How to Kill Cyanobacteria - Natural vs. Chemical?
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- Опубликовано: 5 сен 2024
- Got a problem with cyanobacteria, or blue-green algae, in your fish tank? Keep watching as I talk about what causes it in aquariums, the natural vs. chemical methods I used to treat it, and which one worked the best!
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▶ Fertilizer: www.aquariumco...
▶ Erythromycin from Fritz Aquatics: www.aquariumco...
▶ Erythromycin from API: www.aquariumco...
▶ Activated carbon: amzn.to/2UPxfHk
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▶ How to Kill Cyanobacteria (by AQUAdesign): www.aquadesignp...
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ATTRIBUTION
Music by Joakim Karud / joakimkarud
Music by / ikson
Cyanobacteria by Matthew Parker from commons.wikime...
Cyanobacteria by Matthew Parker from commons.wikime...
Cyanobacteria in a freshwater pond by Christian Fischer from commons.wikime...
Red slime algae by JoeMan02 (FishNerdVlogs on RUclips) from www.nano-reef....
Cyanobacteria in tank by Keudn from / help_with_getting_rid_...
#aquarium #fishtank #fishtube
*Have you ever dealt with cyanobacteria, and if so, how’d you get rid of it?* Comment below to share your experiences, and subscribe if you want to see more videos like this! goo.gl/4q2idY
No idea what algae is, my Ammonia Nitrites and Nitrates are zero, contents of tank 1 female Betta a bunch of red cherry shrimp and Malaysian Trumpet Snails imgur.com/790lQqK
Well, I will be honest, I had problems in one tank with 4 different types of algae and Cyanobacteria.
I did water changes, 10% each 3 days, physically removing the cyano, and added Pothos plants, in one month I got rid of all algaes and Cyanobacteria and they didn’t come back so far.
Cutted back industrial feeding my fishes (1 day daphnias, one day no feed, one day low amounts of flakes, no feed and repeat).
I was looking at a chemistry channel and they said the Cyanobacteria loves fosfate and nitrate. So when I added the pothos, I was hoping it would help me get rid of fosfates too.
The combination of all that helped me get rid of it
Here's what I think worked for me: remove affected plant material and discard or rinse under chloriminated water until clean. Large water change. While water is low clean waterline to remove bacteria and all large affected decorations and let dry completely before scrubing under tap water.
Be thankful it wasn't on the gravel.
And its back because I didn't change my light cycle. I did start dosing less, and I cut back on flakes. Cut off co2 for now. Added air, angled heads to waterline to create disturbance. This time H2O2 into a tank with filter off, stand 15 minutes before filter on. used .75ml/ gallon for two days. Target 1.5ml/gal. 8 hours after I have a lot less cyanobacteria.
I'm nervous about antibiotics. They are a chance at creating antibiotic resistant bacteria. Of what type? Doesn't have to be the cyanobacteria, could be any bacteria that thrives in room temperature, nutrient laden water.
Cyanobacteria are microbes that have long appeared on Earth before humanity. They have evolved somewhere between 3.5 and 2.5 billion years ago, and they have the ability to turn carbon dioxide and water into oxygen gas, which they use for energy. They accumulated the oxygen into our atmosphere and allowed life on Earth to flourish.
I think(guess) the problem you had with different information on cyanobacteria propagation is because we aren't fighting one organism. It's classified as a phylum. A phylum containing 2500 species.
I swear the one thing that my channel will never have is a voice like yours. You have the perfect Narrator voice. Thanks for sharing!
Thank you so much! I've gotten some comments recently about my low voice, so I was starting to feel a little self-conscious about it. Really appreciate the boost in confidence. 🤗
A Gamer's Wife I don’t know what they said or why they would cause your voice is fantastic. You can watch thousands of RUclips vids and even watch TV then the voices all tend to sound similar. Yours has a professional sound to it like you almost host board meetings. It’s very polished and you should be proud.👍🤙✌️😎
@@matthewmoorecichlids2323 Thank you! 😁
lol
I was thinking the same thing. I love her voice. So friendly. 🌿🌿🌿🌿🌿🌿🌿🌿🌿🌿🌿
The fact that cyanobac keeps showing up in your aquarium should prompt you to check your phosphate levels.
