Help with algae

[beemzer109]

Hello,
My wife has a 90 gallon show tank. She has many rocks driftwood and live plants. On the upper level of the tank she is getting alot of "bright green" slimy algae growing on the plants and driftwood. We have tried "siamese" algae eaters, "oto's", "whiptail cats", "pleco's."There are two double strip lights. We have tried leaving them off. The tanks has small community type fish in it. Any ideas on how to get rid of this? Thankyou

[Damon]

More info is needed. Slimy algae indicated BGA (blue green algae or cyanobacteria) while bright green doesn't match the typical color. The tank is planted. How heavily is it planted. NO3/PO4 levels? Fert schedule? Lighting? Filtration? Stocking levels? Co2 supplimentation?

[Chicklette]

How long have you had the tank? A pleco usually takes care of that. Are you over feeding at all? Sometimes it can be due to over feeding. Also what are your NitrAtes? High Nitrates can cause algae. For now, you may just have to scrub it yourself if the algae eaters are not doing a good job. I still get a bit of algae here and there but I usually clean my tanks once a week and scrub it myself because my plecos are getting pretty lazy, LOL. Leaving your lights off longer will help a bit. Is your tank near a window?

[beemzer109]

Thankyou for the responses,
The tank is heavily planted. All the water test are where they should be, no Co2 is used. She has two double strips of lights and is leaving one of the strips off most of the day. The one is turned on at about 9 A.M. and off at 11 P.M..There is a whiptail cat, farowella cat, royal pleco, albino longfinned pleco, 2 algae eaters, 2 oto's, two L201's and 3 L183's. Most of the pleco's are young and she just added a siamese algae eater, which the LFS advised her to do. The alagae is a bright flourescent green.It grows on the some of the plants, which makes it hard to scrub off. Thankyou again for the help.

[Damon]

Originally Posted by beemzer109

Thankyou for the responses,
The tank is heavily planted. All the water test are where they should be, no Co2 is used.

What do you call heavily planted? And what do you mean by where they should be? What are the water tests? NO3 and PO4 levels are much needed. Fert schedule?

[garfieldnfish]

Bright flourescent green (I would desribe it as a very dark turqoise) sounds like blue green algae. No algae eater will touch the stuff and it is actually not really algae. But it is easily removed by adding E.M. tabs (sold at petsmart, petland and most LFSs) to the tank. It usually only takes one application, (was all it took when I got it in one of my tanks) but if the first doses does not take care of it, a second surely will. After the first dose do a large water change and rinse out the filter pad. The stuff dies off and gets sucked up into the filter or settles on the gravel. It is unsightly and unhealthy for the fish, I would get rid of it. I have seen the stuff in my LFS and in the Tennessee and Altanta aquarium tanks and I cannot believe they allow the stuff to grow. I find it nasty looking.

[Damon]

if it is BGA a 3-4 total blackout followed by a 50% waterchange will take care of it. It usually happens in planted tanks when the NO3 gets too low.