Cyanobacteria!

Okay guys, I made the rookie mistake of trying to feed my snails Cyanobacteria thinking that it was in fact algae...... only after they didn’t eat it and I viewed it under my microscope did I realize my mistake. I’ve only ever removed inhabitants and blacked out my tank in the past. Is there another way to remove it without harming my mollusks?

Thx 4 the help!

 

Yes. Get a syringe. You can pump hydrogen peroxide on it. It wi kill it. The hydrogen peroxide is very unstable and will break down to harmless byproducts in seconds. If it's a large area I would put hydrogen peroxide around the border and do it daily. Just make sure there isnt any stock nearby when you do it. As long as you dont directly squirt a fish or snail, and there isnt anything directly above the spray, nothing will be harmed in the least. It seems a lot scarier than it is.

You can watch it work. It will bubble on contact with any algae or cyanobacteria it touches. Upside is, lots of things will eat the dead algae, and the cyano seems to slowly just disappear.

 

Thanks brotha! Can I also remove my inhabitants for a few hours while I run the treatment?

 

You could if it isnt difficult. Then you could use a spray bottle and take it all out at once!

I didnt think of the spray bottle working under water until I watched a youtuber do it. One of those "why didnt I think of that?!"

 

Ok I’ll try it tomorrow morning and let yuh know how it goes. Thanks again.

Soooooo this happened. @Wraithen after your advice I decided to do a test on a sample clump of the Cyanobacteria to see how quickly it would die out after adding the hydrogen peroxide. I immediately saw results within a couple of hours although I had admittedly dosed 1ml of hydrogen peroxide in that small container , which is probably a quarter of that containers total volume . The blue pigment has completely leached from the Cyanobacteria! Under normal circumstances with higher volume of water and less Cyanobacteria you’d completely miss this entire spectacle. I’m glad you brought this method up because now I’m completely intrigued with this disgusting bacteria lol.

 

That doesnt look like any cyano I've ever seen! Never seen it soo... cyan!

 

The middle picture was taken seconds after starting the peroxide , and the other two hours after. I also observed it bonding with itself under my microscope . Instant example , if you were to cut the sample in half and leave it close enough together the Cyano will Reattach itself to form a complete piece , only under photosynthesis of the microscope light did it bond however.

Ps the sample is on top of some sand

 

Looking again at the middle photo it looks more familiar. Pretty cool to see it reacting like that. I've only had to deal with small amounts on driftwood in a large tank so you dont get to see it the same way.

 

I wish I could upload this short 4 second time lapse of it bonding but it won’t let me..... pretty crazy to see

 

Post to YouTube and share the link