Help

[Tyffani]

Ok so at first I thought it was algae so I got some snails and plecos and they didn't touch it, so I started doing research and have come to the conclusion that it's cyanobacteria. I have slime out on the way, I just have no idea how it got there because my water perimeter are good. Unless it came on the plants I bought on amazon...Up until this outbreak the tank was empty of fish. I bought the 2 plecos and 5 snails to help with what I thought was algae. Also something white is now growing on top of the plant covered in blue green algae. Can someone tell me what it is and what I can do about it? 

Edited April 12 by Tyffani
Added a picture.

[Mmiller2001]

Hydrogen peroxide wrecks cyano. You can spot dose 15ml per 10 gallons, but probably a bit more with no fish in the tank. Turn off all pumps and then spot dose it. Let it sit for 15 minutes and then turn the pumps back on. You can repeat every 24 hours.

Edited April 12 by Mmiller2001

[flyingcow]

Do you have a phosphate test kit? When I was battling cyano (admittedly still am a bit), everything looked good until I tested phosphates and they were at almost 5ppm. Got them below 2 (shooting for less than 1), and the cyano slowed down a ton.

[Tyffani]

No I don’t have a phosphate test kit I just have test strips that test, iron, copper, NO3, NO2, Chlorine, hardness, alkalinity, carbonate, and ph. My tank is 2 months old. I do have 2 plecos and 5 snails, will the peroxide hurt them?

[Kurt Brutting]

Your eco-system is still very young. Time will help and a good maintenance schedule. I like to do 20% water changes every week with new aquariums. Also reducing your light intensity or duration will help. What is your light and light schedule? Having your light on a timer is also super beneficial. If you can add more plants to help suck up all the excess nutrients will also help. Floating plants especially help like water sprite, Amazon Frog-bit, or salvinia. 

[Colu]

Fritz slim out treats cynobacteria 

[Tyffani]

I just added slime out yesterday. I’m hoping it helps because it just seems to spread like wild fire. I turn my lights on at 6 am and off at 6 pm. I don’t really know what type of light it is it came with the lid of the aquarium. As far as plants go, I have hornwort Amazon sword Java fern and a few others I’m not sure what they are honestly.

[JoeQ]

Flow flow flow! Cyno occurs in low flow, poorly oxygenated waters. As with ANY algea, improving water quality should be your primary focus. 

[Mmiller2001]

On 4/14/2023 at 8:26 AM, JoeQ said:

Flow flow flow! Cyno occurs in low flow, poorly oxygenated waters. As with ANY algea, improving water quality should be your primary focus. 

I will also add too low of nitrates is also a trigger for it. 

 

What's your filtration?

[Tyffani]

A sponge filter, a heater, and plants are all I have in the tank. I have a few snails and 2 plecos that I just added a week ago to help with algae. The tank is a 20 gallon. I do a 25% water change every Friday I use API stress coat+ API leaf zone and seachem stability every time I do water change and it’s been the same since I’ve set it up. If I’m missing anything please let me know. I really love this hobby and don’t want to give up this time. This Cyanobacteria is really discouraging at this point because I don’t want to start over but this crap is everywhere in my tank.

[Mmiller2001]

Looks like you need a more complicate fertilizer.

[Tyffani]

On 4/12/2023 at 12:40 PM, Mmiller2001 said:

Hydrogen peroxide wrecks cyano. You can spot dose 15ml per 10 gallons, but probably a bit more with no fish in the tank. Turn off all pumps and then spot dose it. Let it sit for 15 minutes and then turn the pumps back on. You can repeat every 24 hours.

You're amazing! I tried slime out and I didn't notice any change at all so I tried peroxide and bam it was almost instantly gone in some spots and in the thicker spots it took a little longer but was all gone by the next day. That was like magic. Thank you for your help! It is greatly appreciated!!

[Mmiller2001]

I'm glad it worked well for you. 

[JettsPapa]

On 4/14/2023 at 9:24 AM, Tyffani said:

. . . . I turn my lights on at 6 am and off at 6 pm. I don’t really know what type of light it is it came with the lid of the aquarium. As far as plants go, I have hornwort Amazon sword Java fern and a few others I’m not sure what they are honestly.

If you start having problems with algae you might want to consider cutting back on the duration of the light.  My lights are on 12 hours per day in my 65 gallon tank, and it works well, but all the rest just have them on from 10:00 am to 2:00 pm, and then again from 6:00 pm until 10:00 pm.