Black algea

[Jmrwiggly]

Hi All,

I have well water with very high ph and nitrate. So I've been using ro water for along time now. My plants started to look bad. I was told I needed to add nutrients to the water so I used seachem replenish. Now all my driftwood has white spots on it and I now have black fuzzy algea. Is this bad to have or just an eye sore?

John

 

[drjallen3]

Hi All,

I have well water with very high ph and nitrate. So I've been using ro water for along time now. My plants started to look bad. I was told I needed to add nutrients to the water so I used seachem replenish. Now all my driftwood has white spots on it and I now have black fuzzy algea. Is this bad to have or just an eye sore?

John

Does your tank already have fish in it?

 

[coralbandit]

Could be BBA or Cyano ..
Many use H2O2 and metricide to kill BBA ,cyano is really a bacteria.

 

[drjallen3]

Does your tank already have fish in it?

I have a very clear tank, but my water is Amber colored on purpose. I tinted it with peat moss to match the Amazon conditions tor my Angel fish. Peat also naturally acidifies your water causing the pH to drop. Your nitrates problem suggests that rain passes through a lot of organic matter before getting to the ground well. Cut off severely coated leaves, scrub away what ever is on tank sides & ornaments and once you've gotten it as clean as you can, leave the lights off for 3 days. Some bright light plants may be lost. Then only use the lights for 5 to 6 hours a day. I'm going to send you a different post for the nitrates. Black algae is the hardest to get rid of, but you can keep it down.

 

[drjallen3]

I have a very clear tank, but my water is Amber colored on purpose. I tinted it with peat moss to match the Amazon conditions tor my Angel fish. Peat also naturally acidifies your water causing the pH to drop. Your nitrates problem suggests that rain passes through a lot of organic matter before getting to the ground well. Cut off severely coated leaves, scrub away what ever is on tank sides & ornaments and once you've gotten it as clean as you can, leave the lights off for 3 days. Some bright light plants may be lost. Then only use the lights for 5 to 6 hours a day. I'm going to send you a different post for the nitrates. Black algae is the hardest to get rid of, but you can keep it down.

For your nitrate levels, I suggest a common houseplant called Pothos (devil's ivy). I put 10 eight inch cuttings in th back of my tank about 4 months ago. They rooted well and suck up the nitrates like crazy. Some of my cuttings are over 3 feet in length and really thrive on the nitrates. The help the nitrate levels and look nice from the front of the top of the tank...Even though they began to clutter the back of my tank. Here is a pic of the back of my tank and I have no algae of any type.

 

[Jmrwiggly]

Yes it has fish in it. The tank has been setup for about 2 1/2 yrs. The last 6 months or so I've been using ro water.

 

[drjallen3]

Yes it has fish in it. The tank has been setup for about 2 1/2 yrs. The last 6 months or so I've been using ro water.

I would still look into the possibility of 3 days with no lights on and then restricting the light to no more than 6 hours a day. If you have low light plants in your tank, that will be sufficient. But if you have bright light species, they will suffer and may die. I really feel bad for your situation because black algae is really the most difficult to control.

 

[Jmrwiggly]

black algae

I should've did this on the first post. These are the only 2 pieces of wood that have what I think is bba the other 6 pieces don't have it. All the wood have the white spots. I didn't have this problem until I added the replenish. I hope I inserted the pics right?

 

[coralbandit]

The white spots look like snail eggs ?
Do you have a nerite snail???

 

[drjallen3]

I should've did this on the first post. These are the only 2 pieces of wood that have what I think is bba the other 6 pieces don't have it. All the wood have the white spots. I didn't have this problem until I added the replenish. I hope I inserted the pics right?View attachment 308466

View attachment 308467

The replinish timing mat have simply been a coincidence (or not). There many species of fingi that on grow on wood and trees. Most mushrooms grow underground and through tree wood as a being finer than a human hair and send out their "caps" to produce spores for reproduction. If the all begin to turn brown or black at around the same time, they're possibly fungi that only feed on that type of wood and may be harmless to the living tissue in the fish and plants.

 

[Jmrwiggly]

Yes, I have 2 nerite snails. I never gave it a thought that the spots were eggs.

 

[drjallen3]

Yes, I have 2 nerite snails. I never gave it a thought that the spots were eggs.

Smash one and see!

 

[flitabout]

Yes the black spots are BBA or black beard algae. There are lots of ways to treat it and it's totally up to you. When you have algae, you have to look at as a balance issue. Light, CO2, and ferts something is out of balance. Just cutting off the lights for a few days may help with this bunch of algae but hasn't corrected the balance issue.
When I using RO water (it got to expensive for me to continue) I used Equilibrium by Seachem to remineralize the water. That one is for planted tanks. They have another one for non planted tanks and I have no idea what that one is called. I also have heavily planted tanks so that was really important to me. I am really not a fan of the liquid fertilizers. They are a lot of money for a lot of water. Dry fertilizers definitely give you more bang for your buck and for way longer. I dose PPS-Pro because I am lazy and I just put it in every morning about 30-60 minutes before I turn on the lights. EI or estimative index to me is harder and requires more work. I don't have the brain power to devote to that! PPS-Pro is totally adjustable to your lighting so you aren't over dosing it. If you don't have high lighting just add less! Both require large weekly 50% water changes. I do that anyways so it wasn't any issue for me.. Either way the point is for the plants to out compete the algae for nutrients.
That brings us to CO2. You can injected via what looks like scuba gear. It's expensive to set up but once you do it may only cost $10 a year to run. I am cheap and I don't have $100's of dollars to plunk down all at one time to afford the high tech set up but I still run high light for long hours everyday. I have been dosing Glutaraldehyde or mertricide. It is supposed to be a liquid co2 supplement, and I use the "glut" off label it is a sterilizer if you add the activator to it. I just toss that bottle in the trash. This stuff kills most algae (not GSA or BGA) and yes it will melt/kill certain plants, caution when using this stuff is a must! But it does work for a sub of CO2 when used with caution. Or you use DIY Co2 depending on your tank size. Which is essentially what I like to call a yeast bomb.
What is really comes down to is what are your goals for your tank? If you just want to get rid of the algae you can spot treat with some peroxide (this is fun because it will turn BBA algae fire engine red) and have the algae gone in a matter of a few days. If you don't mind spot treating you can do it as necessary with caution to bb filter, or you can fix the balance. It's up to you, and what works for your system.