Losing Battle Against BBA, Please Help

[sleepylof]

Hi,

I previously posted on this forum under the topic "Algae Overrun." When I placed my Amazon Sword, Crypts, and Elodea in my 26 gal. tank, immediately black brush algae began to grow on the leaves of the plants. The new tank is lit by a 96W, 6700K compact fluorsecent light for 6/hrs a day. All the advice I received was very useful and I have been applying it for about a week now. The problem is is while the Flourish Excel dose and two DIY CO2 (Hagen) systems has helped inhibit the BBA algae by raising CO2 (Level increased from 5ppm to 8ppm), BBA is still reappearing. Eversince I began providing more nutrients, CO2, and Fluorish Excel, BBA growth on the NEW plants is minimal, while BBA grows on the already affected plants more aggressively.

Can anyone help me tweak my routine to keep the BBA in check? Or should I resort to purchasing Rosey Barbs and Black Mollies to help eat the BBA? Any advice is welcome and apprecaited. Thanks so much.

I perform weekly water changes of 20%. I use Flourish once a week as well as Flourish Excel 3x weekly at 13mL, as well as provide Flourish Iron, Phosphorus, Potassium, and Nitrogen according to dosage instructions on the label.

Water Perameters:
pH: 7.4
Phosphate: slightly over 1ppm
Nitrate: very low
Ammonia: very low
KH: 6 degrees
Iron: Acceptable level

-Erik

 

[travis simonson]

BBA can be tenacious. You have two options to treat the affected plants: prune the leaves affected with BBA (you should be fairly ruthless about this to get rid of as much of the BBA as possible); or remove the plants from your tank and dip them in a 19:1 water:bleach solution for 2 minutes. The bleach dip will kill the BBA but it can be very hard on your plants too but swords should take it fairly well. I'm not sure about the Crypts or Elodea though. I just love to see bleached white BBA falling off of my plants

It sounds like you currently cannot increase CO2 to the ideal 25-30 ppm range. It also sounds like you've gotten to the point where the BBA is no longer spreading very quickly and may soon be in check. To prevent a resurgence your best bet is to keep CO2 levels as high as possible and continue dosing with Excel.

 

[Xzap]

Travis is spot on.. one thing I might add.. if you do the bleach treatment, keep it to 2-3 minutes tops, I have went 4 minutes on anubias.

Then rinse the plants until you can't smell any bleach. Then dip them in some water that's been treated with dechlorinator before they go back in the tank.

I'm dealing with BBA right now and I've about got it under control by pruning and dippin'.

Thx,

dave

 

[sleepylof]

I tested my pH/KH again tonight and I've got a pH of 7.4 and a KH of 7 degrees with the two DIY Hagen CO2 systems. ... An 8ppm CO2 level. Do you know what is causing the BBA?... I've spent a month trying to find out and it is certainly aggravating to say the least.

So, I'll just continue the nutrients, dose Fluorish Excel every other day and do the bleach dip. Should I continue to use a toothbrush and physically remove some of the BBA during this process?

Thanks for your replies! I'll try the bleach dip.

 

[travis simonson]

The cause of the BBA is most likely a well-lighted environment that is somewhat lacking in CO2. Once you have the dreaded pirate Blackbeard in your waters it can be somewhat difficult to rid yourself of him. CO2 levels in the 25-30 ppm range will aid you quite a bit in this department. If there is any way for you to increase CO2 it will help you immeasurably in this department. If not, removing affected leaves and/or bleach-dipping affected plants will remove the immediate problem and hopefully put you on the right path. BBA is a real booger. I still fight it in my tank with certain plants. Your best bet is to remove/dip BBA affected leaves/plants as soon as you see them. Some have reported success against BBA by dosing Excel at double or even triple the recommended levels but I can't advise doing so unless you really know what you're doing.

In other news, I'm preparing a report on the use of glutaraldehyde (one of the active ingredients in Flourish Excel that I have been experimenting with in raw form as a treatment for BBA and plant growth supplement) in planted tanks. More on this later

 

[sleepylof]

Bleach Dosing

I tried a 25:1 (water:bleach) solution for the plants, and soaked them in it for exactly 2 minutes. After that I rinsed them under the sink with copious amounts of tap water until I no longer could smell any bleach. After that I placed them for a few minutes in a bucket of water that was treated with 4x the amount of dechlorinator. So far ALL the BBA on the plants have dissappeared! ...Let's just hope this keeps this in check.

