jsoong
Aquarium Advice Addict
I have been fighting bad BGA for at least a couple years now. The type I have is brown to black, so may be Red Slime Algae is a better name. It forms a thick matted sheet over everything & killing my plants (and maybe even fish ....)
I though I had fight it at least to a draw .... but over the summer I am losing .... badly. In the spring, I was throwing out handfuls of Vals, hygro & hornwort .... things seems to be under control & plants are growing like weeds. Well, in the last months, plants are dying ... All the hygro had disappeared, and even the trusty hornwort had shrunk to a fraction of the former self. I am manually removing BGA from the leaves every few days just to keep the remaining plants alive ... this is getting out of hand.
What I have tried so far:
1. Manipulating the light cycle - more light, less light, a couple hr break in mid day ... <Total blackout trial - needs 2+ weeks to kill a sample on rocks ... don't think my plants or fish will survive that.>
2. New light bulbs - 4x32W T8 6200K Day light
3. Excel - can't do the overdose, as the Vals & hornwort melts
4. More ferts, less ferts, no ferts .... Currently trying to maintain 5 of NO3 with KNO3, about 0.1 ppm weekly of Fe & traces.
5. pwc's - currently 25% every other week - more or less doesn't seem to help.
6. H2O2 - Tried just dipping the anubias ... leaves melted completely, algae remains .... Dosing in tank - no change.
7. Changing water flow - With a wet/dry & cool water, I should have lots of O2 ... but even aiming the entire 750 gph at one spot doesn't help.
I am ready to give up & nuke the tank with chemicals! I have researched the "Red Slime Removers" and it seems they are KMnO4 or variants. Since H2O2 did not work, I am not sure another oxidizer will work any better. I am also not sure of the safety of KMnO4 on fish or plants ....
The other option is Erythromycin .... with the risk to the biofilter.
I will give up on the plants if I have to, but not on my fishies ....
Well, anything else I missed before going the drastic chemical route? If I do, Red Slime remover or Erythormycin??
BTW - my remaining plants: 6 Anubias (new leaves from the rhizomes ... older leaves melted with the H2O2 experiment.) A dozen Java ferns ... all under 2" as any bigger leaves had disintegrated from the BGA, 4 Crypt Balanese - doing not too badly as long as I remove all the old BGA infested leaves, about 6 Crypt (wendt?), maybe 3-4 dozen cockscrew Val in various stages of decay, and 6 little sprigs of hornwort (out of at least 50+ stems I had earlier this spring.)
I though I had fight it at least to a draw .... but over the summer I am losing .... badly. In the spring, I was throwing out handfuls of Vals, hygro & hornwort .... things seems to be under control & plants are growing like weeds. Well, in the last months, plants are dying ... All the hygro had disappeared, and even the trusty hornwort had shrunk to a fraction of the former self. I am manually removing BGA from the leaves every few days just to keep the remaining plants alive ... this is getting out of hand.
What I have tried so far:
1. Manipulating the light cycle - more light, less light, a couple hr break in mid day ... <Total blackout trial - needs 2+ weeks to kill a sample on rocks ... don't think my plants or fish will survive that.>
2. New light bulbs - 4x32W T8 6200K Day light
3. Excel - can't do the overdose, as the Vals & hornwort melts
4. More ferts, less ferts, no ferts .... Currently trying to maintain 5 of NO3 with KNO3, about 0.1 ppm weekly of Fe & traces.
5. pwc's - currently 25% every other week - more or less doesn't seem to help.
6. H2O2 - Tried just dipping the anubias ... leaves melted completely, algae remains .... Dosing in tank - no change.
7. Changing water flow - With a wet/dry & cool water, I should have lots of O2 ... but even aiming the entire 750 gph at one spot doesn't help.
I am ready to give up & nuke the tank with chemicals! I have researched the "Red Slime Removers" and it seems they are KMnO4 or variants. Since H2O2 did not work, I am not sure another oxidizer will work any better. I am also not sure of the safety of KMnO4 on fish or plants ....
The other option is Erythromycin .... with the risk to the biofilter.
I will give up on the plants if I have to, but not on my fishies ....
Well, anything else I missed before going the drastic chemical route? If I do, Red Slime remover or Erythormycin??
BTW - my remaining plants: 6 Anubias (new leaves from the rhizomes ... older leaves melted with the H2O2 experiment.) A dozen Java ferns ... all under 2" as any bigger leaves had disintegrated from the BGA, 4 Crypt Balanese - doing not too badly as long as I remove all the old BGA infested leaves, about 6 Crypt (wendt?), maybe 3-4 dozen cockscrew Val in various stages of decay, and 6 little sprigs of hornwort (out of at least 50+ stems I had earlier this spring.)