It is true that this algae (bacteria) appears on low nitrate tanks, since it is able to fixate molecular nitrogen (the gas that makes up for 70+% of our atmosphere), and therefore, out-compete plants and other algi in the nutrient race. Regardless of having only 5hours of light, it it is too bright, it will promote algi growth, especially since you don't have any fast growing plants that can compete with them.
My advice would be to either lower the light a bit (via a dimmer) or add some floating plants that can grow fast without CO2 and absorb excess nutrients. Your betta will thank you for it too.
Thanks for the advice! Thankfully the cyanobacteria hasn't appeared ever again since I used the chemical treatment. However, I am thinking of looking for some floating plants at the next fish auction that will helpfully help with my other algae issue and block out some of the light without having to use a dimmer.
Exceptionally useful information. The first method has worked for me so far thankfully, I can't get Erythromycin in Canada :(
Yay, glad the natural way is working!
I can't erythromycin either. Do you know if kanaplex from seachem will work?
I love your channel and your guide helped me treat my Cyanobacteria outbreak. Thank you for all that you do, especially for beginner aquarists.
Your light looks really bright. It may not be how long you have light on but how strong the light is. I love this little tank and your plant setup. This is just a thought and not from a pro. You have thought of all the rest that I would think of.
Thank you for this video. That stuff killed my 90 gallon planted tank in a week while I was away. For small tanks try populating your tank with some micro fauna like seed shrimps, if you just don’t want to use snails. Your beta will enjoy picking off the larger ones. A couple ornamental shrimp will help too, if your beta will share the space.
Interesting... good to know! Yeah, my betta fish is super aggressive so all my cleanup crew attempts have been killed so far. 😅
Thank you for all the great info. I've had it in my shelly tank for years. I've noticed that a lot of them seem to get it. I've just learned to live with the thick green carpet. The fish are doing ok too.
Interesting! Rachel O'Leary did some videos on cyanobacteria and it was her shelly tank, I believe, that got hit with it too.
Currently fighting it in my shelly.tank. Any new tips?
Excellent video and commentary. Algae in any form is a royal pain in the proverbial. I myself just use good old elbow grease even in my most mature tanks which should be way way beyond algae issues
Haha, it annoys me how much extra time I have to spend cleaning that betta tank each week. I will balance that tank if it's the last thing I do!
Outstanding presentation with practical, real world, information.
You are such a hoot! Love the vid and needed this info. Thanks so much!🌿🌿🌿🌿🌿🌿🌿🌿
For the brown algae - Amano shrimp are my favorite remedy
Oh, I love amano shrimp! They're the best. Unfortunately, I tried to put one in that tank, and my betta fish chased her nonstop until she escaped from the tank and disappeared. :(
Cyanobacteria is an imbalance of phosphate or nitrate or a deficiency of both. i have successfully beat cyanobacteria in a planted tank dosing monopotassium phosphate. Decreasing light period is just a bandaid fix and wont fix root problem.
Hi, I had a big problem with Cyanobacteria in my 180 liter aquarium. Heard with the aquarium shop and he said I should do a black out for 10-14 days, I did as told for 14 days with an air stone. afterwards, the tank has been Cyano free for approx. one year now :)
Fish wont die?
@@FatimDoki I didn't have any deaths, but you must have air stones since the plants cannot produce oxygen during the period. fragile/weak plants may die.
