Black beard algae

[jkratzwald]

The dreaded black beard algae has gotten into my community tank. I remember reading somewhere on here about a species of fish (maybe a member of the barb family?) that would eat the heck out of BB algae, but can't find it now.

Anyone have any suggestions or know of the fish to put in to take care of it?

Thanks in advance

[Filip]

SAE fish are said to be BBA eaters.
But they have to be young and starved to do that.

[dprais1]

flag fish

[Akili]

Dosing with Flourish Excel worked for me, recommend to start up with large Water Change and 2x amount of flourish and single dose for 7-10 days. Use of Reverse Osmosis water also cuts down all kinds of algae.

[jdhuyvetter]

Ditto on the American Flag Fish.

[woopaul5]

Have you tried a black out period? For every algae breakout I've had this cleared it up after 5 days

[jkratzwald]

Have you tried a black out period? For every algae breakout I've had this cleared it up after 5 days

Define blackout period please

[nofearengineer]

Flag fish will work, but on their schedule. A syringe of Excel works wonders.

[Filip]

Define blackout period please

Pitch dark , no lights at all (this includes the slightest daylight also) for 4 days.
I cover the whole tank with multi layer thick blankets cause my living room still has daylight in it.

[jkratzwald]

Pitch dark , no lights at all (this includes the slightest daylight also) for 4 days.
I cover the whole tank with multi layer thick blankets cause my living room still has daylight in it.

It's a planted tank, I assume that would kill the plants as well? When you do this, do you feed the fish or just let them stay dormant thinking it's just a really long night?

[Filip]

It's a planted tank, I assume that would kill the plants as well? When you do this, do you feed the fish or just let them stay dormant thinking it's just a really long night?

It will weaken the plants but will not kill them. Algae are just lower life form plants, and they will die first.
Fish stay dormant and sleep.You can observe them occasionaly through blankets.
BBA are hard algae to erradicate so they can still stay attached on plants for a couple of days more even when they are dead.

[Jack L]

i bought a SAE, hasn't touched it.

what helped me was i cut my light intensity by 50%