# Blackout



## Hawkian (Oct 29, 2009)

Some of you may remember the headaches I have been having with cyanobacteria (a.k.a. BGA) in my 32g (http://www.tropicalfishkeeping.com/aquarium-plants/flourish-excel-34332/). I have been waiting for the appropriate time to do a total 3 day blackout of my tank to try and get rid of it... and today is it! This thread may come in handy for others who may have to go down that route eventually so here's a day-by-day account of the event...

*Day 1:*

My tank is in a very day corner of the house and if I don't turn the lights on, it will remain in total darkness all day long. Problem is, it is in y office and I work from home... so I need some light for myself. This morning I opened the door to my office and turned off the switch to the tank lights before the timer turned them on automatically. I then threw a think blanket over the tank and strapped in with a moving strap. It's weird to look at the tank with a blanket over it and something that almost looks like a chain and lock over it... I fed the fishies twice yesterday: at this rate they are not going to get any food until Thursday morning.

The hardest part is not to peek...


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## bettababy (Oct 12, 2006)

I just wanted to mention that if cyanobacteria is what you are really dealing with, the blackout method may not work so well. The reason for this is because cyanobacteria feeds primarily from organic matter found in the tank. If the level of organics is not relieved, the cyanobacteria will likely come back or not die out at all during the period of blackout. 
Blackouts tend to work only for those tanks who's issue is caused by a photosynthetic species of algae, which true cyanobacteria is not... it is a bacteria just as the name implies.

Good Luck with your tank.


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## bearwithfish (Sep 29, 2009)

hope all goes well my friend keep us posted.....


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## Angel079 (Feb 14, 2007)

Apart from what we already discussed via PM; I just wanted to add...

I had cyanobacteri, actually a very nasty wide spread case and a 3 day black out followed by a gravel vac (cause it all turned into what looked like dust bunnies) cleared mine for good and been gone ever since then.


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## iamntbatman (Jan 3, 2008)

bettababy said:


> The reason for this is because cyanobacteria feeds primarily from organic matter found in the tank...Blackouts tend to work only for those tanks who's issue is caused by a photosynthetic species of algae, which true cyanobacteria is not... it is a bacteria just as the name implies.


Cyanobacteria are photosynthetic.

Life History and Ecology of Cyanobacteria

Heterocystic cyanobacteria cells can metabolize nitrogen but only under anoxic conditions (i.e. ones that wouldn't occur on the surfaces inside your fish tank, where the cyanobacteria in question are growing). Depending on the species, the cyanobacteria that commonly grows in our tanks may not even be able to grow heterocysts and may exist entirely in an aerobic, photosynthetic state.


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## Hawkian (Oct 29, 2009)

*Day 2:*

Well I'm afraid I didn't really think about my stuff before I started this thread: I wanted to share the experience with everyone so that if anyone ever needed to perform a blackout then this info may be readily available. And this will still work... but here I am on day 2 and really... the tank's been in a blackout for 24 hours! Tada! :roll: 

I can't see the tank, I can't see the fish, I can't see the plants, I can't see anything! I have to put my ear to the blanket to figure out if the filter is still going! And it's not even really a nice blanket to look at. I'm dying to take a peek...

My issues with Cyanobacteria (a.k.a. BGA):
I am hearing a great many things about Cyanobacteria. How to prevent it, how to remove it, etc. Everything I read has a different suggestion to try to get rid of it. And very few of the stories I read actually are backed up with a successful outcome. There's a lot of _"this is what you should do"_ and very little of _"this is what worked"_. The truth of the matter is I have been somewhat successful in controlling my Cyanobacteria problem by manually removing it from the surfaces where it lived but no matter what I do, it simply keeps coming back. I want to get rid of it for good, and I want to do it without using chems. Hence the blackout...

So I wait...


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## dramaqueen (Jul 7, 2008)

I hope everything works out well for you. Good luck!


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## Byron (Mar 7, 2009)

You asked for those with experience at what works to comment, so here you are.

I have seen cyanobacteria rarely over 20 years, usually as a single strand or two on a floating plant, and once removed that's it. But last autumn I suddenly had a major infestation in my 70g SE Asian aquarium, which I have (apparently) eliminated.