I think every body of water needs "Clean Up Crew". Not for the Blue/Green algae, but for every other type. Nerite snails, Ramshorn or Apple snails are all good choices for your Soundwave tank. 😊😊
Haha, unfortunately Soundwave is a killer, not a lover. :) He has successfully disposed of any clean-up crew I have tried to add to his tank. 😢
The best " clean up crew " Malaysian Trumpet Snails,
@@nickau1698 , thankful for the tag along I got, now I have a carpet. .
I did everything similar to what you did the manual removal the gravel vac the blackout none of which worked. I used chemiclean I can’t get erythromycin here in Australia but so far so good I’d been battling for months. It’s expensive but you don’t use very much but it’s well worth the not having the headache and just move on.
another excellent video
Thank you so much!
Great video AGW! I always learn something from your channel. Just treated my 55 gallon cichlid community tank for BGA. Fingers crossed one dose does the trick. I live on a waterway off the Gulf of Mexico, so cyano spores are always in the air as our coast struggles with massive outbreaks of BGA along with Red Tide.
Oh man, that's rough! I had no idea that your physical location could actually induce more algae problems because of spores, but it makes sense.
This cyanobacteria is taking over my Cardinal shrimp tank. I'm going to try this erithromycin technique or use a similar product called chemiclean.
My Tank is 7 months along. I've had BBA ( now seems to be gone), I've got some staghorn algae (I just prune the leaf when it gets nasty enough or try to use a raccoon tail brush to wind it up and then pull it off) and now I have seen a tiny spot of it on a water wisteria leaf. My nitrates are 20 to 30 before a water change and my lights are on for 6 hours a day (3 hours in the morning and 3 hours in the evening. ) No sunlight on the tank. I am just watching and waiting to see if it progresses. I bought some green slime remover from Reef Life that is supposed to work, I just need an air stone. We can't get fish antibiotics in Canada and the border is closed so I can't buy any state side yet either. I have accepted that my tank will never look like something by George Farmer of Green Aqua but my fish are happy so that is all that matters
Buying alternative (since it's difficult to find and costly): go to a pharmacy (it's antibiotic so they sell it), buy it in the powder form that pharmacists use to prepare medications, that's all! (Don't buy it in pill form or in vials, u don't need the additives like flavours etc, used in these forms.)
I followed the Aq. Co-Op treatment plan... and it worked for 7 weeks. It was an unplanted 40B with only two shelldwellers. I say WAS as I moved them to a 20L, and completely and totally nuked the the tank, shells, rocks and filter with undiluted ammonia bleach. Rinsed everything either in the utility sink or the backyard, and have just added water to it. Debating whether to bleach the sand or use it in the garden. If it comes back, then man is doomed on this planet. I am waiting to see if the two shelldwellers transferred it to their 20L. Nothing after 10 days with strong light. And by the way - Merry Fishmas!
I just ordered the meds and will do the other things also. Thanks!
Great video on such a difficult problem. Thank you for sharing this tutorial, and real problem you had. Nice plan of attack on that Cyanobacteria. I wouldn’t wish this on my worst enemy. I really enjoyed watching.
Lol, "I wouldn't wish this on my worst enemy..." 😂
A Gamer's Wife - A true statement though!
Your videos are the best! Love your betta's name too, Soundwave. Used to watch the transformers all the time as a kid.
My husband and son are crazy about them, so I was convinced. :)
@@GirlTalksFish There's supposed to be a new Transformers show on Netflix. I gotta check it out. Maybe pass the word on to them if they haven't seen it already. Also there's another show on Netflix called MegaloBox which was pretty good. My daughter and I enjoyed that one a lot too. Watching the Seven Deadly Sins right now.
My cyano refused to die with a 5 day blackout. My nitrates are usually 10 - 20 cause it's in my water supply. I've also heard excess phosphate, which mine is usually at 0.5. I've also heard it's from neglecting the tank. Mine started in a 10 gallon aquarium that had plants and a Betta and got 30% weekly water changes. Yet it still came up, but only one one tank out of 2 with similar parameters. So far I used Ultralife Blue-green slime stain remover. It killed it within 72 hours. Unfortunately I'm still not sure what caused the outbreak.
