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Re: Plant tank, blue green out of control and M. ramerizi fry
> Hi Mike
>
> Go to this URL
> http://www.thekrib.com/Plants/Algae/algae-randall.html. It
> tells you what it is but nothing is mentioned about the fry.
> I have had the
> problem before and just like you my angels that were not
> breeding suddenly
> bred with the infestation of this stuff. I just scraped it
> off and tended to
> the excess amounts of phosphate in my tank. Using the med is
> the last thing
> to try. I always try and avoid using any med no matter how
> harmless it is
> supposed to be.
>
> Turn off your lights in the room with the fish tank and then
> clean the stuff
> off the glass etc. Rub the leaves where you can it comes off
> quite easily.
> The dark calms the fish and this method has worked for me.
> That is all I can
> tell you I am sure one of the other gurus here will give you
> better advice.
>
> Regards
> Paul
Hi Mike,
Paul is right about physical removal, and you are right about nutrient
imbalance. BGA (Blue Green Algae, actually a bacteria) tends to appear when
Nitrogen is the limiting macro-nutrient and Phosphorus in the form of
Phosphates are (usually) in excess. To correct this situation, you would
want to supply N and also make sure that K (Potassium) and Mg (Magnesium)
are present. By present, I mean that there is always some available to the
plants. The biggest relationship (as I see it) is between N, P, and K.
Ultimately, you want to make sure that N and K are always available, and
that P is the most scarce. In this scenario, algae including BGA will be
minimized if not eliminated. Also, if done correctly (ie. no mega-dosing of
nutrients) there are no ramifications to the fish. Check out the Sears and
Conlin paper at http://www.cam.org/~tomlins/algae.html . They point this
all out, and it is a nice article to boot. In the meantime, you can
physically rub off the BGA from your plants. A thing to check is the P in
your tap water. Sometimes that is a source you don't expect. If you want,
you can email me off list, and I can give more of my experience.
Good luck,
Mark Pearlscott
pearlscottm at moslerinc_com