It appeared on the floating plants, and covered the surface within a few days. During the weekly pwc I removed as much as I could with my fingers. Within 2-3 days I could clearly see it returning, and the following week it was a thick as before. Same treatment. I also stopped liquid fertilizer for 2 weeks. I made no change to the lights. After about 2 months of this, I had removed it one week as usual, and by the following week none had re-appeared. Two weeks later, I saw a very small patch on one floating plant, removed it, and now 3 weeks later still no sign of it.

Karen Randall (I think it was) once wrote that it seems to occur more in tanks with Cryptocoryne plants; I have a small group in this tank. I also knew from the time I set this tank up in early August last year (2009) that it was not biologically balanced. I planted the tank full of Hygrophila difformis (30 stems), 3 Aponogeton, the crypts from an existing tank, and floating Ceratopteris. Temperature is warmer than my other tanks, around 80F, due to the Chocolate gourami [two species, which regularly spawn by the way] and pygmy sparkling gourami. I am waiting to get some red tiger lotus and will then properly aquascape this tank, so fast-growing stem plants were pushed in and left. Twice weekly liquid fertilizer was added, and of course the regular weekly pwc of 50-60%.

Cyanobacteria, unlike most bacteria, photosynthesize like all plants (which includes algae), and thus it requires light. It also has the unique ability (not shared by any plants) of assimilating nitrogen in its pure form; plants must assimilate nitrogen as ammonium or nitrate. Cyanobacteria therefore requires nutrients in the presence of light.

Many methods to eradicate cyanobacteria have been suggested, and all of them seem to work at least in some cases. Increasing nutrients is one, and at first this seems incongruous; but in planted aquaria it has been shown that the plants will use the nutrients and the cyanobacteria will diminish. It may be no coincidence that my cyanobacteria died off when I increased the liquid fertilization; I had ceased this, but the week prior to the first sign of no cyanobacteria, I began using liquid fertilizer once after the pwc.

Blackouts have also been recommended, but these must be carefully monitored. *The dying bacteria will pollute the tank.* And if the infestation is heavy and it suddenly dies off, the effect could be catastrophic. Other bacteria will multiply, oxygen is rapidly used, plants die off and fish are harmed or worse. Rhonda Wilson, noted plant authority and regular columnist for TFH, recommends *daily* significant partial water changes during blackouts, with thorough vacuuming of the substrate to remove the dead bacteria. Ensure there is adequate filtration. Many aquarists report that the cyanobacteria returns after the blackout treatment. I suspect this is in line with Dawn's comments, with which I completely agree, that organics are the issue. I mentioned above the unsettled biological equilibrium in my 70g.

Paul Krombholz of Tougaloo College in Mississippi has written of specific aquatic plants that secrete chemicals that will inhibit cyanobacteria and certain algae, and Diana Walstad has written the same. This is called allelopathy, but that is a whole new topic.

Byron.


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## bettababy (Oct 12, 2006)

I can offer you "this is what worked for me" stories if that is what you desire, but in each situation it was organic based. It was always a matter of removing the excess organics that the bacteria were feeding on. 

Probably my biggest challenge in battling cyanobacteria was in my dwarf puffer tank. The cause was the food, which as you can imagine, was difficult to control. These puffers ate only live snails. After studying their eating habits endlessly, spending hours watching them eat every night, I figured it out. What turned out to be happening was the way they ate the snails was to take a bite or 2 out of the foot of the snail and then move on. This, of course, was usually enough to kill the snail, but the snail pulled up into the shell where the fish couldn't reach it anymore... thus it died and all of that organic pollution was in the tank. 

Because these fish ate almost constantly with their foraging all day and night, and because they were getting so little actual food content from so many snails... I proceeded to deshell the snails. The fish refused to eat a dead snail, so I spent weeks learning to cut enough of the shell away to allow the fish full access to the snail body without killing the snail. Upon doing this the puffers were able to consume the entire snail, which limited the amount of organic waste in the tank. Within about 10 days the cyano bloom was gone and never came back. There was no black out, no extra water changes. Basically, I starved the cyano from its food supply.

Thus I stand on my statement of finding the cause of the bloom, because if you don't find what is causing it, it is surely going to return.

When battling bad cyano blooms in saltwater tanks it is always the same solution that works for me. Using airline tubing I vac the rock to remove the silt buildup in the pockets of the rock, thus freeing any organic build up trapped within and under the silt. The results are always the same... if the silt is kept under control the cyano does not return. No black outs have ever been needed (or worked) for me when battling that stuff... it was simply a matter of figuring out what is feeding it and eliminating its food source.

