identify this algea

[bobjiggason]

I have no clue what this algae is and it is quite frusturating because water parameters are good.

Nitrate 3 ppm, amonia 0 ppm, ph 7.2, kh, 5, gh 6 phosphate not know but it has to be low because i use RO water and have a phosphate remover pad in filter. Infact nutrients are so low plants hardly pearl with a CO2 of 15 ppm. Light is 2.6 watts per gal compact flouresent 2700K it a 10 gallon tank if that might help :hehe:

algaes apearence-
bright green grows in stringy,thick matts encasing my lilieopsis and rotala. Algae is soft and easily removed, it seems to almost dissolve when picked up and fills the water with a whitish haze of tiny fillements of algae. grows somewhat fast

any ideas of what this algae is, or what may fix the problem are greatly apprecieted.

[lanstar]

I have a minor problem with this exact same algae. Since it comes off so easily, I just take the big tube off the Python and suck it out with the small part of the hose when I do water changes.

I read someone's post here who was saying that having no Phosphate in the water can actually encourage some kinds of algae. Maybe that's true and we are the poster children for that theory? The one thing you and I have in common besides this algae is that we both have phosphate remover in the filter.

I added the Phos-Guard to take care of a much nastier kind of hair algae infestation. This other algae was very, very tough and almost impossible to remove from anything. Limiting the phosphate made it go away in about a week.

Darned if you do and darned if you don't.

Take care...

Tim

[bobjiggason]

well its good to know that someone else has this problem but i just wish i could put a name on it
-i think i'll try to remove the phosgaurd and add more ferts. see if plant pearl more and maybe out compete this strange algae

[Buck]

I had the same algae growing on my Rotala i. and it wasnt really that bad on most but some of the older plants had it worst.
After reading a lot of articles from some of the best there is in the business I noticed that *tank for tank* in the same gallon range that I was far from the ml's of liquid ferts then they were !
I have found that a majority of these tanks that are *make your jaw drop beautiful*are using more then TWICE the dosage then what I have been adding.
I have been a bit shy with the liquid fertilizers because of my fear of excess nutrients that the plants cant absorb. I figured that it would only feed the algae so I tried to only dose what I thought the plants would use...
Nice Try Buck
For the last week I have been putting in 2ml of Flourish a day , 2ml Flourish Pottassium , 1 ml Flourish Iron.
I was only adding 2ml Flourish plus same Pot/Fe dose before that.
As of yesterday and into today my Rotala has almost turned purple and the Algae is Gone !
All my plants have been starving I fear... I was scared of the algae growing because of excess ferts but I now know how these guys get them tanks looking like that...
Take a look at my site below... I posted a couple new photos...
I am onto something here !

* And Its About Time * :hehe:

[GulfCoastAquarian]

Does the algae smell really bad? I have some stuff like that in my nano tank and it's actually cyanobacteria and not algae. Only way I could get rid of it was to vacuum out the substrate really well and clean out the filter. Even though you might not be reading any phophate levels, the cyano can still proliferate.

[aquaphish]

I have found that algae is stimulated by the lack of the correct amount of nutrients needed for the plants. What happens is that you are starving the plants and the photosynthisis is not taking place in a manner that is benificial for the plants and this will induce a good breeding ground for all sorts of algae. I know from experience!!!

I also use R/O water and at first I was only adding some Kent Freshwater Plant Supplement and some Plant-Pro. I was not adding trace elements that have been taken out of the R/O filtered water. I have since started to add Kent Freshwater Essential and have not had any problems with any type of algae.

So If you are using the R/O water you might want to start to add back the trace elements that your water is missing.

BTW why are you using a Phospate remover when you don't have any measurable of Phospates? I have 0 ppm's and the plants are doing OK. I have to trim them every week. And have so much that I started to just tie them up with a rubberband very loosely of course and take the cuttings to the LFS. And in return I get free plants or fish food. Pretty good for stuff I would have just thrown away!!!

[mitche8359]

cyanobacteria

I can't find a picture of this bacteria that isn't a magnification of the actual cell structure. I think I might have had the same in my tank before I tore it down in December, but would like to see a picture to verify.

As soon as I set the tank back up, the stuff started growing again. I those days, I left one light on just about 24x7 because I didn't make it downstairs everyday to turn the lights off. I cut back the lights, like I should have done, and put them on a timer. Poof the green slime left practically overnight.

With the addition of the 2wpg lighting, the green slime is back. I ordered a scraper since it's growing all over the sides of the tank. However, I noticed that the growth appears to have slowed down or even stopped. Wondering if the plants are starting to take up the nutrients that the green slime needs.

I read about a trick that I started using a few days ago. One article suggested that you turn on the lights for about an hour in the morning to get algae motivated to grow and then turn off the light. Supposedly, the algae uses up a lot of energy to start photosynthesis and it's a shock to the system. Not sure what is causing the change to my green slime, but maybe it'll be gone in a few days.