I know, me too! None of those "common causes" were happening in my aquarium either, yet it still appeared anyway. Glad to hear the Ultralife remover worked though! 👍
@@GirlTalksFish I'm glad it worked too. The outbreak has happened twice already. If it happens a third time, I'm definitely trying the erythromycin. Thanks for the video by the way
@@Nighthawk5015 My pleasure! :)
Educational, engaging, & beautifully edited video!
Thank you so much! Hopefully it'll help some people. 😊
this stuffs been killing my plants and i was about to give up on this hobby. cant seem to find any luck with it or enjoyment after all this time spent on them. found some chemical called ultra life blue green algae stain remover and i hope it works
Good info to know, thank you. Although, I am afraid to say this out loud, have not yet run into cyano; but I'm sure it's in my future!
Haha hopefully not! I was so surprised when it popped up out of seemingly nowhere. Luckily it was an easy fix. :)
I had the green/blue slime all over my 55 gals. Cichlid tank. Nothing worked to get rid of it until I started using Amoxicillin. I put two dissolved 500mg. Amoxicillin in the tank, let it sit for two days with the fish in it and the filter running. I did a 75% water change and added another 1000mg of Amoxicillin and let it go another two days. and did another 75 % water change. The 3rd time I did this the green/blue slime was gone and my tank was clear of algae of all types. I did another major water change and ran carbon in my filter to get rid of the meds. Another water change and getting my beneficial bacteria restarted and I was good to go.
This was the second tank I used this system on and the slime hasn't been back in over 3 months.
Great video and content!!! One of the best Cyano Chemical by far is Ultralife - Blue Green Slime. Has like no side effects at all.
Awesome, thanks for the tip!
I have heard of that blue green slime & I'm curious about it. I'm struggling with some cyanobacteria in a new tank, 4wks, no fish yet. I've tried all the stuff you tried here except erythromycin. My local fish store recommended phosphate filter pads. I've had that in only 24hrs after sucking up everything & doing a 30ish% water change & I can see it coming baaack!!! Uugh have you ever tried that blue green slime or phosphate pads with any luck?...maybe a new idea for another blue green algae vid?
@@NxOxOxDxLxExS Erythromycin is definitely the way to go! In the United States, you can either buy it as API Erythromycin or Mardel Maracyn. Good luck to ya!
I had them on a tank, I fought them for a couple years: MASSIVE pain in the butt. I had the best results with mechanical removal, followed by 5 days of blackout, and then killing each trace of them with spot application of Flourish Excel (turning the filter off for 10-15 minutes), with just the recommended daily dosage (for my tank was 1-2ml/day). I never really won that battle, but I reached a point when they were manageable (I had just to manually remove them once a week during the water change, usually cleaning the very upper part of the glass, practically at normal water level, with a paper towel was enough).
Oh man, that sounds terrible! Good to know about Flourish Excel being another useful tool. Thanks for the tip!
Hey have u guys ever got white cyanobacteria?? I always get that 😩
I have what I suspect is cyano in the substrate of my tank. Not sure what to do about it.
Wow this video rocks great editing
Thank you so much! :)))
Excellent video
Thank you so much for the view! :)))
Soundwave is a feisty little guy.
Yes, he sure is! Too bad he's a shrimp/snail killer too or else I'd get an algae-eating cleanup crew for this tank. :P
In your video you state "allow to sit for one week, per manufacturers instructions." The instructions on the box are geared towards fish illness and have repeat dosing of every 24 hours with water changes. I'm a little fuzzy on the instructions, would you mind clarifying? Thank you!
Haha love the ending. There is something always going on in a tank it seems like.
I know, right? The struggle never ends...
I got a big chuckle at the end. 😂. Next experiment , pressurized CO2 ??
