Massive Tank Maintanence, Need Tips

[Alshain]

So, I have been traveling due to work a lot and as a result of inconsistent fertilization schedules, BBA is running rampant in my tank, the plants are alive but suffer largely from malnutrition and algae and I think it is time to clean this mess up.

Alas, the once beautiful rock terraces have fallen apart. I may try something new later but for now its going to be just plants, driftwood and equipment.

So, things to clean...

Tank Walls
Filter equipment
Substrate
Malaysian Driftwood

Crypticorn Wendtii
Crypticorn Lutea
Riccia Fluitians
Echinodorus cordifolius
Ludwigia repens
Barclaya longfoilia (I think) Bulb from Wal-Mart, red lily.

First Question: Would bleach help at this point or does it only work as a preventative, not a cure?

Second Question: How to clean BBA from driftwood? I wouldn't want to use bleach as it would likely absorb.

My first step will obviously be removing most of the leaves, but I think some of the newer leaves on most of the plants can be salvaged and while the tank may be bare for a while, it is for the best.

My final step will be moving from DIY to Pressurized CO2. I have my hands full keeping the fish fed and the water changed, I don't have time for changing mixtures every week.

I thought about using a blackout procedure, does that affect BBA at all? I did use 2 week double dose excel followed by a 1 week blackout to kill a minor BBA problem in my work tank. So far it has worked quite well, I'm still dosing excel a little more than the recommended to ensure it doesn't survive. That has basically been a "beat it into submission" approach. The only problem is this would be harder to do on my 55 gallon tank.

Any tips or suggestions for combating this problem.

 

[rkilling1]

Excel is your friend. To get it off your driftwood. Remove the driftwood or just lift it up during a PWC and pour Excel on the BBA.

Use the 'after PWC' dose during the treatment for the entire tank. You can purchase a baby syringe at rite ade that aids in spot treating.

BTW, BBA does not come about due to inconsistent dosing. It's all about the CO2 not being consistent.

Moving to pressurized would be a great idea, BUT if you are not going to be around often, I highly suggest looking into a lower light tank without CO2. This way you can maintain a nice planted tank that doesn't require the attention that a higher light tank requires.

1:20 dilute bleach is great at killing BBA. That would only be good for your equipment. Some bleach their plants, but if your plants are doing fine, I would just trim the effected parts and not dip them.

Be sure to rinse well and then rinse in water that contains dechlor prior to putting it back into your tank.

Black outs will not help, well I guess they will kill the BBA, put it would take A LOT of time and this would kill your plants as well.

 

[Alshain]

BTW, BBA does not come about due to inconsistent dosing. It's all about the CO2 not being consistent.

In my mind, CO2 is a fertilizer. When I say inconsistent dosing, in that I include inconsistent refilling of my DIY mixture as well

Thanks for your tips.

I will be around more often now, this was a one time thing when I was gone every other week for a couple months.

 

[Alshain]

Ok, so these driftwood pieces are kinda large, targeted excel might be hard to do. Would it work if I just let the wood dry out and then scrape the visible algae away or can the algae survive that?

 

[rkilling1]

Well, if you have plans to remove it to let it dry out, I would just remove it and pour Excel directly on it and then put it back in the tank. Letting it dry out will kill 'some' of the BBA, but there is nothing saying some of it may reappear afterwards. Algae spores are very resilient.

 

[Alshain]

Well, it would seem Excel was a failure. I've been pouring it on directly as well as double dosing in the tank and it would seem all my plants are infected again. Last time I got rid of everything except the youngest leaves which did not have the algae. This time there are no leaves to salvage, I will have to wipe all the plant life in my tank.

 

[rubysoho]

Sorry to hear that! I had some luck in removing leaves. What about the suggestion of bleaching your plants?

 

[rkilling1]

Well, it would seem Excel was a failure. I've been pouring it on directly as well as double dosing in the tank and it would seem all my plants are infected again. Last time I got rid of everything except the youngest leaves which did not have the algae. This time there are no leaves to salvage, I will have to wipe all the plant life in my tank.