I hope this was more helpful to you.


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## Angel079 (Feb 14, 2007)

:lol: you know my story in detail already so I won't repeat....I'm proud of you thou you managed 24hrs already without opening it up and checking everything :-D


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## stephanieleah (Oct 31, 2009)

is shining a flashlight in there cheating? 

for the record, i've shined a flashlight into my tank once or twice to check on some fish that i thought might have NTD (this was a while back) and I'm always amazed at what happens at night. Baby shrimp all over the place, pleco going crazy, my yo-yo loaches sleeping in weird places). even my pond goes crazy at night, but i can only see it at night under the flashlight.

pardon the digression...it's a bad habit of mine.


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## Hawkian (Oct 29, 2009)

*Day 3:*

Beginning of day 3: the last day of the treatment. Every time I think of fish - which is pretty much all the time - I want to remove the blanket and declare the blacout over. I did take a very quick peek last night in a dark room... not long enough to be able to see any fish swimming, but long enough to glimpse a few plant stems. So as of 9 PM last night, some plants were still reaching for the surface, which is a good thing.

Thanks for sharing your experiences guys. This is helping much!

Unless I crack down today, the next post should be following the "lifting of the curtain" tomorrow...


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## LisaC144 (Oct 22, 2009)

No cracking down!! Give it one more day before "the big show". It might just pay off. Good luck!!


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## stephanieleah (Oct 31, 2009)

Hawkian said:


> *Day 3:*
> 
> Beginning of day 3: the last day of the treatment. Every time I think of fish - which is pretty much all the time - I want to remove the blanket and declare the blacout over. .


good to know...now I know that if I have to do a blackout, I'll take a video of my fish first so I can see them when I get the, um, craving.


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## Angel079 (Feb 14, 2007)

When you "lift the curtains" tomorrow....Plan in some time as well do to a good gravel vac / water exchange too then. See what it'll look like then, like I said mine turned into what looked almost like lil gray dust bunnies.


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## Hawkian (Oct 29, 2009)

*Lifting the Curtain!*

Well there it is. Blackout over.

I was anxious and apprehensive to remove the blanket this morning... what would I find? I removed the thick blanket about 20 minutes before the lights come on in the tank and I could see some fish "sleeping" in there. And then the light came on...

All fish have survived the blackout! YAY! Furthermore, none of them seemed any worse than before the blackout! Guess they just felt like they had a very ling night. 

Second, when the lights first came on, I realized that I have more snails in my tank than I believed :-D ... but not so much that they would be a nuisance.​
I proceeded to a 50% wc and thorough gravel vac. Gray dust bunnies is a very good description indeed! All plants survived surprisingly well except for one of my _hygrophilas_... which didn't look so hot before the blackout anyway. Well I should qualify that: it survived ok but I have trimmed it down to the gravel b/c it had lost most of it's leaves even before the blackout. All other plants survived. The _cryptocoryne _seemed to have "bunched up" in the middle and were reaching for the surface instead of spreading out, and the _bacopa caroliania_ was slightly droopy but nothing more. Some light will do them some good today and I will "feed" them some CO2 tomorrow... that should help!

Fish were fed immediately after the wc and let me just say this: the critters are extremely active this morning! I obviously cannot tell if there is any _cyanobacteria _left in the tank and I imagine that I will not be able to tell for another few weeks. I am also leaving on vacation for a week starting tomorrow but I will post again when I get back to let everyone know "what the..." happened.

That's it! There was a lot of needless worrying on my part about doing a blackout it seems... and I am certainly not ever going to feel apprehensive about doing one again if I need to!


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## Angel079 (Feb 14, 2007)

Hey that sounds totally AWESOMEEEEE to me.
The Hygro's will grow back quick if you had already trimmed them, they'll pop back up quick; and as you suspected that's not really related to the blackout but simply due to the plant not doing well before already; this may well give it a new boost now. Like my dwarf baby tears...they weren't dieing but they also weren't doing much of nothing really and after the blackout BOOM they exploded growing like nuts - What triggered it is behind my understanding but I am sure glad for whatever it was lol

CO2 if you're using Excel, gotta be dosed daily to be most effective, keep that in mind.

