LuvaBetta

I'm afraid I have this nasty, smelly, green cyanobacteria in my desk 5g aquarium. Before I treat with an antibiotic, I want to be sure of what I'm dealing with.

The stuff in my tank is really, REALLY smelly. Even the oto won't touch it. Is that indicative of cb?

Is any antibiotic better at killing this stuff than any other?

What about the fish (1 betta, 1 oto) - should they be moved during the treatment?

sirdarksol

Blue-green sheets of stuff draped over the decor? That's what cyanobacteria looks like. I couldn't smell anything odd when I had it, but I have an odd sense of smell, so that doesn't mean anything.

Maracyn is an excellent antibiotic. Although it should be safe for both fish, I would remove them. It took about 48 hours to deal with the outbreak in my tank. Be sure you remove the dying stuff in order to allow the antibiotic to get everything. Remove any carbon from the filter and put fresh stuff in before returning the fish to the tank. Let it run for about an hour and change the filter cartridge again.

Another way to deal with this stuff is to starve it out. Remove as much as you can, do daily water changes (50% would be good in a smaller tank like that), and leave the lights off. It need nitrogen and light to feed on. Deprive it of both, and it will die, though this will take longer than the Maracyn.

voiceless_kat

I had a problem with what I am pretty sure is this algae in Tiny's tank. I could not get a handle on it, so finally today, I broke down the entire tank, and after cleaning, disinfecting, scrubbing, rinsing filter, tank, & decs I set the tank up again with Bio Spira, new filter cartridge & bio wheel.

I just did this today, and am a little wary since I know the cories prefer a "well-aged" tank, but so far they are scooting around the bottom.

I dumped the substrate, and now have smooth stones and glass shells, etc. Much easier to clean. I am thinking of moving the cories into the new tank with a sandy type bottom, when it gets set up, but for now they are doing well.

My tank didn't smell either, it just looked awful, and there would be stringy hairy greeny things ( if that is a description) hanging from stuff once in a while which I would remove.

Good luck with controlling yours. Keep us informed.
Val

LuvaBetta

Thanks for the answers! I think I'll try the antibiotic first because no matter what I do i don't think I'll be able to get if all out of the plants any other way. Do I take out the bio-wheel during the antibiotic dosing?

This stuff is a deep, bright green, and is more like a smooth solid coating rather than draping the glass and the decor. My java fern has lots of babies on the leaves and it coats their roots really thickly. When I do the weekly water changes I try to rub it off the plants, and it comes off in nasty strings. In addition to scrubbing it off the tank walls and decor, I grab several handsful of rocks and wash it off those. This has kept it from taking over completely but not much else.

The smell though, is the most striking thing. I removed several of the fern babies and took them home. I cleaned them up as best I could, soaking them in fresh water changed frequently but the smell still has never gone away completely.

I wondered if cb was more likely than algae because i have a compact fluorescent but no sunlight at all.

voiceless_kat

Your description of the algae is same as mine, it just coated the substrate especially. I would think when you run the medication you could take out the carbon filter if you have one, since that removes medication. Some antibiotics kill the bacteria on the biowheel ( which I guess is the point of this) however, in this situation I am not sure what to advise you to do, hopefully someone else will check in. As I think back,I am remembering having an amazon sword that kept getting covered in this tank, and I finally pulled it out. It smelled swampy too.

I removed the bio wheel today and floated it in the old tank water, and emailed Marineland to see if I should reuse that bio wheel or use a new one. For now, I put the new one in til I hear from them, since I would think that bacteria would still be on it. It should be good overnight at least.

Meanwhile, I hope it will be worth getting rid of the algae, since Tiny is sitting on the heater, did come out to eat, but seems a little stressed. The cories are both just sitting in their. bowl, they ate a little earlier. I hope they will adjust to this new tank and be my happy, healthy little guys again.

I hope someone can answer your other questions.

Val

sirdarksol

Not sure about the BioWheel thing. The stuff does need light to live, so it may be incapable of colonizing the BioWheel. Might not be a chance you want to take, though. I really am not sure.

Butterfly

SDS - Does Maracyn mess with the Beneficial bacteria? I know Erythromyacin does, thats the other antibiotic recommended for Cyanobacteria.
http://www.plantgeek.net/article_viewer.php?id=9
I imagine when killing that much algae ammonia and Nitrite levels would need to be monitored closely.
Carol

voiceless_kat

I used a new Bio Wheel...and received this message from Tetra/Marineland:




From: US Marineland Consumer
Date: 5/8/2008 11:06:41 AM

Subject: RE: Cyanobacteria - Slime Algae & Bio Wheel


[IMG]file:///C:/Documents%20and%20Settings/Val/Local%20Settings/Application%20Data/IM/Runtime/Message/%7BC52F618B-E722-416E-8FAA-C69079F08209%7D/Show/image0011.jpg[/IMG]
Hello again. Yes it can be nasty stuff. Scientifically we do not really know yet what cyanobacteria uses to stay alive. They can live in almost no light. They can live in fast flowing water and stagnant. They do not seem to need nitrogeneous food source (fish or food waste or microfauna). If it gets REALLY nasty it can rob the tank of oxygen and starve out live plants but generally doesn’t cause any harm to fish. You can use a mild bleach solution (1 part bleach to 7 parts water), rinse well until chlorine smell is gone and let it dry. Best luck on not getting algae/cyano.

Thank you!
Tetra Care
United Pet Group, Tetra Office
3001 Commerce St</SPAN>
Blacksburg, VA24060
1 800 526 0650
1 800 433 8914 fax



I am going to disinfect the old Bio Wheel - which I have let dry out, and keep it as a spare.

Luvabetta...what did you end up doing? Are things lookin up??

Val

sirdarksol

Hmmmm... Much of what they said doesn't match the study that I did for my article (and I went to some colleges' scientific sites for that).
Cyanobacteria needs light and nitrogen to grow, I know that much. If starved of one but not the other, it can cling to life, though.
Many types of cyanobacteria produce toxins (in nearly every type of toxin known to man), and most of the invasive forms seem to do so, making the statement of "not harming the fish" ridiculous. Several folks here have developed cyanobacteria in their betta tanks and watched their bettas get more lethargic by the day (I thought I was going to lose my betta until I found out what was growing in the tank and how to deal with it. Put the betta in a quarantine tank, and he was better in a couple of hours)

LuvaBetta

Well, the Maracyn worked, knock wood. I treated the tank over a long weekend so it went a couple of days without the medicine. Still it is gone. Bo, my betta, doesn't seem to have noticed either way, but i do notice that his ever-raggedy tail is beginning to smooth out. (Again with the knocking on the wood!) He may have had something all along that the Maracyn cleared up!

Thanks so much to all of you!