red algae

[ja]

I have been having a recent problem with red algae. My nitrates have always been around 20 and phosphates are 0. I only have one fish in my tank. Every 3 days I have to stir up the gravel to get rid of the red algae. Does this upset the benificial bacteria in the sand. I have never had this problem before. I only feed my fish once a day. Would getting a protein skimmer help reduce it. I have an emporer power filter and the tank is 40 gallons. Thanks

 

[lcc]

there is a medication that will kill the red slime. I forget what it is but I had the red slime in my 6 gallon tank and one little dose got rid of it. I also did a water change just before I added the medication. Does any one know the name of the med. ?

 

[b_ball12_99]

If it stirs up easily then it is cyanobacteria. Water changes can help to remove. Some hermits will also eat it. Just took time for me to get rid of it. Also lighting can be the problem.

 

[dburkinshaw]

I too had a terrible problem with red slime several months ago. You could actually pull sheets of it off of the rocks. The product I used is called "Red Slime Remover" by Ultralife. Most LFS's will carry it. One thing I was told was that using water out of the tap could also attribute to this. I now filter my water before adding it to the tank and haven't had any signs of red algea since.
Good luck.