Do you know what is the safe number of times to perform the bleach dip?

Thanks alot of the bleach dip idea! It works! Hopefully, with the Excel and my 2 DIY CO2 systems things can get back to normal.

Please let me know your comments!

-Erik

 

[travis simonson]

Excellent news! Many plants take very well to a little bit 'o bleach.

Do not bleach-dip your plants more often than once a month or you risk burning them badly. Observe them closely for the week after you dip them for signs of distress. If you see signs that they are not doing well then avoid dipping them again.

Keep up the good work and maintain good water conditions and I think you'll get past this

 

[greenmaji]

you might want to try a powered reactor to get your CO2 levels up..

your nitrate level should be around 10-15ppm as well..

 

[BrianNY]

Check your phosphates too. This algae proliferates in a phosphate rich environment.

 

[Purrbox]

I was just wondering what type of filtration you have on this tank. I would think that with two Hagen CO2 Systems your CO2 would have gone up more than it has. If you've got a bio wheel in the filter this could be gassing off the majority of the CO2 that you are injecting. Another possibility is that when the water is being returned to the tank, it's splashing too much, which would also gas the CO2.

 

[sleepylof]

I'm using an Aquaclear 200 power filter. It provides mechanical, chemical, and biological filtering.


Thanks for bringing up the point about splashing water. I checked and made sure the water level in the tank caused to splashing.

 

[czcz]

Does very low ammonia mean you have trace ammonia? Is the tank overstocked?

In addition to the great advice you've received, you should do a massive water change after removing infected plants and increase weekly changes.

13mL is a lot of Excel in that volume and I am surprised existing algae is still spreading. One powered reactor more than doubled the combined dissolved CO2 of one Hagen ladder and a bell in my set-up, fwiw.

 

[sleepylof]

Actually, I have only 3 Gouramis, Cory Cat, Glass catfish, and 2 algae eaters in the tank.

Although the bleach dip worked well for most of my plants (25:1 for 2 mins), the Amazon Sword's leaves are questionable. They appear thinner and slightly transparent. ... I'm thinking I couldn't have burned it because I used a rather dilute bleach solution (25:1) for only 2 mins. Any advice for this? ...As I am stunned... Do you advise cutting off the leaves and allowing the rhizome to produce new shoots or should I just leave it like that and it will recover?

Is there anything special I should do for the plants besides giving them plenty of light and nutrients while they recover from the bleach dip?

Appreciate all the great comments I've received on this, and I'll keep you posted.

 

[czcz]

As you know, the idea behind bleach is your plants are stronger than algae, so it's not uncommon for delicate or thin leaved plants to be sick afterward. I would just trim the leaves and let the plant regrow, but it may recover on its own... time will tell. Take Travis's advice about ruthless trimming to heart: the only way I beat BBA was to remove all infected leaves, increase CO2, and water changes to remove spores after trimming and maintenence. The little new growth with BBA were removed immediately, and then water change. My plants grew back healthier than before, and I have not had BBA since. A 30 second 5% bleach dip melted my favorite plant (P. stellata "fine leaf") and I've soured on it, especially since it is unnecessary to win. I used Excel too and found dosing 4mL into ~15g (actual water volume, ~2x recommended dose) stopped BBA from spreading. Just my experience.

So do you have trace ammonia? I know very little physiology, but perhaps the algae is thriving despite high carbon because it takes ammonia before the leaf does.

 

[sleepylof]

I think the BBA had already gotten the best of most of my plants. I've trimmed off almost all the leaves. Hopefully within time, the plant will regrow...

I guess never start a high lit tank without CO2. (After I tried to add nutrients, Excel, and increase CO2 after the fact, it was too late). Hopefully now, the plants will regrow without BBA.

 

[travis simonson]

I guess never start a high lit tank without CO2.

Don't feel bad. I had the exact same experience. I put 3.5 wpg over an ARLC tank thinking I could grow wicked plants and not use CO2. Maybe it can be done by an expert, but I'm not sure if that's even possible. CO2 really evens-out the equation