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Retirement and forum shutdown (17 Jan 2022)

Hi,

John Howell who has managed the forum for years is getting on and wishes to retire from the role of managing it.
Over the years, he has managed the forum through good days and bad days and he has always been fair.
He has managed to bring his passion for fish keeping to the forum and keep it going for so long.

I wish to thank John for his hard work in keeping the forum going.

With John wishing to "retire" from the role of managing the forum and the forum receiving very little traffic, I think we must agree that forum has come to a natural conclusion and it's time to put it to rest.

I am proposing that the forum be made read-only from March 2022 onwards and that no new users or content be created. The website is still registered for several more years, so the content will still be accessible but no new topics or replies will be allowed.

If there is interest from the ITFS or other fish keeping clubs, we may redirect traffic to them or to a Facebook group but will not actively manage it.

I'd like to thank everyone over the years who helped with forum, posted a reply, started a new topic, ask a question and helped a newbie in fish keeping. And thank you to the sponsors who helped us along the away. Hopefully it made the hobby stronger.

I'd especially like to thank John Howell and Valerie Rousseau for all of their contributions, without them the forum would have never been has successful.

Thank you
Darragh Sherwin

purple algae? good or bad in a tank?

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31 Jan 2011 17:56 #1 by lesleyanndunn (lesley dunn)
is purple algae good or bad in a freshwater tank?
i dont have loads of it, but its on my background, the ornaments and leaves of the plants
its not slimy, but like a velvet covering?

anyone know what causes it?

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31 Jan 2011 18:15 - 31 Jan 2011 18:29 #2 by stretnik (stretnik)
Replied by stretnik (stretnik) on topic Re: purple algae? good or bad in a tank?
I can't help other than to tell you it isn't Algae, it's most likely cyanobacter bacteria.

Ok, Sorry, major rethink, it does look like it could be BB algae, Brush Algae etc, if so, it isn't bad or dangerous, I have used Protalon from eSHa labs and it worked a treat, you need to make sure Nitrates are at the best possible levels and this can be done by proper Water changes, only feeding when hungry etc.

Some people try to remove it by scraping etc but I found it damages leaves etc. Some suggest spot treatment with Flourish Excel, not me, you have to turn off Filtration or remove plants from a Tank and I find that a pain. Protalon goes directly into the water and works well.

Protalon won't be suitable however if you have inverts in the Tank as A , the Plants absorb it and algae eaters consume it. nad B, Shrimp don't like copper which it contains.


Kev.
Last edit: 31 Jan 2011 18:29 by stretnik (stretnik).

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31 Jan 2011 18:29 - 31 Jan 2011 18:32 #3 by des (des)
Last edit: 31 Jan 2011 18:32 by des (des).

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31 Jan 2011 18:37 - 31 Jan 2011 18:53 #4 by lesleyanndunn (lesley dunn)
it would remind me of a moss type stuff
doesnt look like cyano at all.
its very slow growing.
i cant have any algae eaters in my tank.
my fahaka would eat em like a shot :P

heres a few pics of it:



Last edit: 31 Jan 2011 18:53 by lesleyanndunn (lesley dunn).

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31 Jan 2011 18:59 #5 by stretnik (stretnik)
Replied by stretnik (stretnik) on topic Re: purple algae? good or bad in a tank?
No, definitely Beard Algae.

Kev.

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31 Jan 2011 20:10 #6 by lesleyanndunn (lesley dunn)
any ideas on how to get rid of it safely without adding chemicals?
would large waterchanges and cleaning it off work?
or will wiping it off spread it?
should i put remove the leafs that its on?

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31 Jan 2011 21:17 #7 by stretnik (stretnik)
Replied by stretnik (stretnik) on topic Re: purple algae? good or bad in a tank?
If you want to go down the organic route you must keep up the water changes, watch the feeds aren't going uneaten and you can try to find some true SAE they are reputed to enjoy eating it. It usually appears on long lived leaves like Anubias or Java Fern etc. Flourish excel is organic and if u google using it to kill Algae you will see how it's done. You CANNOT scrape it successfully you'll end up destroying the leaves. It won't spread that way either, it is spread via Spores.


Kev

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31 Jan 2011 21:42 #8 by lesleyanndunn (lesley dunn)
so if i use a brush to remove it from my background
will that release spores into the water and create more algae?:blink:

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31 Jan 2011 21:53 #9 by stretnik (stretnik)
Replied by stretnik (stretnik) on topic Re: purple algae? good or bad in a tank?
Depends upon the reproductive stage the Algae is at and if your Water is clean, you can try the trick of leaving the Tank in reduced light to help to kill it off.

Here is a wonderful treatise on the subject.

www.skepticalaquarist.com/docs/algae/tonealg.shtml

Kev.

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