beating black beard.

[joejeff]

I gave my nephew a tank for his birthday. It is a 20 gallon with standard fluorescent lighting... A marineland biowheel for up to a 30 gallon... 2 corys 2 platies 2 mollies and 3 puppies. A have fern and a little money worth.. my brother in law does weekly 15% Pwc and treats once a week w chem ferts 8 hr photo cycle... The issue is he has black hair like algae. Any tips on dealing w it?

 

[manmythlegend]

Black Beard... Argh Matey!

A quick search of Google provided these links-
Black Hair algea - Aquariums Forum - GardenWeb
Removing Black Hair Algae
Black Hair Algae - Aquascaping World Forum
I hope these help a little.

 

[maxwellag]

Decrease the amount of time that the light is on

 

[joejeff]

Ok there has to be more options than that though. I wry that won't be enough

 

[joejeff]

A quick search of Google provided these links-
Black Hair algea - Aquariums Forum - GardenWeb
Removing Black Hair Algae
Black Hair Algae - Aquascaping World Forum
I hope these help a little.

I Google too. Was looking for advice from a victor in this battle lol. Thank you for the links though

 

[DragonFish71]

I beat it by doing weekly water changes, plucking off what I could from my decor, then giving it a light spray with Seachem Excel. API also puts out a product that works just as well, it's called CO2 Booster and is a bit cheaper price wise. You can find it at Petsmart if your lfs doesn't carry Excel.

Get a clean spray bottle, pour in the Excel/CO2 Booster, when water is lowered during water change, give BBA a light spray then refill tank. If you spray it too heavy, your fish will start gasping. The BBA will start turning a bright red so don't worry when that happens.

Do this each time you do a water change and no more BBA. After you've beaten it, weekly water changes will help keep it at bay. You might have to pluck some when you see it growing.

Mind you, this is just to get rid of the infestation, this is not a cure for the underlying water quality issue that's making it grow. Which is a nitrate and phosphate imbalance.

Freshwater Algae Types: An Illustrated Guide - Article at The Age of Aquariums - Tropical Fish

 

[joejeff]

I beat it by doing weekly water changes, plucking off what I could from my decor, then giving it a light spray with Seachem Excel. API also puts out a product that works just as well, it's called CO2 Booster and is a bit cheaper price wise. You can find it at Petsmart if your lfs doesn't carry Excel.

Get a clean spray bottle, pour in the Excel/CO2 Booster, when water is lowered during water change, give BBA a light spray then refill tank. If you spray it too heavy, your fish will start gasping. The BBA will start turning a bright red so don't worry when that happens.

Do this each time you do a water change and no more BBA. After you've beaten it, weekly water changes will help keep it at bay. You might have to pluck some when you see it growing.

Mind you, this is just to get rid of the infestation, this is not a cure for the underlying water quality issue that's making it grow. Which is a nitrate and phosphate imbalance.

Freshwater Algae Types: An Illustrated Guide - Article at The Age of Aquariums - Tropical Fish

I read that co2 may help fix this? There are only 2 plants in there... Wouldn't a co2 diffuser be excessive for that small amount of plants?

 

[DragonFish71]

If you lightly spray them, it will be fine. It also depends on the type of plants. Vals, anachris, and a few others will melt with this treatment. It might be easier for you to cut off the affected leaves. I was under the impression that you had BBA everywhere like it usually grows.

 

[mfdrookie516]

I've had good luck killing it by using a syringe with h2o2 directly on to the algae. The problem with that is that you aren't solving the problem as to why you have it. Generally, if you're getting uncontrollable BBA, that's a good sign that your lighting is high enough that co2 injection is needed. You can try splitting the photoperiod, as that helped me big time, but not every tank works the same way.

 

[joejeff]

The algae has spread in his tank. We cleaned the ornaments and got rid of it on them. A few plants still have it. Guess I will make him a DIY system. Will be cool learning op anyway. I do a half hour break in light cycle mid way through already..

 

[joejeff]

It's java ferns and money worth.

 

[aqua_chem]

Is this a 20 high or 20 Long?


Can you post pictures of the algae and double check your ID? I find it very hard to believe that you have BBA in a 20 with stock lighting.... BBA thrives on high light, but I don't think what you have would meet even medium light.

 

[joejeff]

It's at my nephews house... Let me see if I have one... If not it will be a couple days b4 I can get u one...