Im still reasearching the subject on bacteria and algae growth in water due to nitrates and phosphates. But in my opinion i believe its the phosphates. Phosphrous is a key element to growth of algae and some bacteria. Ive noticed that phosphoric acid leads to all types of growth in water while other acids inhibit growth like citric acid and muratic acid. So in conclusion you need phosphrous frow plant growth but as long as your helping plants grow youre also helping bacteria and algae so i believe its always going to happen unless you do regular water changes and keep cleaning the water. Life is hard to keep up with especially in a controlled envroment where youre basically playing god.
Did you use only 1 packet as the entire treatment, or 1 packet each day? Thanks!
Excellent advice!
Thank you! It's so nice to finally get rid of it.
Thanks for sharing
Do the quarantine tank/ hospital tank needs to have nitrogen cycle first? Before putting your fish into it?
I cant buy eritromicyn in my country without medical receipt :(
But the last time I scrubbed everything in my aquarium, vacuumed and washed out the filter my system crashed and I had an ammonia spike and I had to act fast. Should I expect that with this?
how'd you deal with that brown algae?
When doing the natural process can you use an automatic feeder to feed your fish?
Sound Wave... Cool name!
Haha, you can tell my family is Transformers- obsessed. :P
One of my tanks had an issue with green slimy algae, moved my golden/black mystery snail into the tank and the algae disappeared😂😂
I accidentally spread it to my paluderium and I'm struggling to find info on dealing with it anove water
the algea at the end of the video is the one I have!!
how you get rid of it
Try chemiclean it’s Cyanobacteria remover for saltwater tanks but works In freshwater. Lots of great reviews of it. Even though nobody knows it’s active ingredient. :/
I've heard that stuff is awesome! I wouldn't be surprised if the active ingredient was also some kind of antibiotic. ;)
Hmm, I dunno. It states not to kill beneficial bacteria. I know aquarium Co-op says that Erythromycin will not kill BB but I think it does.
@@AquaMayne I've had good luck with erythromycin not killing BB (no bacterial blooms or ammonia/nitrite spikes). Did you see an odd reaction when using it in the past?
Erythromycin kills gram - bacteria and BB R gram + ones (or the opposite), so it doesn't kill them.
Something happened that I never expected today. My two snails overnight ate my betta Sunny alive. When I woke up and saw this horrible sight. Why?
Oh no! What kind of snails are they again? The only time I've heard of snails eating a fish is if the fish died first and they're just cleaning up the mess.
oh geez that's horrible I just pictured something bad ...
I know, poor betta... :(
Sir,
I have tank of almost 6 gallon. Facing some problems with cyanobactaria. Here api erythromycin is not available please suggest me how much erythromycin 200 tab I have to use for above.
Addition of a lot of Duckweed and/or Amazon Frogbit eradicated my BGA's in less than a week and has not reappeared since then.
Ooo, very cool! I will definitely consider floating plants as a possible move in my battle against algae. Thanks for the great suggestion!
Yes. I completely agree. Floating plants are a great addition to the algae fighting arsenal. Brown diatoms like those in the end won’t stand a chance with floaters, nerites, and Amanos. But be aware floaters do require a bit more than 6 hours photoperiod. Awesome lil tank!!
@@ih8paper Sounds like I should definitely try it out... at this point I'm desperate!
so good
You say in the video to dose EM once then leave it for a week. You also say to follow the directions on the box, which is four doses within four days. Due to EM being difficult to get and cost, I am attempting at slightly under dosing. I have a 30 gal tank, and by the dierctions I would need 12 packets. But I only have 10 in the box, and would like to not have to use it all.
