would be hard on the plants, so I'm reluctant to go that route.


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## Postal Penguin

Erythromycin kills cyanobacteria, but it may also kill your biofilter in the process. I believe you can get erythromycin in Maracyn. I would remove as much of it as you can physically and then treat. However, it will likely return if the root cause of it is not addressed.


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## rhytemaker

I had a bad breakout a while back. Went on vacation and ambient light was hitting the tank through a window shade accidentally left open. It started slowly and everything I did to eliminate it seemed to spread it elsewhere. I did the blackout but it didnt work. I finally tried EM and it worked great. I tested my water regularly and never had amonia spikes so it did not appear to effect my biological filter.
Kill it with EM and fix the root cause or it will come back.


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## Shadowcat3

OK, what is typically the root cause?? I do frequent heavy WC's and clean my filters regularly.


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## Seattle_Aquarist

Hi Shadowcat3,

I recently got rid of the cyanobacteria (BGA) infestation I had in one of my aquariums for over six months. The tank has medium light, no CO2, weekly 33% water changes, and was dosed with ferts per the PPS-Pro method. I tried the Excel (Glutaraldehyde) 2X normal dosage treatment that has worked on other algae problems in the past without success. It was very frustrating, not only unsightly but the tank had a definite smell (musty/moldy) when I opened the lid.

A couple of months ago I came across a post on one of the planted tank forums indicating the BGA is caused by a nitrogen deficiency. I decided to try increasing my nitrogen. I started dosing KNO3 at the rate of 1/8 teaspoon per 10 gallons daily. All other factors remained the same including the 33% weekly water changes. After a few weeks I noticed that the new leaves on the plants were not being covered by the BGA. I continued the dosage and after another couple of weeks the new leaves remained BGA free. In addition the BGA on the older leaves seemed to diminish and the "smell" in the tank decreased.

As of last weekend it has been two months and I have not had any additional growth of BGA in my tank. The new leaves remain BGA free and the leaves that were affected have much less BGA on them. I removed the affected leaves leaving only the new leaves that are BGA free. The tank no longer has that moldy/musty smell but instead has that sweet/earthy smell my other tanks have. Nothing changed in the tank except the addition of KNO3 at the higher dosage.


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## rhytemaker

from what i remember, it has been a while sionce i had bga, too much light, poor h20 circulation, low co2 and excessive mulm in the substrate are some root issues. there should be a lot of threads here with info on it. just search "bga"

if you go with EM, make sure to purchase enough for a full treatment. i think you need one packet per 10 gallons and need to repeat like 3 times. i bought one package (with 10 packets in it) and it was not enough to treat my whole 40 gallon with 3 doses.


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## GTR

Seattle_Aquarist said:


> I decided to try increasing my nitrogen. I started dosing KNO3 at the rate of 1/8 teaspoon per 10 gallons daily.


What was your previous daily dosage?

SteveU


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## Seattle_Aquarist

Hi GTR,

If my calculations are correct, PPS-Pro dosing is about 1/20 teaspoon KNO3 per 10 gallons daily. So my increased dosing was over double what I was doing prior to the treatment.


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## Ryzilla

I have had hit or miss success with blackouts. 3 day blackouts MUST be pitch black. I have also had success with E-mayacn. I have use full dose for the first half of the treatment then brought it down to half dose for double the amount of the the time for the second half. I have had no issues with my bio filter.


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## GTR

Seattle_Aquarist.... thanks. I'm really new to this and all these different fertilization methods have me baffled. I only have the Flourish line and I'm dosing based on the label. Siphoning of the BGA 2-3 times a week takes about 4g, plus a 25g weekly WC in this 90g.

I have the BGA now on some ground cover plants. I think it's getting better just by directing more flow to the area which does get really high light and collects a lot of bottom feeder foods.

Ironic thing is 4 years ago I had the same looking BGA in my 300g SW prop system. The more normal type for SW is the reddish type. But no, I had this bright green stuff that would cover live tissue. I treated that system with meds and had zero issues with the bio-system.

SteveU


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## Gweneth

One of the big factors in BGA taking hold seems to be temperature. It loves warmth, which tends to make summer BGA season for me. During early spring I nearly eradicated it from one of my tanks simply by turning down the heater and dosing more nitrates.


