What kind of algae is this?

[nerdelish]

This has cropped up on my plants. It is black and can't seem to be scrubbed off of leaves.

2 Questions:

1. What kind of algae is it?

2. How do I get rid of it?

[stingrays4]

Hi in the UK its called 'Black beard algea' and is defiantly a tough one to get rid off! Not sure on suggestions,but lighting and fertiliser dosing always seem to come up, less light more light etc. Sorry cannot be more specific. Good luck I had this myself and it drove me mad! The problem went away eventually as the tank finally fully matured

[ImACoolguy]

Yarr!! Looks like ye ole Black Beard!

Do you have shrimp in this tank?


Caleb

[nerdelish]

Would switching to PPS help? I have just received the dry ferts. I am waiting for the arrival of the scale and scale calibration weight then I will begin the switch. Up until now, I have been using Flourish and Flourish trace. I have a Finnex 24/7 that was on 24/7 mode until about 2 weeks ago. Now it's on about 7 hours a day.

I also use pressurized co2.

Originally Posted by ImACoolguy

Yarr!! Looks like ye ole Black Beard!

Do you have shrimp in this tank?


Caleb

No shrimp yet but I actually placed a bid on some blue velvets this week.

[ImACoolguy]

Since you don't have shrimp you can harm i would suggest a low dosing of H2O2 spot treatment. I do this for my discus tank, burns the algae right off!

You can get calculators on google on the safe amount to use for your tank size.


Caleb

[nerdelish]

Originally Posted by ImACoolguy

Since you don't have shrimp you can harm i would suggest a low dosing of H2O2 spot treatment. I do this for my discus tank, burns the algae right off!

You can get calculators on google on the safe amount to use for your tank size.


Caleb

How do you do a spot treatment? Do you use an eye dropper? Still a newbie.

[nerdelish]

And just to be clear, once I have shrimp that kind of treatment would be a bad idea?

[ImACoolguy]

Originally Posted by nerdelish

And just to be clear, once I have shrimp that kind of treatment would be a bad idea?

Shrimp can be sensitive to it. Once you get the shrimp you can switch to Excel.

Just take a syringe and squirt it right on algae. You will see it bubble up and start fizzing.

Some people turn off filters though I've tried it both ways and seen it work both ways.


Caleb

[nerdelish]

Originally Posted by ImACoolguy

Shrimp can be sensitive to it. Once you get the shrimp you can switch to Excel.

Just take a syringe and squirt it right on algae. You will see it bubble up and start fizzing.

Some people turn off filters though I've tried it both ways and seen it work both ways.


Caleb

I'll try it! Thank you

[philipraposo198]

It will keep coming back till you fix the issue. Look at co2, flow, light, and nutrients. Try and get things in balance.

Best thing you can do is plant easy growing fast plants. Get some floaters too to help reduce light intensity. I generally see bba in newer setups before things get into balance and plants are still in transition or just not thriving.

My number one way to help.slow down algae is to cover 50-75% of my water surface with duckweed or frogbit. Algae stops.

[nerdelish]

Originally Posted by philipraposo198

It will keep coming back till you fix the issue. Look at co2, flow, light, and nutrients. Try and get things in balance.

Best thing you can do is plant easy growing fast plants. Get some floaters too to help reduce light intensity. I generally see bba in newer setups before things get into balance and plants are still in transition or just not thriving.

My number one way to help.slow down algae is to cover 50-75% of my water surface with duckweed or frogbit. Algae stops.

I do have some frogbit in the tank, hopefully as it grows that will help. I am hoping dosing PPS Pro will help a lot. I have never heard of flow affecting algae growth. I will look into it!

[joeychizzle]

Amano shrimp will devour that in no time.