Brush algae..aaahhhhh

[dean_alicia]

hello All,

i am starting to get quite a bit of Brush Algae in my planted tank.
what is the easiest way to get ride of this as some of my plants leaves are looking brittle.
i have 4 4cm brislenose catfish 2 angle fish, 2 sword tails and guppies.
will the bristles eat the algea in time?
i have been using algaefix but it dosnt look like its making a differance...

[mr_walker]

I'm only new to the hobby, and am facing down a brush algae infestation as well. It's currently confined mostly to my piece of driftwood.

I put a couple of Siamese Algae Eaters (Crossocheilus siamensis (http://www.aquahobby.com/gallery/e_sae.php)) in the tank, because they are the only fish that are supposed to eat it. So far they haven't touched the stuff, but there's only two of them in a 250+ litre tank, and there's other algae they probably prefer first. I have BN's as well, but they only seem to eat surface algae, not brush algae.

A few people are talking about how a overdose of Seachem Flourish Excel can knock it out, but at the risk of losing some plants and fish - look it up on google. The real question is why is it there in the first place? In my case, I'm guessing I had the light on too long, and probably a high level of nutrients from slightly overfeeding my fish?

[cichlidboy]

gouramis are said to pick off hair algae.
but, hair algae is one of the most feared as both of your probably know already...
best way to do it, treat your tank with some mild algaecide, or use phosban or some sort of phosphate remover. Also, try and remove as much wastes as possible.

[wombat1100]

I got rid of mine with a few Algae eating Glass shrimp, they devoured it in a few weeks , i got about 50 of the little suckers, now i have only a few left as they are small and tasty I'm sure!!

[mr_walker]

I got rid of mine with a few Algae eating Glass shrimp, they devoured it in a few weeks , i got about 50 of the little suckers, now i have only a few left as they are small and tasty I'm sure!!

I was thinking of getting some glass shrimp to help break down the plant detritus gathering in my thick patches of val ... but I figured they'd probably become food for the 3 angels in my tank. Would 5-6cm angels be able to eat them?

[Woodsy]

From my experience, brush/black beard/black hair algae results from an inbalance of nitrogen to carbon (and often phosphates play a role). If you have CO2, turn it up, and improving your carbonate alkalinity will help also. My experience with using Excel for this purpose varies. Phosphates tend to inhibit success, and will tend to cause crypt melt (and sometimes fish death).
The method I have found effective 100% of the time however, is to wrap the tank with a tarp or similar, and leave it in darkness for approximately 7 days. It is important to monitor water quality every day in case of nitrogen spikes, and do a large (at least 50%) water change at the end of this. This method works well for cyanobacteria as well ;)

[johnny5]

you may find it will link up with my post no oxegen = phosphate

[mr_walker]

From my experience, brush/black beard/black hair algae results from an inbalance of nitrogen to carbon (and often phosphates play a role). If you have CO2, turn it up, and improving your carbonate alkalinity will help also. My experience with using Excel for this purpose varies. Phosphates tend to inhibit success, and will tend to cause crypt melt (and sometimes fish death).
The method I have found effective 100% of the time however, is to wrap the tank with a tarp or similar, and leave it in darkness for approximately 7 days. It is important to monitor water quality every day in case of nitrogen spikes, and do a large (at least 50%) water change at the end of this. This method works well for cyanobacteria as well ;)

That might explain the presence of BBA in my tank - I let my KH get very low (< 1dKH). Now I'm trying to maintain it at 3-4 dKH. Since I've kept it a bit higher, the BBA doesn't seem to be spreading (but it is also not going away).

What would happen to the fish if they were kept in total darkness for a week?

[cichlidboy]

your fish will be fine.
the plants, not so fine.

[Woodsy]

The plants will be fine, that is just a myth.

[johnny5]

wall the kh has phosphate and lots of it
i have started using seachem kh and it has no phosphate

[dean_alicia]

algae problem is all gone and has been gone for a while now.. used flourish excell. cleared it up real good..

[_PhanToM_]

In my old4 ft tank I had a large drift wood set in the middle and the BBA seemed to me like they were growing from the drift wood.
I’ve tried using Excel Flourish and killed more plants than BBA. Also added DIY Co2 system for 7 days, while the tank was in a “black out” state. This caused some plants to turn yellow .
In the end I removed the drift wood and soaked it in bleach (5% bleach, 95% water) and that seemed to have taken care of the BBA on the wood. As for the drift wood, it is still sitting outside; I am not sure if I should add it into the tank or not because the color just doesn’t seem too good.
After trying ever method I could find online, I sat down and trimmed/scraped the BBA off all my plants, losing close to 50% of plant life. Problem solved.
I know most people would disagree with my way of treating this issue, but it worked!

[mr_walker]

Yeah - mine's also growing all over my driftwood, but not so much on my plants (which is a good thing). I don't think it came from the driftwood - I just think that's where the spores tend to stick and grow well. I think I've got it in check, because it's not spreading, and every second day when I dose my tank with 5ml Excel I just squirt it directly onto a patch of BBA with a syringe. 3-5 days later that patch is gone. It's taking me a while, but getting there slowly.

[_PhanToM_]

It's good to hear that it is working out for you.
While I was using Excel I didn't spray it on the BBA area. I dose the entire tank :P

From memory, I think it was something like 5ml per 20 lt.

