Tips for Blue Green Algae (Cyanobacteria) control

[AquaLawyer]

I’ve got a 20 long tank that is fairly heavily planted and has a relatively high bio load - 6 corydora (+ at least 3 Cory fry), 12 ember tetra, 10 zebra danio, a hill stream loach, and roughly 10 shrimp, then assorted snails. My water is almost perfect except for low alkalinity and a low ph (likely about 6.2) due to plants and driftwood. 0 nitrate/nitrite/ammonia levels.

I’m having issues with blue green algae. And have just done my first 2 round dose of “Blue Green Slime Stain Remover”. It doesn’t seem to have done much, but it’s only been 3 full days since the first of the 2 applications, and I tried a slightly lighter dose than directed as I was concerned for my inverts. Any advice for using the Blue Green Algae Slime Stain Remover or otherwise getting rid of this stuff?

Excuse the algae on the glass, I wanted to see how the BGA product works and was using that as an easy tell.

 

[Flyfisha]

Hi AquaLawyer,
Welcome to fishlore.
I have used the product you write of on numerous occasions at the recommended rate without any issues on cherry shrimp , fry ,( edit common pest snails ) and a couple of species of Australian shrimp. Yes it’s slow to have an effect. I have found at least in my water I can stop treatment after two weeks and not see much blue green for another 4 or 6 months. I see no reason why with a tank as pretty as yours you could not continue treatment indefinitely? If you wanted to ?

I don’t have the wet garden you have but I have been experimenting with less percentage of light and running lights on for under 7 hours.

edit ,
I can’t actually see any blue green algae in the picture. This exit blue product has no effect on other algae .

 

[AquaLawyer]

Oh that’s awesome, thank you!

 

[Flyfisha]

I can’t see any blue green algae in the picture?
I have use this product on ordinary algae.
Active ingredient diuron

 

[AquaLawyer]

I can’t see any blue green algae in the picture?
I have use this product on ordinary algae.
Active ingredient diuron

Have you used that with inverts? I was using algae fix and a similar product before I got my shrimp/snails. My issue started when I originally put in cabomba before I got proper lighting and before my tank fully cycled. The cabomba dropped all its leaves and the bio mass on the tank floor ended sparking an algae bloom that took forever to control. Now it’s the BGA that forms sheets on everything and makes my tank smell swampy. Better images of the BGA attached, you can see it really well on the Pennywort leaves

 

[Flyfisha]

Yes I have used diuron on tanks with cherry shrimp ,fry, common pest snails and Australian shrimp.

 

[TClare]

I have got rid of blue green algae by removing as much as possible manually and by siphoning, increased frequency and amount of water changes and adding almond leaves. Increasing water flow and aeration may help, and be careful not to over feed the fish. You can also use erythromycin, it is supposed to be harmless, but I prefer not to use antibiotics if possible.

 

[AquaLawyer]

UPDATE:
For anyone who is curious, I did three total doses of the Blue-Green Slime Stain Remover. Second dose was 48 hours after first dose and third dose was one week after second dose. I added air stones as suggested, but I did not perform water changes beyond topping up the tank and my water quality was not affected to my knowledge. I am unaware of any negatively affected animals (shrimp, snails, fish in tank). My corydora actually just spawned again shortly after the third dose.

Two weeks after beginning the treatments my tank is completely clean of the BGA and now I have healthy algae beginning to form on the glass and drift wood. I can’t say how this stuff works in the long run, but it seems to be working amazingly as is. Highly recommend.

 

[mattgirl]

It worked really well for me too. I added the recommended amount. It seemed to go to work right away. I followed the instructions and added it the second time although it didn't appear to be needed. I wanted to be sure it was totally gone.That was probably a year ago and the BGA has not come back. No plants or water pets were affected by this product. I can confidently recommend this product to anyone experiencing this eyesore in their tanks.