Black Brush algae

[smiley]

Arghhhhhh....

Looks like i am doomed

My 50G tank is fast growing with brush algae and all my anubias etc are getting covered with those nasty stuff

Anyone dealt with this before ? Any safe liquids? (heard of JBL algol etc? - Do they actually work? )

I am not sure if i have a SAE (because of the varities these days)...I shall try to post pictures of the algae eaters that i have

Please help on how to get rid of this

[Krennen]

Seachem Flourish Excel is a carbon replacement and will eliminate the BBB. I used to fight it all the time in my coummunity NPT, but the Flourish eliminated the problem.

[Wahter]

Seachem Flourish Excel

http://www.seachem.com/Products/prod...rishExcel.html

Works on getting rid of the stringy green hair algae too.


Walter

[JL15219]

Yeah like the others said Excel is your best bet....I used in my tank when I had BBA and it really helped get rid of it....It works best to try to squirt some directly to the BBA it will turn pink....try to remove as many affected leaves as possible that really helps a lot.....I actually reread the post and it said it is on your anubias I dont know if you really want to remove any leaves from that since it grows so slow, but if you have it on any other try to remove the affected leaves.......anubias are really prone to get all sorts of algae since they grow very slow

[cyberhog05]

Hydrogen peroxide(h2o2)..cheap and works great. I have used it many times with excellent results. 1.5cups in my 180 gallon or during h20 changes I dump it directly on the plants that have any algae. When I get lazy and dont clean my canisters I get bba.

[Wahter]

Be careful when you use any chemical - some people have had adverse effects when using Excel - I've dosed at twice the recommended amount without any problems. Hydrogen peroxide can be dangerous if used incorrectly too.

http://forum.simplydiscus.com/showthread.php?t=76637
http://forum.simplydiscus.com/showthread.php?t=75754
http://forum.simplydiscus.com/showthread.php?t=75016
http://forum.simplydiscus.com/showthread.php?t=74138

Search through the forum's posts for more info.



Walter

[DiscusOnly]

I had this problem with my driftwood only tank. It was getting out of control and since my DW were branches, cleaning was a lot of work. I had a 13" albino pleco in there and it didn't help. I finally had it and threw in a crayfish and it only took 3 days BBA was almost completely gone.

[smiley]

crayfish in a discus tank? is it okay?

[Double Up]

I pulled all my plants and did a diluted bleach treatment i read about online which within minutes removed the bb algae. I have since been using seachem flourish excel along with regular flourish and havent had it come back(8 months)

[DiscusOnly]

crayfish in a discus tank? is it okay?

I think people are going to recommend not puttting it with discus but if you have a pretty big tank, I don't see a problem with a small crayfish. I currently have 1 that roam the floor of a 6 foot tank.

[daboo]

I would like to get back to the topic of Flourish Excel. From Seachem's description it seems to only provide intermediates of the sugar synthesis pathway. Does anyone know how this helps stop BBA and hair algae?

Is it just that if the plants thrive better they soak up all the nutrients so the algae can't grow well?

[whitedevil]

on the SAE's they are two toned, black stripe from NOSE to the V of the tail and in the tail it tapers to a point( the black lateral line). they work awesome on the hard to deal with algaes.
I keep two in every tank I got.

excel can damage some plants to nothing so becareful with that stuff, its great but vals and such cant stand it.

[Wahter]

on the SAE's they are two toned, black stripe from NOSE to the V of the tail and in the tail it tapers to a point( the black lateral line). they work awesome on the hard to deal with algaes.
I keep two in every tank I got.

I like Siamese Algae Eaters too. Most of the time, by the time they grow up, they figure out it's easier to wait for feeding to than to forage on the algae, but they still take snacks from time to time.



The youngsters are good at taking care of this:




Walter

[whitedevil]

My oldest ones are about 4" long now nickle size diameter maybe bigger, yes they do take the feeding food often but they are carp afterall and carp jsut graze constantly, my 52g had BBA and hair algae, within 3 FULL days(24hrs x3) I was down to itty bitty left overs by day 5 it was gone, I now add the hair algae from my guppy tank to their tank and they take it from hand at the surface, they see it and they rush up like my angels do for the bloodworm flat when I break it out.

They never lose their taste for the stuff though they always graze on stuff unlike other algae eating fish.

I saw one of Chris Z.s personal ones, it was freaking HUGE and still munching on algae so I hold very high hopes when it comes to these specific fish, My 1yo RNP only eats the algae wafers and kens catfish pellets.(cept when beefheart hits the bottom then its his and he makes it known to all)

[smiley]

I have got it under control now with the intro of 2 SAEs and they are having a gr8 munching tym...My wife just looked into the tank and said..did you just bleach all the plants