Cyanobacteria Infestation!!

Almost reached 100 views in a month...Sweet!

Still NO COMMENTS though... :/

***Update ***

Turns out my algae problem is actually a bacteria problem! The green-blue-red slime I found on the 10 gallon was CYANOBACTERIA, which is TERRIBLE NEWS. I researched a bunch on this so called "algae", which is really a type of micro-organism that feeds off excess nutrients, lights and waste in the fish tank. Some quick info based on what I read...

CYANOBACTERIA

- will reproduce rapidly and infect the entire tank within days.
- can thrive in almost any type of conditions, usually brought on by poor water conditions
- appears as large smears/sheets of green/blue/or spots of red spots
- apparently smells terrible, but my tank still smells okay ...FOR NOW!
- can make fish sluggish and unwell (no wonder my Betta seems so incredibly lazy)


My Options..

- Black-out the tank to prevent photosynthesis
- Antibiotic treatment - Erythromycin aka Maracyn for a week
- LOTS of water changes + daily scrubbing + less feeding
- Tear down the tank, bleach EVERYTHING and start over

BUT

Based on reading forums, though many people suggest dosing Maracyn for a week, there are many drawbacks (I'm not sure if there's any truth to this advice?!! Which makes everything all the more frustrating):

- destroying the beneficial bacteria?!
- harmful to fish!?
- may end up creating super-bacteria that's resistant to antibiotics
- leaves fish susceptible to medicine-resistant bacteria.....TB?!
- doesn't always work


Infinitely discouraged, I just sat there staring at my poor Betta. Then, a drastic idea struck me: what if I just chucked away this infected 10 gallon tank and relocated my Betta into my 29 gallon tank.

It's quite risky, but that's indeed what I JUST DID. OMG.

I'm still not really sure if that was the right thing to do...now my Betta is in my 29 gallon tank with: a dwarf honey gourami (yikes!), 6 fancy guppies, 2 mickey platies, 6 cories and 5 ghost shrimp.

There's so many things that could go wrong:

- Betta might attack other fish, especially the bright red tails of fancy guppies
- Guppies and platy might nip betta's long fins
- Gourami and Betta are from the same group of Labyrinth fish, and should never be kept together....?!


My Betta has been braving the new environment for 1.5 hours now. So far...

- He tried biting my fire gourami so I put the fire gourami in the 10 gallon tank.
- He flared furiously and chased at the gold honey gourami, but I'm guessing since that one's always been SUPER docile and shy, she always avoids confrontation and just swims away.
- One of the platy tried biting him...but he swam away.
- He's stolen pretty much all the food I put in for the cories (as usual)
- He's no longer flaring at the guppies or platies.


Dare I leave him in the 29 gallon overnight?


If he ends up getting along with the 29 gallon inhabitants, life would be perfect. I would only tend to one tank FOR NOW, and I could just get rid of that stupid cyano-infected 10 gallon tank. Yeah, I think I'll leave my betta in there overnight....if all goes well (crossed fingers), then...great!