If I get a regrowth I will try it with Excel again,

Thank you Mr Walker.

[mr_walker]

I'm using 5ml per 275 litres, and every second day. That's approximately the recommended dosage (I think it's meant to be 1ml per 10 gallons). I've read that tripling the dosage rate can sort out all the BBA in the tank, but possibly at a cost in sensitive plants and fish... so I haven't been game to try it, and have relied on direct application instead.

It's slow going though, and I'm thinking about taking my monstrous piece of driftwood out and bleaching it outside the tank with peroxide.

[_PhanToM_]

Once you’ve bleached it.. can the wood be used again? I am worried that it might harm my fish,
I used a little more bleach than 5&#37; as recommended on many sites.

[Woodsy]

If you're worried, just soak the bleach in pure water for twice the recommended period, out in the sun.

[joz]

I've also decided top treat my tank with Flourish Excel and hit it at the 5ml/20litres dose.

Its now been in since Friday.

This morning the all the fish were gasping near the surface???

Did a small water change, now they seem fine agin.



Will re-treat next weekend again,then will report back.

[joz]

The algae is starting to turn redish brown now,will be interesting what happens next.

The fish were all at the surface again this morning,wondering whats going on after a night with the lights out??
Perhaps something similar to to much CO2 in the tank overnight without the lights on?
or some kind of build up happening overnight with the algae dying.
Still I'm doing a water change to ease the load or perhaps just having the tank lights on again may be enough if its CO2 build up.As the plants would be absorbing the CO2 with lights on??

[mr_walker]

Joz,

I haven't done a full tank overdose like you're doing, but I've syringed it directly onto bad patches. It turns red like you have said, and then as it starts to break down the fish eat it.

It's so satisfying to watch it disintegrate :biggrin:

[joz]

Second dose going in today!



Die algae die!

[_PhanToM_]

HI guys,

I’ve finally placed the wood that I bleached back into the tank. I was a bit worried that’s why I’ve left it out for so long. The black algae is gone, however after adding the wood the entire tank has gone green. I can barely see the back of the tank.
Funny enough, the fishes seems really healthy and happy. I’ve tried doing water changes at 10% very second day, this seems to make it worse.
What else can I do?

[mr_walker]

My bit of driftwood looked like a big black fluff ball after everything went out of balance while I was fighting an ich outbreak. I ended up taking it out of the tank and pouring 6-7 jugs of boiling water over it from every angle, and then putting it back in the tank (when cool of course ;))

The BBA all went light green and my BN's and SAE's had a feast over the next week or so when it started to break up. Three weeks later and the driftwood is absolutely spotless. Of course there's a few other pockets of BBA in the tank, so I'll be interested to see if it spreads back or not.

I was using Flourish Excel to give the plants a boost and fight the BBA. It was doing a reasonable job, but was killing my vallisneria so I stopped it.

Joz - how's yours looking?

[joz]

My tanks is much improved.
But I think I may try another high dose again.
Ran out of Excel,need to buy more this week.

No probs with Val(giant) in my tank so far.

[Brad_m]

My tank was having BBA problems for a while. Excel helped a little at first but only really stopped it getting worse.
A quick chat with the place i buy everything from and i find out that i should be changing my T8 light every 6 months. so i bought a new tube and fitted it, with out changing the Excel dose (i was going by the bottle recommendation)
3 weeks on and the BBA is almost completely gone. I'm about to try dropping the Excel dose to %50.

[wombat1100]

Thats a good point you have there Brad, I'm sure we all forget that all fluorescent lighting should be changed every 12 months, as the tube effectively "wears out" it still produces light but not the light spectrum's that it was originally made for,or at least thats what i am told lol

[joz]

Change your clock, change your tubes..:D
I know I change my tubes about every new year.It does make a difference even if the tank still looks bright enough.

[tpg]

The safest and fastest way to kill BBA on wood and ornaments is to take it out and brush H2O2 with a art paint brush.

I use 3% direct from the bottle bought at the chemist.

If it does not have moss or plants on the driftwood wait 10 minutes, then few more coats every 10 minutes or so.

If you have moss or plants, spray water on it every 5 minutes or so.

If you have liverworts like mini peila or subwassertang on the wood paind around it and keep h2o2 away from it. plants like anubia I paint 3% directly on with no issue.

[Batty]

Most of the stationary things in my tank are infested with dark hairy/furry algea, can't seem to get rid of it.
Should I use co2, I have only 1 live plant (except the algea).

[wombat1100]

I was just told that seachem flourish aids in the removal of brush algae , purely as a spin off , not that its made for that, has anyone else heard this?

[Marekzero]

One of the attendants at a lfs mentioned to me that Flourish excel in a double does tends to suffocate the black beard algae causing it to die. And that sachem doesn't want to advertise that because then the product would be a pesticide rather then fertilizer.

Although with the double does extra aeration of the water is needed, was what i was told.

I've been to four lfs and they all pretty much said things along the same line, so it must be true. heh

I myself have some black beard algae and will be trying it out soon.

[joz]

Yep the Flourish Excel at a double dose worked for me.
I give it a big thumbs up.

[tetratim]

Iv had this problem 2, I found whiptail catfish are good 2, plus i removed every leaf with the agle on it and kept the tank really clean!