Help with what I think is BBA

[Smitty]

Howdy!

Ok, I've been fighting what I think is BBA for months now. It started when I was trying to use DIY CO2. I've since (the past 2+ months) switched to pressurized CO2 from a 5g container.

So, I'm not sure if I'm supposed to continue trying to dose with excel with the CO2 because isn't excel like a liquid CO2? I've also not tried to use hydrogen peroxide as some of the treatments indicate. I have tried doing 2 blackouts and they didn't help one bit (only did 3 days).

So first, is it BBA? Second, should I try some of the other methods? Thanks!

I'm only going to post a couple shots. I took 6 total and the rest are in my gallery.

Click for mucho grande!

 

[jsoong]

Prob BBA ... & no, blackout didn't seem to work for me ... tried it for 2 weeks in an experimental setup, still not dead.

BBA seems to persists once established, even if the original root cause had been correct. Excel seems to be the safest solution. You can use it with CO2 with no problems. If you don't have Excel sensitive plants, you can go the "overdose" route - adding the "initial" dose daily for 3-5 days. People had reported good result with that, although there may be some plant dieback. H2O2 is another possibility, but from hat I read, has more potential to cause plant/fish death.

I experimented a bit with H2O2. In my hand, it was less effective than Excel. And Excel sensitive plants die just as easily with H2O2 as with Excel or bleach.

 

[Smitty]

Ok, I can give excel a shot. The last time I saw any of it I just added cap fulls to the water. There are way too many bunches to try and treat each one with a syringe...

 

[mgamer20o0]

well the driftwood i would just pull out and clean. if its on the plants excel is a good bet. its said co2 over 30ppm will keep it at bay though too much excel will lower the oxygen content. just something to watch out for.

 

[Smitty]

Well, the driftwood does have a couple patches of plants growing that are rooted down but I can look into it. Plus putting it back in with the sand is a real pain! Still, if it gets rid of the BBA then it is worth it.

 

[Purrbox]

CO2 and Excel both provide carbon for the plants, however Excel is not liquid CO2. Definately looks like BBA that you are dealing with. Generally once you've stopped its spread by getting the nutrients in balance, the existing BBA doesn't go away on its own and has to be manually removed. Occationally you can get it to go away with spot dosing or over dosing of Excel, but sometimes you still just have to manually remove it.

 

[Smitty]

Oh that stinks.... it is everywhere in the tank including on most of the plants. Removing it is tantamount to starting all over...

 

[FishEggs]

do you have Siamese algae eaters? you can try a couple of them. i believe they are one of the very few fish that MAY eat the red algaes which bba is.

 

[Smitty]

I do have one SAE but he doesn't seem to eat any. I was thinking of picking up a couple more.

 

[FishEggs]

they are hit or miss really. i just know that when i saw a little tuft of bba start developing i added an sae and it disappeared. i didnt see him eat it though so i cant be definite that's why it disappeared.