[Laureli]

Hello :icon_mrgr
I made a post a while ago about getting my grandma a tank with a betta, 4g, and it has since been set up and is running fine considering how little maintenence is done as I don't see her a lot (every week or so I change the water with tap water left out for the day). Recently, her tank has had a problem with what I believe to be blue-green algae/cyanobacteria. :icon_conf We have tried pulling it out, cleaning out the filter, doing larger water changes, but nothing is really working. She has 3 ghost shrimp and 2 snails in there if it helps. I am unsure of what to do as I have never had a problem like this and when I read about it it sounds like a lot of people don't know what causes it. I was hoping to get some advice? I have heard about using Maracyn but I don't know how that would affect the shrimp in particular. I was thinking of adding a lot more plants as it doesn't have too many but I am at wits ends as she keeps calling me saying "that green stuff has covered everything" even though I cleaned it about 2 days ago. I was also thinking about changing what kind of water she uses. Any ideas?

 

[deleted_user_12]

scrape the edges to get rid of the algae and maybe add some chemicals just be sure they are safe. also get an algae eater just for the time being and if it gets too big give it back to the pet store

 

[kamikazi]

Algae eaters wont eat BGA.

Reports of various solutions are in THIS thread.

I tried reducing light, increasing flow, etc nothing worked so I used macryn and it looks to have killed it. I think people reported in there that it did not harm their shrimp.

Hadley said they used Excel to get rid of it, but others reported excel didn't work for them. I dunno what double doses of excel would do to shrimp.

 

[Sharkfood]

There are antibiotics that will kill it.

Increased waterflow and nitrates are a good way to prevent it, but likely won't get rid of what's already in the tank.

BGA is generally toxic to varying degrees, so most critters don't eat it.

 

[exv152]

Try a blackout period, add some potassium nitrate and remove as much of the stuff as you can. The maracyn may kill some of the beneficial bacteria, so you you may be better off trying a more natural approach like removing what it feeds on - light.

 

[reignOfFred]

I had a huge problem with it after my co2 went on the fritz for a while. I cleaned out as much as I could and did a huge water change, and then treated with Maracyn for full dose and full length of time, then completed big water change. Results were perfect - gone and never came back.