Can't Get Rid of BBA

[LindaC]

I've been dealing with this stuff for weeks, it seems ever since I bought this house and moved to a new location. I never had it, or I should say, I did have some but nothing like I have here. I'm constantly pulling it off of the subtrate and different equipment within my tank. It also gets on some of my plants but not nearly as bad.

I was dosing EI, with pressurized CO2 injection but yesterday I started dosing PPS-Pro again. I dosed PPS-Pro a while back but stopped because I kept getting BGA but I'm going to give it another try and see what happens. I'm running 65 watts of florescent light, I have a 2 x 65 watt fixture but only have been running one bulb.

Any ideas of how I can get rid of this BBA once and for all?

 

[theotheragentm]

http://aquariumalgae.blogspot.com/2006/06/black-beard-algae-bba-red-brush-algae.html

Read this website. Dosing with an Excel substance seems to work.

 

[LindaC]

Thank you, it was very helpful, however, I thought I was doing everything I'm supposed to be in order to combat BBA, but obviously I must not be. I think I'll purchase a few more fast growing stem plants, I already have wisteria, bacopa monneri, hygro. rotala, etc. I'm not sure I even have room for more but I'll try. My CO2 is a little higher then 30 ppms and my nitrate and phosphates seem to be inline.

Is it possible that once you have it, you have to remove everything that's been infected or you'll never get rid of it? Does anyone know if this is true?

 

[theotheragentm]

It's best to clip away any infected plants. I don't know if it's necessary per se.

 

[Purrbox]

With BBA you can stop it's growth by getting everything in balance, but the existing algae won't go away on it's own. You either need to remove the affected leaves, etc or treat with Flourish Excel.

 

[travis simonson]

BBA can also thrive in areas of poor circulation because of lower oxygen levels. Increasing water flow in these areas may help prevent it.

 

[dapellegrini]

I have noticed a higher incidence of BBA when I turn my CO2 off at night. Turning it down and running 24/7 seems to work better for me. As Travis pointed out, flow is also very important, though I have had it growing right on the holes in my spraybar before

As Joy said - you need to manually remove most of it. Then use something like Excel to spot treat the rest. It will turn reddish when it is dead. Amano shrimp are great at cleaning it up from there. I have also heard that using ADA's Python Git works well for spot treating.

 

[gheitman]

IME with BBA, SAEs are the only algae-eating fish that will touch it and they do a very good job of keeping it in check while you eliminate the problem that is causing it. I've also used Flourish Excel to dose my tank with Anubias that were covered with it and after two or three weeks of dosing at five times the recommended level of Excel every three days the BBA was dead and falling off the plants where it could be siphoned up. My fish never showed any ill effects but YMMV. Now while Seachem can't advertise Excel as something to kill algae due to federal regulations, I find it interesting that their recommended dose at the beginning of each week is that same five times normal level.

 

[LindaC]

Thank you all, I've tried everything short of leaving my CO2 on 24/7 and still cannot seem to rid my tank of this stuff. I keep removing it, cleaning my tank to the point of none being there and within a few days, I see it start appearing again! I know my CO2 levels are good do to my drop checker, I'm dosing EI, I seem to see less when dosing EI rather then the PPS-Pro method. Plants are growing like crazy, look lush and green, I have a power head going along with my spray bar facing down toward the top of the tank so that it creates a strong current. I don't know what else to do!

I thought about removing all the old subtrate (Seachem Flourite) because that where is seems to appear the most, although I have seen some around the holes of my spray bar too, as someone else stated above. I am not beginning to see some on my sword plant leaves. It's so frustrating, I feel that I am never going to see the end of it. I tried dosing Excel, one cap per day, should I start dosing more? Could it be something in my water, a lack of a nutrient or too much of another?

Thanks for all your help, it's very much appreciated.

 

[rkilling1]

You should dose the excel at the initial amount (post water change) for about a week straight.

How are you injecting your CO2? BBA LOVES changes in CO2. Maintaining a constant supply of CO2 is key in stopping BBA from progressing.

 

[Soupy944]

pond snails have helped me lots with that.

 

[Atl300zx]

also i used a syringe to spray the excel right on the affected areas/