I have never heard of anyone that poured Excel directly onto BBA, that it didn't die within days. In fact, I have never read it either.

There are many different strains of algae within our aquariums and we only generalize them into small groups. So some strains may be more prone to Excel then others.

If you can't kill it by direct contact with Excel, then you may want to look into H2O2 spot treatments. Very risky though. Be sure to research it very well.

IMO, I would first ensure you have identified the algae correctly, then verify the Excel is really doing it's job by purchasing another bottle and performing a spot treatment with the new Excel.

I have read many articles on using Excel as well as doing it numerous times myself to kill BBA. I have never heard of a type of BBA that would not die when using Excel like I posted the first time.

BTW, "double dosing" is not enough Excel to treat the whole tank for some/most people. I stated you should use the 'after PWC' dose which is atleast twice as much as you are dosing now. Then again, if you can't kill it by pouring PURE Excel DIRECTLY onto it, there is no point in dosing the tank anyways.

 

[Alshain]

BTW, "double dosing" is not enough Excel to treat the whole tank for some/most people. I stated you should use the 'after PWC' dose which is atleast twice as much as you are dosing now. Then again, if you can't kill it by pouring PURE Excel DIRECTLY onto it, there is no point in dosing the tank anyways.

If I do the "after PWC" dose at all then my swordtails would be dead in 24 hours. They are apparently sensitive to it, because if I do that much they are at the surface within the hour.

I'm pretty sure it is BBA, its doesn't exactly look like anything else.

Sorry to hear that! I had some luck in removing leaves. What about the suggestion of bleaching your plants?

That will kill the algae but this stuff leaves behind an ugly residue on the plant that can't be forcibly removed. This wouldn't kill it in the tank anyway. Spores can be anywhere.

 

[rkilling1]

Well, I would have to agree that is BBA. It looks kinda red in that pic. That's a good sign.

As far as the fish, you are the best judge of that. I wouldn't go any further as well. Every tank is different. I have dosed that high amount with very sensitive fish and shrimp in my tanks and never had a problem.

I would seriously look into pressurized CO2, as CO2 is the biggest problem people have with controlling BBA.

I don't know if this will help at all, but this is what Tom Barr instructed me to do the first time I had a bad case of BBA:

"No more than 10 hours light.
Take out the wood, spray bar and anything else not a plant and bleach it good.
Clean filter.

Take the plants you have that are growing well, trim the tops off, and place them in the open foreground area. This will fill the tank out well.

Drop the pH to 6.0-6.2 range when the lights are on, start the CO2 about 20-30 minutes prior to the lights coming on.

Trim any BBA off the leaves etc, bury the grains on the gravel etc.

Regards,
Tom Barr"

and

"Rather than looking for a quick death for algae, especially BBA, try a slower less toxic approach to both plants and fish.

Stay on it and let nature take it's course.
Give it 2-3 weeks and look for new BBa growth and attack it quick.
SAE and Amano shrimp work well against new growth also.

Regards,
Tom Barr"

Note: The pH specified by Tom was directly related to my aquarium, so do not try and reach that pH. It was in reference to ensuring that I maintain 30 PPM CO2 at all times.

BTW, if you don't have one already, you should look into purchasing a 'drop checker' and KH solution. It doesn't cost much and makes a WORLD of difference when it comes to monitoring your CO2 levels.

EDIT: After doing some research on Excel and fish, I found a couple of Seachem responses posted online. They stat that Excel has the means to remove some O2 from the aquarium. So, if your fish are gasping for air, that explains that. I, on the other hand, do not have that problem. The tanks I treat with Excel are always pearling. IE the O2 is over saturated in my tanks.

If that dose of Excel has removed enough O2 to make the fish head to the surface, I think you need to look into increasing your O2 levels. This can be done by ensuring your plants are growing and healthy or by adding some surface agitation. Yes, even in CO2 injected tanks, some people need surface agitation.