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## Shadowcat3

Lots of info and experience out there with this stuff, which I guess is both good and bad....Oddly I have seen this stuff in my tanks very infrequently over the years and that was when my cleaning routine was less stringent than it is these days. I have increased my lighting lately and I'm feeding fairly heavy due to several medium sized catfish being in this tank, annnd the water flow isn't as high I have it planned to be since I was waiting for some new Val to get well rooted before turning on my bigger pump. Probably some combination of the above factors...Thanks for the input folks!!


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## Mr. Fisher

KN03 will treat the root problem. Erythro. tabs. will only treat the symptom.


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## GTR

So far since I've upped the nitrogen dosage it's slowed considerably. Problem is now some of the new growth on the stem plants looks curled under and stunted. This is all in about a week. I'm pretty new to this and would never have believed you could see these changes in plants in a weeks time.

If it's not one thing it's another. Guess I should be happy it's not both. lol

SteveU


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## DrEd

I use to have a lot of it on one of my anubias, especially on the roots. I tried manually removal (very hard), blackout and dosing nitrate, and it was under control but it was not really dying. Just before I went out to buy Erythromycin, I decided to take the plant out and treat it with 10% iodine solution, the same way you treat your skin, just for about 1 min. Then I rinsed it with water and put it back into the tank. Now BGA is gone, together with most of the roots, but most leaves survived, and the anubias is doing fine.


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## plantbrain

Causes:
Poor circulation, poor plant growth(low CO2 etc), low NO3, dirty filter(see circulation), too much organic waste(see filter).

Address those, then..........you can kill BGA a dozen or more ways, why folks fixate on the method killing is beyond me.

A 3 days blackout with the tank covered with 2-3 trash bags will kill all visible BGA. If not, you did not do a pitch blackout. You do not need to do more than 3 full days, this offers no advantage(more days than 3). EM tablets will work, if you have them, can get them etc. Various chemicals/Herbicides that are general biocides will kill it, but often have adverse effects on non target things like your plants, fish etc, if used improperly. H2O2 and Excel are popular and there's always a few folks that manage to kill their fish in a few threads.

None of these Killin Methods focus on the root issue.
So they will not work well for some folks, while others might have addressed things more thoroughly and had more success.

When ever you have algae, do a large water change, clean filters, trim off any dead leaves and remove as much algae are practical. Look at light, it's it on the higher side or not?

Adjust CO2 slowly, consider some Excel dosing if you have a non CO2 tank for a little while perhaps, increase current, clean filter more often etc.
Algae is just a sign you need to tend and take more care of things.
Low (too) NO3 is a root cause of BGA, I shoot for 10-30ppm range.
If you use a test kit, calibrate it. Otherwise do not rely on it's reading.


Regards, 
Tom Barr


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## Seattle_Aquarist

Hi Shadowcat3,

Just thought I would pass on another success for the increased KNO3 dosing method I used in Post #8 of this thread. Another GSAS member started dosing KNO3 daily at the 1/8 teaspoon per 10 gallon rate on 7/1/09. I received an e-mail from her on Monday saying her tank is now BGA free and that the "smell" (stink) is gone. How are you doing on your battle?


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## wendyjo

How do you calibrate a nitrate test kit?


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## Xcomx5

I have started my fight against BGA today with nitrogen dosing and excel dosing, so far I have noticed a slower growth rate of the BGA within the first week, but I will continue dosing while maintaining organic waste

10g non c02 tank with 1.5 wpg...


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## Seattle_Aquarist

Hi wendyjo,

Here is a link to Rex Griggs' site with information on reference solutions.


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## Seattle_Aquarist

Hi Xcomx5,

Please keep us posted as things progress. The two experiences I know have been successful have taken about 6 weeks. The best part is when that terrible smell is gone!


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## Xcomx5

Actually I haven't had a problem with the smell since ive been doing extremely frequent cleanup of the outbreaks, but if I through out the algae into the trash the odor is noticeable. If unchecked for more than 2 days it completely covers my anubias and substrate, but dosing has started this week so I'll keep everyone posted on how it goes.


