Treating blue algue in tank with zebra's

[Des]

Hi Cascudo,
I too have had a few experiences of the algae you talk about.
Generally I have found that it was either due to a massive load of plant fetiliser such as when I tried a mix added to sand ,under the gravel layer or the addition of liquid or tablet plant fertiliser that contains phosphate. Have you done a phosphate test?.
I have learnt a lot by reading the stuff on the plant and fertiliser section on www.thekrib, and now make my own fertiliser (which is phosphate limiting)using the recipe on the krib.It is a lot cheaper and I know what is in it.The general idea is that plants will grow ( and use nitrates and phosphates) only if ALL the elements both major and trace are present.
There is no phosphates added to the fertiliser and is obtained from the food eaten by the fish.In fact my nitrate level is so low in my planted tank that I have to add Nitrates to the fertiliser mix.
On the rare occasions recently that I have had an algae problem , I have used an Algae destroyer made by Esha(Protolon-707) , which I believe is the only one that is not toxic to the fish.
Regards,
Des

[Cascudo]

That is a very interesting advice Barbie!

And in fact it makes completely sense to me!
This explains why the algue population changed completely from hair algue to blue algue after the tank population changed from a rather overstocked situation to a population of only 7 fish and some Armano shrimps.
All of a sudden the production of nitrate decreased dramaticly. And because it seems that plants have to take nitrate and phosphate in a certain ratio, there is too much phosphate left over. The advice of Des contains the same message.
It seems that in the overstocked situation there was an excess of nitrate, which caused the hair algue population to grow. Isn't that interesting?
I shall have a look at the Krib. It is in fact a pity that producers of fertilizer only mention the type of elements and not the ratio, which is exactly of interest for serious tank hobbiests.
I haven't tested phosphate yet. But I know that in the past it turned out to be quite high, it seems that the tapwater over here contains already a rather high phosphate level, so indeed water changes won't help.

I shall decrease the percentage of water changes. Because of the low stocking rate there is very little change on high nitrite/nitrate levels anyhow. And I shall see about the fertilizer that is low on phospate.
Maybe even add some more fish.

I have lost my last 3 zebra pleco fry in the last two weeks. Could it be because of the toxics produced by the blue algue?

Thanks a lot both of you!

[sid]

Could well be .....as blue algae is bacterial related............and depletes oxegen

[Des]

Hi Cascudo,
Here is some info on the fertiliser mix I was talking about.
http://www.thekrib.com/Plants/Fertilizer/pmdd-tim.html
Initially it seems complicated, but after reading it a few times together with the other fertiliser (pmdd)articles on thekrib.com, it is quite a simple concept.You will also need some fast growing plants such as water sprite (indian fern), hygrophilla, hornwort, duckweed etc.

I myself have used Chempak products available in the UK.I found that the Chempak Trace element mix contained half the amount of Iron required , so I doubled the Qty of the same.

There are also some Phospate removers in the lfs. Some are chemical based and some are like clay granules which I think are called "Clear water".

Regards,
Des