Please help ID this algae!

[Chi_Cichlid]

So I noticed some dark, fuzzy looking algae starting to appear on my rocks in my peacock cichlid tank and was wondering if anyone could tell me what type of algae it is.

I just want to know if it's due to something I'm doing and can fix, or if it's completely natural and I shouldn't worry about it.

Thanks!

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[Gillie]

It's black beard algae, it's horrible stuff, you can spot treat it with hydrogen peroxide in tank with a syringe or you can remove the effected rocks and give them a little scrub in bleach water, just dont forget to rinse them well

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[Sk3lly]

It's black beard algae, it's horrible stuff, you can spot treat it with hydrogen peroxide in tank with a syringe or you can remove the effected rocks and give them a little scrub in bleach water, just dont forget to rinse them well

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Agree!! Get on that fast as its horrid stuff. Spreads readily and is hard to rid. Ive had great success with hydrogen peroxide spot treating


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[Chi_Cichlid]

It's black beard algae, it's horrible stuff, you can spot treat it with hydrogen peroxide in tank with a syringe or you can remove the effected rocks and give them a little scrub in bleach water, just dont forget to rinse them well

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Thanks Gillie. Any ideas as to why it appeared? I would love to fix the problem before it becomes more of an issue

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[Sk3lly]

I think bba is caused by an imbalance between co2 levels and excess lighting.


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[Brookster123]

I think bba is some sub evil demon seed that manifests front the depths of planted purgatory, sent here to ruin our beautiful tanks. . Nono not with my holy water (excel) and sacred light from above (3hrs.on, 4off, 5 on)

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[Chi_Cichlid]

I think bba is caused by an imbalance between co2 levels and excess lighting.


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Hey sk3lly, that's a little odd then because I don't dose this tank with anything, except for some DIY fert tabs under some swords/vals.

Also, my lights are on for only 6 hours a day. There is some indirect sunlight that shines on the tank during the day though. Maybe that's causing it?

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[Sk3lly]

Hey sk3lly, that's a little odd then because I don't dose this tank with anything, except for some DIY fert tabs under some swords/vals.

Also, my lights are on for only 6 hours a day. There is some indirect sunlight that shines on the tank during the day though. Maybe that's causing it?

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Theres your imbalance then. Light source with no co2 supply.

I would get yourself a bottle of liquid carbon. Excel or the double strength metricide 14 day solution


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[Brookster123]

The direct sunlight is going to be a big contributor in the bba as well.. can you hang a shade?

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[Chi_Cichlid]

Theres your imbalance then. Light source with no co2 supply.

I would get yourself a bottle of liquid carbon. Excel or the double strength metricide 14 day solution


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Sk3lly, I do have some omnicide that I'm using for my planted tank so I will treat the bba with bleach today, and will start dosing omnicide. The main reason I didn't was because of my vals, which are notorius for melting with excel. Do you think I should dose daily? For my planted 55g, I only dose once a week after my wc.

I'm curious as to how people have low tech tanks without co2, but no algae issues. Is this due to the plant load being more than sufficient to out compete the algae? I want to make sure I avoid this issue in the future.

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[Chi_Cichlid]

The direct sunlight is going to be a big contributor in the bba as well.. can you hang a shade?

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Hey Brookster, I figured the sunlight would. I can try and cover up as much sunlight as I possibly can, but this will be a bit hard as the tank is in the living room with large windows.

I did unplug my lights from my timer before leaving for work this morning. I just don't want the bba to get progressively worse and figured this will help some.

Any other ideas how I can get rid of it besides spot treating and dosing excel? Most of the research I have found deals with bba in planted tanks. I just don't feel like this directly relates to me though because the bba is in my african cichlid tank, which is very lightly planted.

 

[Sk3lly]

Sk3lly, I do have some omnicide that I'm using for my planted tank so I will treat the bba with bleach today, and will start dosing omnicide. The main reason I didn't was because of my vals, which are notorius for melting with excel. Do you think I should dose daily? For my planted 55g, I only dose once a week after my wc.

I'm curious as to how people have low tech tanks without co2, but no algae issues. Is this due to the plant load being more than sufficient to out compete the algae? I want to make sure I avoid this issue in the future.

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I was under the impression liquid carbons, such as omnicide, needed to be dosed daily. Something about the light affecting it after 12-18hours or something?