So did all of what was covered green spots before turn into these dust bunnies for you too? 
Like I had told you in one of the PMs that's what happened to me and after I vacuumed these up its been gone for good since - So I hope the same will happen for you 
I TOLD YOU not to worry LOL


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## iamntbatman (Jan 3, 2008)

Glad to hear it was a success! Keep us updated as to whether or not the bacteria return.


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## Hawkian (Oct 29, 2009)

Uummm... been out of town a lot lately so not only have I not had as much time to be on this forum as I would like, I also did not have as much time to monitor the fish as much as I normally do. 

I am reviving this old thread b/c in the end, while it seemed to have worked fairly well, the BGA did come back and I am now back at square one :-( . This is frustrating me to no end. But I didn't want to do another blackout to try to get rid of it this time so I went another route. Here it is:

I removed all decor and plants from the substrate so that the tank bottom only had substrate on it. I scooped up the affected areas of the gravel - about half of it - into a large pot, and boiled it for 15 minutes to kill the BGA.

I soaked all plants, most of which were affected by BGA, into a sloution of 50% water and 50% hydrogen peroxyde for about 2 hours. Other plants that were badly attacked by the BGA were soaked in the solution overnight. I also took the time to trim all plant leaves that were dead or too badly affected and removed them altogether.

Since my BGA problem is concentrated on the gravel directly underneath the filter water flow, I added an air stone under the gravel in that area to attempt to create better aeration which is supposed to be a good thing to control BGA.

There are currently 2 downsides to the changes:
1) All the plants have been trimmed to the top of the tank looks somewhat bare. The plants will grow back so I am not overly concerned here;
2) The air pump (Hagen Elite 802) is an old pump my dad used to filter his home made wine... it still works but it's a bit noisy... I'll try to see if I can find a quieter one somewhere but for now it's doing the job just fine.



The nitrites have spiked a little since the cleanup and the change but I was careful not to do a filter cleanup at the same time so it is almost negligible. The tank looks cleaner than it has in months and the fish seems to like the new bubbles. Water circulation is about 200% better than it used to be so I can't wait to see what results I'll get from this.


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## Angel079 (Feb 14, 2007)

Oh man that's a bad update right there. Not to offend but after the initial blackout when it was gone - What kinda maintenance schedule did you run on that tank? And what were your lights set to run each day?


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## Hawkian (Oct 29, 2009)

Well.. clearly the maintenance on the tank was down a bit (about 40% wc every 10 days) since I was out of town so much but whether the BGA survived the blackout or took off again is unclear... the tank was fine for a good full month after the blackout so I'm guessing this is a new instance of it which tells me that there has to be an unbalance in the tank's ecosystem somwhow. I'm hoping that the new "drastic" measures and an added vigilance will kill it for good.

I've also lost 2 fish in the process including my newest oto cat addition which sorta ticked me off...


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## Byron (Mar 7, 2009)

As I suggested previously, cyanobacteria is organics-related. Failing to do necessary maintenance (not blaming you, life often impedes what we'd like to do with hobbies) particularly after a bad bout of it is almost guaranteed to bring it back. Light is a part of the equation but not the sole part.

I only see this in my 70g, and I see a tiny strand every week which I remove during the pwc and maintenance. I don't really know why it seems to favour certain tanks and not others, I never get it in my Amazonian aquascapes, only the SE Asian, but I am convinced it occurs from organics. The light blackout can be expected to have an impact since light is necessary for green plants and this stuff, but deal with the biological issues in the tank regularly and it will not be a problem.


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## Angel079 (Feb 14, 2007)

40% every 10 days shouldn't be no issue thou I do a 30% w/c every 2nd week on my 55g and have no issue. Something is out of balance there to make it regrow like it did. Do you by any chance have NO's / Ammonia readings from after the black out vs. now? Cause that could be a issue right there and saying the Oto passed is the more reason to check there cause they're quite sensitive fish on NO's.
Also real carefully evaluate your feeding schedule; maybe go for 2x week no food at all to lessen this some.

The amount fish (co2) is not an issues in itself. This gotta be balanced with your lights which if I recall correctly it was in your case. These 2 then gotta be well balanced with the nutrition for your plants - Which brings the next question how's your plant growth? Here's 2 picture diary's of my tanks where you can see the growth development by dates http://www.tropicalfishkeeping.com/freshwater-fish-pictures-videos/picture-diary-55g-39001/
http://www.tropicalfishkeeping.com/freshwater-fish-pictures-videos/picture-diary-45g-39002/
That should help you some to see how well or not your plants grow.


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