Good question! To clarify, I meant to follow the dosing _amount_ recommended by the box, but only dose once (don't dose four times and don't do water changes every other day). So if you're using API Erythromycin, a 30 gallon tank would get 3 packets and then just wait for 7 days before doing your water changes. If there's still a little cyanobacteria left after a week, you can re-dose 3 packets again and let it wait for another 7 days. Hope that helps. :)
@@GirlTalksFish That helps. I did 2 packs one day, then 2 packs on the second day. Have not done any water changes since adding the meds. I guess I will wait for the week and see what happens. I had manually removed most of what I could before hand. So far (4 days after dosing) I am not really seeing any die back of the little bit that was still in the tank. However, the growth/spread has definitely been hindered. By now half the tank would be covered in cyanob.
Oh good to hear! Best of luck to ya. :)
Buying alternative (since it's difficult to find and costly): go to a pharmacy (it's antibiotic so they sell it), buy it in the powder form that pharmacists use to prepare medications, that's all! (Don't buy it in pill form or in vials, u don't need the additives like flavours etc, used in these forms.)
@@jimanast3593 What about the dose is just the same like EM API? How much needs for 250L/66gal volume tank? Thanks
OK seriously what IS the "whispy brown algae"! I had that before I broke down this tank and rescaped it. I keep waiting for it to come back. It's revolting!
Do I ned to black out my tank for the week?
do you need to turn off co2 when dosing erythromycin?
Good question - I've never heard any such recommendation, so I don't think so. Just remove all chemical filtration and UV sterilizers, and you should be good to go.
Were you ever able to eradicate the cyanobacteria completely? And if so, what was it that worked for you? Thank you!
Good info
Thank you!
i like step 1 natural remedy simple
I like it too. I think I'd use it first and only bring out the medication if it was a persistent outbreak. Plus meds cost money. :P
Have you figures out the brown algae? Its taking over my 40 breeder and it doesn't want to stick to the toothbrush so I'm just blowing it all over the tank. Ugh!
Still working on it! So far I've split the lighting period into 2 blocks (instead 1 solid six-hour block) and temporarily increased water changes to twice a week. I've found that using my fingers to remove the brown algae and immediately sucking it up with a siphon is one of the best ways to remove it. 👍
Would you be able to rid of the cyano by using erythromycin and no blackout/mechanical removal?
Good question. So when I used erythromycin, I didn't have to do any blackout. However, I did do manual removal before using it to decrease the amount of bacteria that needed to be treated. It's possible that only erythromycin would work without removal, but it might take several rounds of treatment and a longer amount of time (aka dose once, wait a week and water change, dose again, wait a week and water change, dose again, etc). But that's just my guess. :)
When using erythromycin, there is no need for black out, they r two different ways.
Jolly Good show. you ARE a gamer's wife. A GAMER Yoself. you nailed it, hence - subscribed. adding further, i am currently facing the the same issue, it just started, on some small black spots where the water flow is not adequate or very poor. my brain is programmed since my childhood in a way that it adopt scientific facts easily, TBH, i did very small research and reached to conclusions what will be the steps i am going to take, This specific video gave me a rock solid plan how i am going take my territory back from this CREEPY INTRUDER. I AM going to Nuke the tank with everything i got, Azithromycin-(MISSILES ON THE WAY).
Further adding i am from India, i am so very impressed with this video, i am defiantly going to share this video and you future videos in here, and hopefully get you some more subscribers from my country as well.
One more time thanks for the video.(beautiful tank, Beautiful Betta, to the point presentation- No excessive talking, Small video vs a possibly endless trouble which often leads newbies like me ending up tanks, lastly a Successful Experiment)
Love From India. Stay safe. :-)
Add shrimp
Unfortunately my betta fish loves eating shrimp so I gotta try to take care of the brown algae without a cleanup crew. 😧
Dee M I agree! Armono shrimp are great for eating the crap out of hair algae.
clearly it's caused by wizards
Lol! 🧙
Is not a algae it’s a bacteria right?
Correct! But lots of people still call it blue-green algae.
Hence the name cyanobacteria
You got Cyanobacteria put on plant big plant this lol
I just use hydrogen peroxide
as with all problems, the answer is guppies
No guppies w/ Bettas!