I'm not too sure how low tech tanks work. Im into high tech and i know the carbon source is needed to try prevent algae. I remember being told that bba is a common problem with a lack of carbon


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[Chi_Cichlid]

I was under the impression liquid carbons, such as omnicide, needed to be dosed daily. Something about the light affecting it after 12-18hours or something?

I'm not too sure how low tech tanks work. Im into high tech and i know the carbon source is needed to try prevent algae. I remember being told that bba is a common problem with a lack of carbon


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Thanks Sk3lly. I will start by dosing only half the recommended dosage to begin with, for fear of melting all my vals haha. I know I have heard of people successfully dosing liquid carbon by basically building up the vals tolerance to it. Hopefully this will help get rid of the problem.

Any other ideas besides dosing liquid carbon you can suggest?

Thanks!

 

[Sk3lly]

Thanks Sk3lly. I will start by dosing only half the recommended dosage to begin with, for fear of melting all my vals haha. I know I have heard of people successfully dosing liquid carbon by basically building up the vals tolerance to it. Hopefully this will help get rid of the problem.

Any other ideas besides dosing liquid carbon you can suggest?

Thanks!

Yea start real slow with it. Remember metricide is double strength and i think omnicide might be too. Just build it up slowly weekly.

I dont know much about your tank setup or even much about this subject but i believe DIY co2 is easy enough.

Fresh2o is your man to talk to about it.

I know Brookster has recently set up diy co2 as well.

Give one of them a private message or even search the forums on it. Plenty out there


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[Brookster123]

It really is super easy, spent $15 on all the needed items for start up..
When I had a bad bba outbreak I dealt with it in a few ways. Cut back natural sunlight, started doing a split a photo period, dosing excel, and got some Amano shrimp. I'm not saying it's the perfect approach but it worked very well for me, as it died the amano shrimp ate it up like candy.. now it's just the gda and gha that's the issue, not nearly as nasty looking as bba, that stuff was literally choking my tank..
Edit - I just reread the thread, this is a cichlid only tank? No plants?
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[mrvincent]

Look like the CO2 level is not stable, or you have a too big light for the average concentration of CO2.

 

[Chi_Cichlid]

Yea start real slow with it. Remember metricide is double strength and i think omnicide might be too. Just build it up slowly weekly.

I dont know much about your tank setup or even much about this subject but i believe DIY co2 is easy enough.

Fresh2o is your man to talk to about it.

I know Brookster has recently set up diy co2 as well.

Give one of them a private message or even search the forums on it. Plenty out there


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I thought about DIY co2, but heard it works best for smaller tanks. This is a 75g so I don't think DIY co2 will be of much help. You are correct that omnicide is double the strength of excel, so I will take that into consideration when dosing. Thanks!

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[Chi_Cichlid]

It really is super easy, spent $15 on all the needed items for start up..
When I had a bad bba outbreak I dealt with it in a few ways. Cut back natural sunlight, started doing a split a photo period, dosing excel, and got some Amano shrimp. I'm not saying it's the perfect approach but it worked very well for me, as it died the amano shrimp ate it up like candy.. now it's just the gda and gha that's the issue, not nearly as nasty looking as bba, that stuff was literally choking my tank..
Edit - I just reread the thread, this is a cichlid only tank? No plants?
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Hey Brookster, I don't think the amano shrimp will work since this is a 75g cichlid tank. It's lightly planted with some amazon swords, vals, and java fern. I'm thinking of doing a split photo period as well. How long do you have the lights off for during the split?

 

[Chi_Cichlid]

Look like the CO2 level is not stable, or you have a too big light for the average concentration of CO2.

Hey vince, thanks for your post. Maybe I need to switch my lights? I'm currently running a finnex fugeray2 with 2 rows of 6700k leds.

I do have a T5HO fixture on my 55g planted tank that I could possibly swap out? It's a 3 bulb fixture that I can choose to run only 1 bulb, 2, or all three.

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[mrvincent]

Maybe try to turn off a bulb.

I have a 29g setup, I added a pressurized CO2 system. It's high reliable, needs no maintenance, and is set on a timer.

The only maintenance is when the cylinder is empty.

A good tricks I found to kill BBA, is:
1. Turn off any filtration / things that make flow.
2. Take a seringe and apply excel on the BBA.
3. Wait 15 mins
4. Apply 3% or 6% peroxyde on the BBAs
5. Wait 15 mins, you should see a lot of bubbles.
6. Turn back any equipement you turned off.

Wait 2-3 days, you will notice the BBA turn light pink or red, it means they're dying. Repeat this for every infestation.