BBA oh how I loathe you!

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Pleco

Aquarium Advice Freak
Joined
Jul 20, 2006
Messages
388
Location
California & Tokyo
Seems my 40G tank has a growth of BBA, its found its way over the fake plants, the decorations, on the driftwood, and I see a few very small stragglers near the silicone on in the tank.

I have Flourish Excel from another tank, should I dose the whole tank or spot dose? I figure I'll take out the fake plants and such that have the most on it put them in a bleach/water bucket and kill it that way.

Once that's done I'll 3x dose the whole tank with Excel, if that doesn't work I may try 5x dose but I don't want to suffocate the fish.

I find it odd, this tank isn't planted, and its understocked given its overkill filtration :lol:. I've gotten BBA in planted tanks but this is the first time I have seen it in a non planted one.

Livestock: 1 bosmani, 2 red rainbows, 1 angel, 2 rasboras, one mini SAE looking thing, some amano and cherry shrimp, and of course a clown pleco.

Filtration: Rena XP3

I have a Marineland double bright LED light fixture but quite honestly if it's on 3 hours a day that's too much. Weekends it might see 5-6 hours a day.

Does my plan seem ok? I don't want to kill my livestock, but at the same time this BBA is driving me batty. Does blackouts work with BBA? From what I remember its not as susceptible to blackouts as other algae but its been a while since I've dealt with BBA.

Any advice would be appreciated, thanks!
 
BBA will not die off with blackouts. I've read that a guy had some BBA in the dark for a few months and it still was alive. Be careful!!! Shrimp and excel dot mix too well!!!!! I reccomend spot dosing because you can kill off all your shrimp! Im still trying to battle it myself, but to no avail. Good luck!!:)
 
Your Algae Question

Hello P...

Using "algae destroyers" with gluteraldehyde can do more harm than good. I used "Cidex" and the chemical killed the algae, but the floating dead stuff, just made more food for the next algae bloom. The industrial form of carbon in this Seachem product isn't always good for the more primitive plants like mosses, ferns and Vallisneria.

There are several more natural ways of dealing with algae. Large, weekly water changes of at least half the tank volume will remove added nutrients like phosphates and nitrates.

I floated Water wisteria and Pennywort too. They'll use a lot of nutrients in the water.

I used "Ramshorn" snails in my planted tanks several years ago and have no visible algae. They're fast breeders and eat all kinds of algae and any decaying plant and fish material.

Just a couple of thoughts.

B
 
Thanks for the advice, short of Excel I don't think I would put any chemicals in my tank.

This tank is not planted and I have no plans to make it a planted tank, which makes it all the more odd why and how BBA even got in to the tank.

I need to run to my local fish shop today, ill see if they have some snails. Maybe I'll bring them in after doing my Excel dosing.

Thanks again to you and the 1st commenter, I am having a hard time grasphing how this got in my tank. I am going to buy new plants, the fake ones are at least 5 years old and I doubt they will withstand bleach without becoming brittle.

Once I have it under control I'll put the decorations back in, I may buy a small one so the pleco and shrimp have a place to hide. I know my pleco likes the driftwood but I may just buy a new small piece since the one in there is inundated with algae. New plants and removing the decorations will eliminate most the algae, hoepfully Excel dosing can take care of the rest for me.

A quick note, the XP3 is new to the tank. It previously had a Eclipse 3 hood/light/filter setup that I hated. The XP3 has only been on it for a month or so. I am hoping the increased filtration will help out too.

If this doesn't work I think I will learn to live with it, I have pretty much exhausted my options and how to deal with it. :ROFLMAO:
Hello P...

Using "algae destroyers" with gluteraldehyde can do more harm than good. I used "Cidex" and the chemical killed the algae, but the floating dead stuff, just made more food for the next algae bloom. The industrial form of carbon in this Seachem product isn't always good for the more primitive plants like mosses, ferns and Vallisneria.

There are several more natural ways of dealing with algae. Large, weekly water changes of at least half the tank volume will remove added nutrients like phosphates and nitrates.

I floated Water wisteria and Pennywort too. They'll use a lot of nutrients in the water.

I used "Ramshorn" snails in my planted tanks several years ago and have no visible algae. They're fast breeders and eat all kinds of algae and any decaying plant and fish material.

Just a couple of thoughts.

B
 
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