Algae growing on fish?!

[Kissyboots]

Uh, not sure if this is a disease, but I'm having algae problems which are affecting my fish...

Last week, almost overnight, this dark green, almost turquiose algae grew over the middle section of the tank all over the gravel. It's now spread onto the decor as well. It's like a carpet! I haven't had time to clean the tank yet, so I'll have to do it this weekend.

But today I look at my female GBR and there's the green stuff growing on her top fin!!! What the h***? I don't know what this stuff is and why it's growing on my fish...but can someone help me? If you need pics, I'll get some tonight...grrrr...I just don't understand why I have algae problems all of a sudden and it's also growing on my fish...

 

[emmanuelchavez]

cyanobacteria?

I've never heard of algae growing on fish though (but my snails do have algae on their shells...)... maybe she rubbed up against it?

 

[Lotus]

It does sound like BGA (blue-green algae)/ cyanobacteria. It can be harmful to fish, so you'll either need to treat with erythomycin or a blackout.

 

[emmanuelchavez]

I've done both blackouts and erythomycin treatments to get rid of bga. Erytho treatments have worked well for me. I think it could get a bit pricey to do on a 55g though.

 

[homebunnyj]

You could do the blackout. While you're doing that, you can research the causes of blue-green algae outbreaks.

Last year I brought a goldfish in from the pond -- a big one, about ten or twelve inches long -- while we were working on the pond. He had spots of algae on either side, right behind the gill plates. Turns out, he had injuries, and the algae was growing over some fungus. (An overambitious snake tried to swallow him, there were teeth marks behind his gill plates.) We pulled him out of the tank and swabbed the wounds with tincture of iodine, rubbing off the algae and fungus in the process. He healed up nicely.

I guess I thought maybe the cyanobacteria may have colonized a recent wound on your fish. I doubt the gbr would handle being held and swabbed as well as The Old Man did, but if you decided to go with the antibiotic treatment, it might be beneficial to the gbr as well, depending on whether it has an injury, and what kind of infection, and so forth.

 

[Kissyboots]

Dang! I don't want to spend more money on this thing...

What's a blackout?

Would this be an ideal time to just take the whole thing down...? I could keep the 6.6g and I'd be satisfied. Plus I'd have less work...

Edit: and I forgot to take pics, lights are off and I'm too tired...

 

[midmichman80]

I had an outbreak of bga and used the blackout mehtod for threatment. I left the lights off the tank for 7 days. I fed the fish on the regular schedule and after that week, the majority of the bga was gone. After a few days I left the lights off for another 4 days and the nasty bacteria hasn't been back yet. I slowed down on my fert dosing and haven't had a relapse. BOL Kissy on your tank.

 

[Kissyboots]

So a blackout is just keeping the lights off? Should I start that now?

 

[Lotus]

To do a blackout correctly, you should do the following:

1. Do a large (50%) water change, removing as much algae manually as you can.
2. Cover the tank with towels/blankets to block out light
3. Leave the lights off and do not feed fish for 7 days
4. After 7 days, remove the covering, do another large water change

 

[Kissyboots]

I'm not sure how much time I will have on Saturday, so I might have to do it on Friday, depends on how my mom reacts to a fish only day...

I'm worried that if I don't feed them at least every other day, that the GBRs, especially the male, will get aggressive. He's not too happy when I walk past the tank in the mornings and don't feed him right away. And then he takes it out on his female companion and the cories as well.

Also, I'm trying to decide whether I should to the blackout or just take the whole thing down now. I'd have a whole lot less stress (now that the community classes have started, English 102 and Precaclulus, eww!)

What do you guys think?

 

[Kissyboots]

So I decided to just clean up the mess and not take it down yet...

I did about a 60% w/c which included taking the fish out, scrubbing off the decor, cleaning the walls, and stirring the gravel around (not just vacuuming.) I got all of the big pieces (they tend to clump together) and almost all the small ones. I also took this opportunity to rearrange the bubbles and change the filter cartrigdes. I also managed to fix the filter problem cuz it was making a bunch of noise and both bio wheels are spinning again!

Here are some pics: I hope I did it right!

 

[Lotus]

Looks like you did a good job. I hope the blackout works. It usually does, but if it doesn't, you'll need to switch to meds.

 

[FirstTimeFreshie]

in order to properly do a black out you cant feed for 7 days? Wouldn't that kill the fish? I just started to have an algae problem myself... =(!

 

[Kissyboots]

Your fish will be fine. Mine survived! The blue-green stuff is gone but I'm getting some greenish algae (I think that's because I didn't clean for three weeks because I was sick.) You only have rasboras so it shouldn't be a problem.