Krystle Posted December 16, 2009 Report Share Posted December 16, 2009 Anyone know any good ways to get rid of this stuff? It came in on some anubias i won at the auction, and is slowly starting to spread to my other plants. I do add excel, which i've been told will kill the BBA but i haven't seen any results yet and it's been a couple of months or so. I've heard that doing a bleach dip works, can anyone give me the directions for this? Or better yet, does anyone have a better fix? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PacMan Posted December 16, 2009 Report Share Posted December 16, 2009 (edited) Might want to check this out.. http://www.theplantedtank.co.uk/algae.htm Its kinda hard to tell what type of algae it is without any pictures really. It might still be bba, but you can spot dose might help kill it off. but research somemore before doing so. Im sure others will key in on the subject. Edited December 16, 2009 by PacMan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jewels Posted December 17, 2009 Report Share Posted December 17, 2009 This article has some photo's that are labeled correctly - and thats about it. Let us have a look at a direct quote/cut and paste from the write up. " Also sometimes it grows in fast flowing areas of the tank. Grows in clumps or patches of fine black tufts up to about 0.5cm long. Cause In a high light tank it is an indication of low or fluctuating CO2 levels or not enough water circulation around the plants. " Hello ??? How does that work ?? Do people just write this carp because they like the sound of thier own keyboard ?? Here is my opinion based on my personal experience - your doomed! Just kidding , , a little. Seriously, it is really tough to get rid of. My CO2has been bang on consistant for over a year 24/7 so I dismiss those arguments ( in my case) Nearly impossible to remove from infested leaves. Takes a good scrub to get off anything else. I find it grows on slate before granite/quatrz. It will grow in full shine upon a filter output, also I have found it in the dark under a foot of plants as well. No rhyme , no reason. After a couple of years of growing plants this is the only type of algeae I can not passively eradicate. Some of the other methods may work . I have never tried them. I am to cheap to buy product to squirt on them and I am to lazy to uproot a plant to give it a bleach bath. Live with it , or remove affected leaves. Invest wisely with your time and money in hopes of growing plants so well that algae just can not compete. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
timbruun Posted December 17, 2009 Report Share Posted December 17, 2009 Agreed to remove affected leaves. I had some in my tank and just cut them all over and haven't seen any BBA since. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vallisneria Posted December 17, 2009 Report Share Posted December 17, 2009 Haha, totally agree. Cause In a high light tank it is an indication of low or fluctuating CO2 levels or not enough water circulation around the plants. " I have some BBA in my planted tank and the only place its growing is on my elite mini filter, the filter cord and the airline tubing. I find it funny because my elite mini filter is used to pump my Co2 through my tank! So where the BBA is growing is in the highest concentration of co2 in the whole tank,lol. But seriously, before I added my co2 tank I battled a BAD case of BBA for a long time. It started as 1 little tuft and I left it and it spread everywhere. I tried pruning, I tried bleaching, I tried excel but I just couldn't get it under control and it always came back. I eventually got fed up and threw out all my plants and started over. So I suggest keeping on top of it before it gets out of hand and decides to spread around. If its only on your anubias you could pick off the BBA tufts if there aren't too many or if its bad, then you could do a bleach dip. Take the anubias out of the tank and mix up a solution of 20:1 of water to bleach. Let the anubias sit in there for a few minutes(2-3). The BBA should turn a whitish/light color. Rinse the plant well and it should be ok. Anubias are hardy so it should be fine with a dip. I think you can also do an excel dip instead of using bleach but I've never done that. Or I know you add excel to the tank but have to tried dosing the excel right at the BBA. Get a pipette and shoot the excel right at the BBA. If you do that a few times it might be enough to kill it. Can't hurt to try and it would be cheaper then overdosing the whole big tank as that can get expensive. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cale262 Posted December 17, 2009 Report Share Posted December 17, 2009 ...I think you can also do an excel dip instead of using bleach but I've never done that.... I've tried the excel dip with no success, I even went as far as to dip one of my anubias in a jar with nothing but excel for a few hours and no luck...trimming the leaves is the only thing I've found to work but I have to admit that I have never tried the bleach dip, next time I will. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fleshgear Posted December 17, 2009 Report Share Posted December 17, 2009 i have read about using hydrogen peroxide. i read it works good, but can also kill some plants completely. and killed the leaves on others, the plant grew back fine. and had no affect on other plants just the algae. also read that i can kill fish as well. not sure on the dosage. what i read they dosed right in the tank. maybe a peroxide bath would be better for some plants. like anubias and crypts. i have never tried it, but i am looking at some black hair algae now and think i might give it a try. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jvision Posted December 17, 2009 Report Share Posted December 17, 2009 H2O2 and bleach will both kill it. Use an eye dropper or pipet for direct dosage, or if you can take the plant out and do a dip, that's even better. The Krib has some good directions from people who've done it. I've had results w. Excel dosed this way as well, but it took over a week with direct dosing 3x per day. The bleach and H2O2 work almost instantly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Krystle Posted December 17, 2009 Author Report Share Posted December 17, 2009 Thanks for all the replies, guys. Sounds like this is something that a lot of hobbyists have to deal with. Apparently BBA doesn't care whether your light is intense and your c02 is spot on, that's good to know. Right now it is only on my anubias and on a few of the dwarf chain swords leaves. This weekend I will do some pruning and a bleach dip and let you know how it works. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fishclubgirl Posted December 18, 2009 Report Share Posted December 18, 2009 You can also try siamese algae eaters or ameca splendens too. Beats turning your tank into a chemistry experiment!! I have been quite pleased with my SAE. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jvision Posted December 18, 2009 Report Share Posted December 18, 2009 Also, IME, BBA only grows on slow-growing plants. If you keep the light, CO2 and ferts going, and plants are growing well, you shouldn't see it spread - BBA should stay limited to older leaves. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.