How did you get rid of blue-green algae?

Hi! How were y’all able to tackle blue-green algae?
My 10 gallon tank, which I’ve had since last September has been an eyesore most of the time I’ve had it. I’ve been through way too many types of algae and through all of it, I have not been able to identify a cause (I had posted other threads about some of the algae issues in the past).
First it was hair algae, which lasted for a few weeks. Then I had a 3 month long struggle with an algae bloom in the water that made the tank completely green and I couldn’t see anything. After about 2 months I tried a product to help with the algae bloom. It helped for about 2 days then the algae came back even worse. After 3 months of hardly ever turning the light on and not being able to see my fish, the water suddenly cleared up all on its own! My beautiful tank lasted for about a week and then I had hair algae everywhere, which is such a struggle to get off anacharis (the main plant in my tank). EVERY TIME I CLEANED THE ALGAE OFF A NEW TYPE OF ALGAE CAME!

So, after manually removing the algae, blue- green algae and a nasty black algae came. For about a month, I left the light off on the tank to try to starve it out. Luckily it worked and the blue-green algae was gone or had turned reddish brown so I scraped it all out.

I had a nice tank for around three weeks and then the blue-green algae came back. After leaving the light off of the tank for a few weeks the algae got a lot worse! So that’s where I’m at now. Sorry for such a long post. I am just so tired of algae!

Throughout all of this, I watched my parameters closely, and the tank always had no ammonia or nitrites, less than 20 nitrates, and a pH around 7 or 8. For this tank I use the tap water which is extremely hard water and has a high pH.

How did you get rid of blue-green algae? Any tips on how to clean it out where the whole house won’t smell like blue-green algae?

Thank you!

 

Hi! How were y’all able to tackle blue-green algae?
My 10 gallon tank, which I’ve had since last September has been an eyesore most of the time I’ve had it. I’ve been through way too many types of algae and through all of it, I have not been able to identify a cause (I had posted other threads about some of the algae issues in the past).
First it was hair algae, which lasted for a few weeks. Then I had a 3 month long struggle with an algae bloom in the water that made the tank completely green and I couldn’t see anything. After about 2 months I tried a product to help with the algae bloom. It helped for about 2 days then the algae came back even worse. After 3 months of hardly ever turning the light on and not being able to see my fish, the water suddenly cleared up all on its own! My beautiful tank lasted for about a week and then I had hair algae everywhere, which is such a struggle to get off anacharis (the main plant in my tank). EVERY TIME I CLEANED THE ALGAE OFF A NEW TYPE OF ALGAE CAME!

So, after manually removing the algae, blue- green algae and a nasty black algae came. For about a month, I left the light off on the tank to try to starve it out. Luckily it worked and the blue-green algae was gone or had turned reddish brown so I scraped it all out.

I had a nice tank for around three weeks and then the blue-green algae came back. After leaving the light off of the tank for a few weeks the algae got a lot worse! So that’s where I’m at now. Sorry for such a long post. I am just so tired of algae!

Throughout all of this, I watched my parameters closely, and the tank always had no ammonia or nitrites, less than 20 nitrates, and a pH around 7 or 8. For this tank I use the tap water which is extremely hard water and has a high pH.

How did you get rid of blue-green algae? Any tips on how to clean it out where the whole house won’t smell like blue-green algae?

Thank you!

I fought algae for a long time so I know the struggle. Blue green was the worst. I finally beat it by unplugging my filter and manually removed all I could did a 25 percent water change, and dosed a small amount of hydrogen peroxide with a powerhead in the tank to move the water. Peroxide will kill your beneficial bacteria that's why I turned my hob filter off. I believe there's threads on here that say how much to dose. I did a 1.5 ml per gallon but had no inhabitants in the tank at that time. You can also spot treat with hydrogen peroxide with inhabitants as long as you don't blast them directly, it can burn their gills I believe. I've done this with amano shrimp in a tank with no ill effect. Just remember to turn off the filter and I recommend a circulation pump to keep water moving and to dilute the peroxide in the water.

The peroxide breaks down to water after awhile. It also highly oxygenates the water as it breaks down. After doing this I started running co2 and dosing more ferts and it hasn't returned.

This is how I took care of it but I'm sure there are other ways to do it and someone else will provide additional answers.

 

If it is cyanobacteria and you can get erythromycin that is the simplest beside blacking out the tank for weeks. Be prepared to remove dead bacteria and change water.

 

Yep it’s a bacteria and an antibiotic like erythromycin will work.

Personally I have used and prefer ultralife blue green slime stain remover, didn’t hurt plants or fish or Amano shrimp, antibiotics can be hard on some fish:

Freshwater Green Slime Remover (150 Gallons) - UltraLife

Where is it located? This bacteria appears when there is poor water flow and just needs a tad of light. It’s common on the sides of substrate. That’s where I get it when my aqua soil starts to compact and break down, restricting flow.

Once it’s dead make sure to manually remove it or vacuum it. It will probably come back if any is left.

I use ultralife and vacuum it up once every 5-6 weeks. It’s inevitable in my tank with soil. If I just manually remove it without ultralife it comes back in a week.

If it’s NOT on the side of your tank and on top you can completely get rid of it by increasing flow with a power head etc. once completely removed.

 

Yep it’s a bacteria and an antibiotic like erythromycin will work.

