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Does having Cyanobacteria but not having any Algae tell you anything?

Unfortunately a GP in England would never give me a prescription for my fish tank! I am allergic to penicillin so erythromycin is what I would get if I was ill but they still wouldn't give it to me even if I was good at faking it because I'm in my first trimester of pregnancy!
 
As far as I know, it is illegal to purchase antibiotics (for fish/animals) in the UK without a prescription from a qualified Vet. Im not sure if buying from ebay would be legal here (Uk).
 
Any ideas as to why it would be so much worse after a water change?
 
Hi all,
Crusader58 said:
As far as I know, it is illegal to purchase antibiotics (for fish/animals) in the UK without a prescription from a qualified Vet. Im not sure if buying from ebay would be legal here (Uk).
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It isn't legal in the UK. There are good reasons why antibiotics are only available via prescription <"Non-prescription antimicrobial use worldwide: a systematic review">.
AndyMcD said:
waste may be building up - my filter may be due a clean
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Chris Jackson said:
but certainly always worst in low flow debris collecting areas.
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It is strange because you have a fluidised bed filter, can you get more oxygen into the tank?

cheers Darrel.
 
Cyano is a predecessor of algae in tanks. Once it runs it's cycle, algae of some sort normally take over. In my experience it's caused by a combination of low oxygen, high organics, especially leaching from too rich substrate, and light of course. The last time I had it, it was in a tank I systematically overfed.
Although one may suffer for weeks with it, cyano eventually disappears and gets replaced by the next pest that loves similar conditions. It has the potential to destroy plants if it grows rampant....
Some do say it's due to low nitrogen as cyano can produce it's own. Worth spot dosing with powdered kno3 on top of where the cyano is. I've never really tried that method because mine was certainly not caused by low nitrate. I fed my fry high protein foods several times a day...just before a huge cyano outbreak ....If anything, excessive nitrate and phosphate look like the more logical reason to me....
 
dw1305 said:
It is strange because you have a fluidised bed filter, can you get more oxygen into the tank?
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I could lower water level and then spraybar would make the surface very agitated? At night at least otherwise I would haemorrhage co2 presumably?
 
sciencefiction said:
Cyano is a predecessor of algae in tanks. Once it runs it's cycle, algae of some sort normally take over. In my experience it's caused by a combination of low oxygen, high organics, especially leaching from too rich substrate, and light of course. The last time I had it, it was in a tank I systematically overfed.
Although one may suffer for weeks with it, cyano eventually disappears and gets replaced by the next pest that loves similar conditions. It has the potential to destroy plants if it grows rampant....
Some do say it's due to low nitrogen as cyano can produce it's own. Worth spot dosing with powdered kno3 on top of where the cyano is. I've never really tried that method because mine was certainly not caused by low nitrate. I fed my fry high protein foods several times a day...just before a huge cyano outbreak ....If anything, excessive nitrate and phosphate look like the more logical reason to me....
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This is all very interesting because I wondered if having a rich substrate and Ei certs might be over doing it. I was haphazard at dosing the ferts bc I kept forgetting and then recently I got better at it as I made more effort! Today I did notice some other algae which I haven't looked up yet. My Alternanthera Rosafolia looks unhappy but my Echinodorus looks good although the new leaves are longer than originals. There are all these different signs and I just can't read them!
 
Having a rich substrate and dosing EI is certainly overdoing it. The ferts are important along the way afterwards, so the substrate doesn't get depleted completely but at the start you certainly don't need dosing anything.
But it's the organics in the soil that are attracting cyano and not directly the levels of nitrate or phosphate Rich substrate goes through heavy organics breakdown which depletes oxygen quite fast. Cyano loves these conditions, it is a heavy oxygen producer that can exist in anaerobic conditions unlike plants and algae which don't do as well as in such environment. They need oxygen as much as they need co2.
I thought I'd quote wiki because we sometimes forget the basics...

By producing gaseous oxygen as a byproduct of photosynthesis, cyanobacteria are thought to have converted the early reducing atmosphere into an oxidizing one, causing the "rusting of the Earth"[7] and causing the Great Oxygenation Event, dramatically changing the composition of life forms on Earth by stimulating biodiversity and leading to the near-extinction of anaerobic organisms (that is, oxygen-intolerant).
 
sciencefiction said:
Having a rich substrate and dosing EI is certainly overdoing it. The ferts are important along the way afterwards, so the substrate doesn't get depleted completely but at the start you certainly don't need dosing anything.
But it's the organics in the soil that are attracting cyano and not directly the levels of nitrate or phosphate Rich substrate goes through heavy organics breakdown which depletes oxygen quite fast. Cyano loves these conditions, it is a heavy oxygen producer that can exist in anaerobic conditions unlike plants and algae which don't do as well as in such environment. They need oxygen as much as they need co2.
I thought I'd quote wiki because we sometimes forget the basics...

By producing gaseous oxygen as a byproduct of photosynthesis, cyanobacteria are thought to have converted the early reducing atmosphere into an oxidizing one, causing the "rusting of the Earth"[7] and causing the Great Oxygenation Event, dramatically changing the composition of life forms on Earth by stimulating biodiversity and leading to the near-extinction of anaerobic organisms (that is, oxygen-intolerant).
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At least I have more respect for cyanobacteria now. Do you think agitating the surface more would be good or should I pump some bubbles in there, I'm bound to have another pump somewhere. I was thinking I could top up the tank in the morning so as not to loose so much CO2, I could do this everyday until things start to calm down on the substrate front. There is a two metre spray bar in there so that should be a lot of agitation!
 
Since you are adding CO2, make sure that you have heavy surface movement at least at night when the co2 is off. The cyano phase should run it's course eventually albeit slowly sometimes. The point is to make sure nothing else comes of it. Also, the grass could be catching lots of detritus and uneaten fish food which could be contributing to the issue a lot. Do you have shrimp in that tank? Cherry shrimp will find refuge from predators in the grass and keep it quite clean from left overs.
 
I have no fish in there at the moment but eventually I was hoping to have quite a few dwarf puffers and so I would assume they would represent a very tasty meal to them?
 
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