aquapetz.com

Hi all,
There is an ugly unwanted guest in my aquarium.
black beard algae, 3 months before I introduced him accidentally, With some plants i got from a friend. I didnt chk the plants before i planted.
In a very short time it spread to almost all plants.
What i did is

1) Trimmed all my plants, removed every visible algae.

2) 80% water change.

3) Removed all my fishes to hospital tank.

4) Hydrogen peroxide treatment to whole tank. And black out for 2 days.

5) After 2 days 80% water change.

After this i was very happy that i got rid of Black beard algae, there were no sign of it.

And i left for Kerala for a week, but i couldnt return on as planned.
When i came back after 2.5 weeks.
Almost all my plants were gone.
My friend lost the key and couldnt enter my flat.

I replanted again with some plants left.

3 weeks passed today i noticed this black beard algae on leaves again.
Its very annoying.
What do you guys think?
What did i miss in treating?

Tank - 80cm x 42cm x 42cm.

Photo period is 8 hours, 4 hours in morning and 4 hours in evening.

Pressurized CO2, 5 bubbles per second.
Macro Fertilization EI method.
Micro Iron and csm-b.

Should i add any algae remover?

Or repeat hydrogen peroxide treatment?

I have gone thru many topics and got sone ideas.
So started adding flourish excel(glut). I have some vallisnaria, they wont survive the excel i guess.

But i m very disturbed when i see this.
Please advice.

Thanks and Regards.
Arun.

Repeat spot treatment of Hydrogen peroxide for some weeks to get rid of algae.

BBA is one of the toughest joining with Hair algae, glut is best. Slowly and lengthy process.

Add a few SAE, they are one of the best BBA control.

Sent from my SM-G900H using Tapatalk

sushant wrote:Add a few SAE, they are one of the best BBA control.

Sent from my SM-G900H using Tapatalk

I have few of them, they finish every other algae but not at all interested in bba:(

@Rajiv sir, i for got to mention one thing, i started adding phosphate , which might have triggered them again.
I am stopping phosphate and trying again.


Thanks and Regards.
Arun.

did you check this link? I typed BBA in search option on forum. MIght be helpful to you.

http://aquapetz.com/viewtopic.php?f=11& ... bba#p61667

saikumar wrote:did you check this link? I typed BBA in search option on forum. MIght be helpful to you.

http://aquapetz.com/viewtopic.php?f=11& ... bba#p61667

Hi Sai,
Yes, i have gone thru tht, my plants are recovering from a shock and i can not uproot and apply this method
After applying glut i noticed an improvement in situation.
It stopped spreading, or at least i cant find new growth of bba.
My vals started melting so i removed few stems and use the bleach method for them.

Fingers crossed.
Will keep you updated, thank you for the support.



Thanks and Regards.
Arun.

I want to add my experience too. I had a whole tank of BBA, from plant leaves to wood, tank glass everything.

This is what worked to biggest extent for me
1. take 1% gluteraldehyde into a 10 ml syring, with syring needle attached to it, and spot dose generously at all the places you can reach with your hand.
2. Do 80% water change after 10minutes.
3. Switch on the areation, switch off the CO2.
4. Cover the tank with "THICK" black chart paper, or black blanket. I used black chart.
5. Keep it like this for 3 days.
6. Feed the fish as normal during 3 days.
7. 4th day, do a 50% WC and start the regular routine of fertilization/CO2/glut/areation as needed etc. During change cut all old dying leaves, siphon out all the dirt and algae by scraping.
8. Some plants will melt during this, so keep some new stems ready on 4th day. Using floating plants will help till all plants pick up health.
9. Your BBA will start turning brown/black/dead by 4th day.
10. Water change on regular schedule.
11. Plants from farms, like sreepadma/aquabynature/finsnflora/local shop, rather everyones will have some little brus/beard algae balls atleast, try to remove max you can.

wish you good luck

What type of filtration you are using? The last time I had BBA infestation that was because of dirty filter got rid of it within a month after I cleaned the filter, spot dosing with peroxide and manually removing as much as I can from leaves and substrate.

Sent from my SM-G900H using Tapatalk

I am using fluval c2 HOB filter and one internal filter. Every Saturday both are cleaned properly. I will try the peroxide treatment if i fail with glut, so far glut is doing well. I hope i can beat them

Thanks and Regards.
Arun.