These “algae” can be a terror to the hobbyists. In this article, we will help you how to remove cyanobacteria from your fish tank.
It may appear that your fish are redecorating the aquarium, covering it with fine sheets green algae on each surface and even on the fish tank glass. You have tried all possible treatments to eliminate them, but you have failed them all. So what is this threat and, more importantly, how to get rid of them?
Understanding The Cyanobacteria Threat
Cyanobacteria are commonly called blue-green algae in freshwater tanks or red-purple algae in marine fish tanks. Cyanobacteria is one of the oldest living beings on the planet, with fossils dated 3.5 billion years ago, in the Western Australia.
This is a resilient way of life, but why was it so successful? Simple, it makes use of the light waves that are discarded by plant life, lives in a wide range of temperatures and subsists on organic waste materials, including dissolved phosphates and nitrates.
What Do All These Things Have In Common?
The cyanobacterias are available in the built environment at home in fish tanks. Although not dangerous to the inhabitants, cyanobacteria can become an unpleasant mess that can cover all surfaces of an aquarium in a matter of days.
One of the first questions aquarists ask when faced with an outbreak of cyanobacteria is, where did it come from?
Unfortunately, there is no way to be sure. These bacteria can lie dormant for thousands of years until the right conditions arise and then flourish.
So the initial colony could have hitched a ride on anything that wasn’t completely disinfected before entering the aquarium. This includes ornaments, substrate, live plants, corals and even fish water. The truth is, where it really came from is not the problem, but why it has proliferated.
There is often no single cause that causes cyanobacteria to flourish. It is more likely that there is a combination of inadequate lighting, an abundance of freely available nutrients and a stagnant low-oxygen environment that accelerates bacterial growth.
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Fish tanks that exhibit this red sludge, or blue-veined algae, generally have good water quality (low Ammonia levels, nitrite and nitrate) and, on the other hand, are not remarkable. Purchasing a cleaning crew in a marine aquarium can help reduce sludge. In fact, it only addresses the symptom of the problem and not the cause.
The Scarlet Reef Hermit Crab is the best option for this process. It will promptly devour any red algae in the aquarium. Unfortunately, there are no freshwater fish that graze on these “algae” and control additives do not alleviate the situation.
In a freshwater aquarium, it is possible to remove cyanobacteria it by hand. But it takes a significant amount of time and effort. There is, however, a procedure that can eliminate these bacteria from your aquarium, whether marine or freshwater, in less than a week.
The method for completely removing cyanobacteria involves a multifaceted approach. Also includes limiting or changing the lighting, modifying the fish’s feeding schedule. Also includes physically removing it with a cleaner, reducing the fish tank temperature and additional aeration.
Although these conditions somehow eliminate cyanobacteria, there will still be tiny bags that will survive, they will be so tiny that they won’t be visible to the naked eye.
Aquarium Lighting
The photosynthetic nature of the bacteria means that it can produce its own nutrients and use the aquarium’s light energy to help convert organic waste into a usable form of food.
Cyanobacteria use wavelengths of light that are not used by higher-order plants. This means that the aquarium lighting is the starting point of attack to remove these pests. Reducing or eliminating the wavelengths they use will drastically reduce their ability to feed and spread.
If your aquarium lighting is more than a year old, it probably will not emit light at the same wavelength that was at the beginning of its life. As the lamp ages, it emits less powerful light, one of shorter wavelength.
This is a common problem that most aquarists are unaware of. Replacing the lamps in their current configuration with balanced lamps (6,400K to 14,000K) or 50,000K actinic lamps will immediately reduce the amount of light usable for weed bacteria.
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Using an ultraviolet sterilizer to kill floating cyanobacteria, and replacing the lamps every 9 to 12 months will help to prevent the occurrence of these “algae”.
Reducing Nutrient Availability
Changing the aquarium lighting is just the first step to remove cyanobacteria from your fish tank. Reducing the free nutrients available to the colony will immediately reduce its ability to spread.
The main source of food for cyanobacteria is the organic compounds dissolved in the fish tank water, which consist of phosphates (PO4) and Nitrate (NO3).
An overabundance of these materials is usually identified by overfeeding or failure to remove dead plants from the fish tank. It is also possible that phosphates have entered the aquarium environment through mixtures of sea salt and activated carbon filters.
To eliminate dissolved organic compounds, the first step is to perform a water change of about 30%. Follow this process by also creating a more elaborate fish feeding schedule, that is, reducing to avoid the accumulation of organic matter in the water.
Feed your fish about a third of the normal amount. This will be enough to keep the fish happy without any leftovers for the bacteria to feast on.
In fact,10% water changes can be made every other day for the rest of the week to bring the amount of NO4 and NO3 to acceptable levels. Once the aquarium is back to normal, feeding times should be adjusted to reduce the amount of waste food decomposition.
Removing Cyanobacterias And Oxygenating The Fish Tank
After changing the lighting and reducing nutrients, the bacterial blooms will start to collapse.
Removing large clusters of cyanobacteria by hand with a small mesh will significantly reduce the pressure on the filtration system and prevent clogging in your fish tank.
Sterilize the net in a bleach solution (15% to 25%) after procedure completed. So, you don’t accidentally reintroduce cyanobacteria into your aquarium in the future. It is advisable to clean the substrate with a gravel cleaner to remove pockets of cyanobacteria that may be hidden just below the surface.
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Adding or increasing the amount of aeration in the aquarium will remove large clusters and cyanobacteria leaves.
Cyanobacteria thrive in relatively quiet and poorly oxygenated waters. Adding an aerator will remove stagnant areas in the aquarium and prevent cyanobacteria from proliferating.
Lowering the aquarium temperature to 24°C degree will also slow down your growth and will help you to remove cyanobacteria from the fish tank. This is not advisable if you have a marine fish tank. As sudden changes in temperature in a marine environment can cause unnecessary stress on fish and corals in the environment.
Post-Bacterial Environment
Using an adequate lighting system, reduced feeding, manual cleaning, water changes and fish tank aeration, your problem with cyanobacteria should be over in a week.
There are a few things to note in this post-cyanobacterial environment. The bacteria were consuming nitrates while in the aquarium. So with removal, there may be an increase in the levels of this compound, while beneficial bacteria work to replace cyanobacteria in the ecosystem.
If you have followed the water change schedule, nitrate levels will be minimal. You may need to do a 10% water change every other day for up to two weeks to bring the nitrate level back to a safe range below 10ppm.
Why Do Not Have An Antibiotic Or Chemical Treatment?
This is a very common question: “Why not use an antibiotic like Erythromycin or some other chemical treatment to clean the bacteria?” Although there are several treatments, they all have the same devastating effects.
First, an antibiotic will not only destroy cyanobacteria but also nitrifying bacteria in the aquarium. This will “reset” your fish tank, that is, it will return to the same configuration as the first day of assembly and will result in peaks of ammonia, nitrite and nitrate.
Second, chemical treatments seem to work in a few moments in the aquarium. However, that is a cost, the dissolved bacteria can turn into poisonous materials for the fish in the aquarium.
This can lead to a massive death of fish and renew the ideal conditions for another bloom of cyanobacteria. I advise that it is best to avoid any of these options however tempting it may seem.
How did you remove cyanobacteria from your fish tank them? What were your experiences? Take advantage of the space below to tell us a little about your experience!