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## purerider

Good luck!!


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## Xcomx5

I've concluded my 3 day black out to find that some of my plants look like they've seen better days, but they should recover fine. All signs of BGA are gone, with a few dark brown areas where it use to be, which I will clean off today with a 50% water change to remove the dead BGA. I've corrected the following issues that caused my bga problem in the firsts place before the blackout:

Stronger water circulation
Lighting (5500k bulb which I will soon change to a 6500k bulb)1.5wpg
and fertilizer dosing (specifically KN03)


If my BGA returns what should I consider to be the problem?


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## Seattle_Aquarist

Hi Xcomx5,

First of all, congratulations on a successful treatment; I 'm sure others will be interested in how you accomplished it!

In my case, BGA seems to start when my nitrate level gets low. I tend to dose the same amount of KNO3 daily, but as the plants grow out and become more dense, I'm sure my NO3 level drops. I probably should trim weekly, but sometimes that just doesn't happen and after a couple (or three) weeks I bet my biomass has increased by 50%. If I see any signs of BGA I do a trim (if needed) and increase my NO3 dosage so I have at least 20 PPM when I test with a nitrate test kit.


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## three105

I had to gravel vac the gravel so well a few times to get rid of BGA and do a 3 day black out


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## Xcomx5

thanks Seattle, I wouldn't have been able to put such a big dent in my problem if it wasn't for the help of the planted tank community, not only did I learn many ways of removing algae, but I gained knowledge on why it even happened in the first place. 

I have been dosing pfertz nitrogen every other day (instructions on the bottle) along with flourish excel, potassium, and phosphorus ( I will soon pick up seachem equilibrium or gh booster) I plan to use these till I run out, and switch to dry ferts. before the blackout I removed as much BGA that was physically possible without destroying my plant arrangement, and then added my normal dose of excel and nitrogen. Today (after the blackout) I did a 50% water change and filtered the gravel as best I could, and added more nitrates and excel. Two of my long stem plants seem to have been effected by the blackout, they look withered and dying, I'm hoping they will bounce back. I also replaced my 5500k bulb with a 6500k bulb, which is noticeably brighter.

I was going to buy some plants at my local pet shop today, but noticed all their plants were covered in BGA! So I ran out of there!

Should I take some extra steps to bring back the health of my two stem plants? I also ordered some Ultralife BGA remover incase my blackout wasn't successful, but looks like I wont be needing it.


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## Seattle_Aquarist

Hi Xcomx5,

I don't think I would do "some extra steps" to bring back the two stem plants that suffered during the blackout. They may recover on their own, give them a week and see how they do, especially with the brighter 6500K light and extra nitrogen.


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## topfrog007

Xcomx5 said:


> Should I take some extra steps to bring back the health of my two stem plants? I also ordered some Ultralife BGA remover incase my blackout wasn't successful, but looks like I wont be needing it.


I can vouch for the BGA remover, I went on vacation and came back to a ton of BGA! I used the Ultralife BGA remover and it hasn't came back. That was about 6 months ago.

Good luck, let us know the outcome.


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## Xcomx5

Well after work I've noticed that not all of the BGA was removed, I have a small segment living on one of my driftwood pieces, which leads me to believe it might still be other places as well. I added a small amount of the BGA remover to mop up what might still be alive.

Also, I pleasant surprise! The revival of dwarf HC that I planted a few months back springing back to life!


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## purerider

"Causes:
Poor circulation, poor plant growth(low CO2 etc), low NO3, dirty filter(see circulation), too much organic waste(see filter)."

Hello all, I've been battling Cyanobacteria going on close to 6 months now. I recently bought a smaller powerhead to help distribute my DIY CO2, I also lifted my light source away from the tank more. I'm at the end of the EM medication and I've noticed fantastic results. *note* I only dosed EM at 2/3 of what is recommended. 

My tank, for what seems like the first time, is now looking great. The plants are showing strength and new growth. The remaining little bits of cyano are looking weak and pathetic (HAHA!) and the feeling of impending doom I once felt about my tank is gone.

This is a great thread. Good luck to those fighting the good fight!


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