Personally I have used and prefer ultralife blue green slime stain remover, didn’t hurt plants or fish or Amano shrimp, antibiotics can be hard on some fish:

Freshwater Green Slime Remover (150 Gallons) - UltraLife

Where is it located? This bacteria appears when there is poor water flow and just needs a tad of light. It’s common on the sides of substrate. That’s where I get it when my aqua soil starts to compact and break down, restricting flow.

Once it’s dead make sure to manually remove it or vacuum it. It will probably come back if any is left.

I use ultralife and vacuum it up once every 5-6 weeks. It’s inevitable in my tank with soil. If I just manually remove it without ultralife it comes back in a week.

If it’s NOT on the side of your tank and on top you can completely get rid of it by increasing flow with a power head etc. once completely removed.

The bacteria is on the side of my sand, on my driftwood, on my plants, and on the sponge filter. It is pretty much everywhere!

 

I have had success by clearing as much as possible manually then adding Indian Almond leaves to the tank. Indian almond leaves and cyanobacteria | Algae Forum | 488240

 

If it is cyanobacteria and you can get erythromycin that is the simplest beside blacking out the tank for weeks. Be prepared to remove dead bacteria and change water.

If it is cyanobacteria and you can get erythromycin that is the simplest beside blacking out the tank for weeks. Be prepared to remove dead bacteria and change wat

Does erythromycin hurt the fish?

 

Hi! How were y’all able to tackle blue-green algae?
My 10 gallon tank, which I’ve had since last September has been an eyesore most of the time I’ve had it. I’ve been through way too many types of algae and through all of it, I have not been able to identify a cause (I had posted other threads about some of the algae issues in the past).
First it was hair algae, which lasted for a few weeks. Then I had a 3 month long struggle with an algae bloom in the water that made the tank completely green and I couldn’t see anything. After about 2 months I tried a product to help with the algae bloom. It helped for about 2 days then the algae came back even worse. After 3 months of hardly ever turning the light on and not being able to see my fish, the water suddenly cleared up all on its own! My beautiful tank lasted for about a week and then I had hair algae everywhere, which is such a struggle to get off anacharis (the main plant in my tank). EVERY TIME I CLEANED THE ALGAE OFF A NEW TYPE OF ALGAE CAME!

So, after manually removing the algae, blue- green algae and a nasty black algae came. For about a month, I left the light off on the tank to try to starve it out. Luckily it worked and the blue-green algae was gone or had turned reddish brown so I scraped it all out.

I had a nice tank for around three weeks and then the blue-green algae came back. After leaving the light off of the tank for a few weeks the algae got a lot worse! So that’s where I’m at now. Sorry for such a long post. I am just so tired of algae!

Throughout all of this, I watched my parameters closely, and the tank always had no ammonia or nitrites, less than 20 nitrates, and a pH around 7 or 8. For this tank I use the tap water which is extremely hard water and has a high pH.

How did you get rid of blue-green algae? Any tips on how to clean it out where the whole house won’t smell like blue-green algae?

Thank you!

I recently have struggled with brown and blue green algae. I just doses my tank on Friday with ultralife blue green slime remover. Today is 48 hours since first dose, second dose was added today. It has seemed to eradicate both algaes.

I recently have struggled with brown and blue green algae. I just doses my tank on Friday with ultralife blue green slime remover. Today is 48 hours since first dose, second dose was added today. It has seemed to eradicate both algaes.

I forgot to mention, the product is not erythromycin and contains nothing that would hurt fish, snails, or shrimp. Unlike other products.

 

Hello! I used Ultralight green blue algae stain remover! Amazing the green algae died in few days and so far haven’t come back. This is what my thank looks like 2weeks after the treatment

 

Hi! How were y’all able to tackle blue-green algae?
My 10 gallon tank, which I’ve had since last September has been an eyesore most of the time I’ve had it. I’ve been through way too many types of algae and through all of it, I have not been able to identify a cause (I had posted other threads about some of the algae issues in the past).
First it was hair algae, which lasted for a few weeks. Then I had a 3 month long struggle with an algae bloom in the water that made the tank completely green and I couldn’t see anything. After about 2 months I tried a product to help with the algae bloom. It helped for about 2 days then the algae came back even worse. After 3 months of hardly ever turning the light on and not being able to see my fish, the water suddenly cleared up all on its own! My beautiful tank lasted for about a week and then I had hair algae everywhere, which is such a struggle to get off anacharis (the main plant in my tank). EVERY TIME I CLEANED THE ALGAE OFF A NEW TYPE OF ALGAE CAME!

So, after manually removing the algae, blue- green algae and a nasty black algae came. For about a month, I left the light off on the tank to try to starve it out. Luckily it worked and the blue-green algae was gone or had turned reddish brown so I scraped it all out.

I had a nice tank for around three weeks and then the blue-green algae came back. After leaving the light off of the tank for a few weeks the algae got a lot worse! So that’s where I’m at now. Sorry for such a long post. I am just so tired of algae!

Throughout all of this, I watched my parameters closely, and the tank always had no ammonia or nitrites, less than 20 nitrates, and a pH around 7 or 8. For this tank I use the tap water which is extremely hard water and has a high pH.

How did you get rid of blue-green algae? Any tips on how to clean it out where the whole house won’t smell like blue-green algae?

Thank you!

CHEMICLEAN! It's made for saltwater but it works in freshwater too. It's like 20$, but I just dosed it once and all the blue-green algae was gone!