Name that nasty disease....

[KmanFishNewb]

Hi All

Complete newb to fish but have had a few going for a while now but the tank has caught a nasty disease that is spreading to the plants.

They start off looking like little black dots until they grow into small "Sprouts". They are growing on the glass, filters and also plant , only thing not covered is the fish.

They hard to scrub off but if you leave a small amount of the "Core" they soon grow back.

Help Im desperate got a picture if i can figure out how to upload.

Thanks

Kingsley

 

[missileman]

Looks like black hair algae or black bearded algae from the picture.
I have some black hair on my Amazon sword, Siamese algae eaters will eat it, I have one but can't seem to find any more locally, my sword tails and even my plecos will nibble on it as well but not real effectively. Algaecide should work but it may harm your plants.

 

[meegosh]

I treated my BBA with a 24 hr blackout (no peeking, no feeding, nothing!). It died off considerably in my 10g. There were a few small clumps left and I scrubbed them off and rinsed with some tank water. It has been well over a year with no signs of it.

I'm not sure what you can do since you have plants in your tank. At the time I did a blackout it was a fish only tank.

 

[jsoong]

You can do blackouts in planted tank as well. The plants can usually bounce back form a few days of blackout.

IME, BBA (I think that is what the pic is showing) can't be killed with just a 24 hr blackout. It takes 4-5 days to kill that stuff off. Plants will take a bit of a beating with that long a blackout, but the BBA will eventually kill the plants so it is worth doing.

 

[meegosh]

Let me clear up what I did... I may have been half a sleep when I posted that. I scrubbed what I could off my decor, fake plants, heater, etc.. Once I got as much as I could off, I did a ~24hr blackout and the difference was night and day. It may have been closer to 30 hours or so.. I can't remember.

Edit: I used a new, never used toothbrush to scrub the BBA off my plants and decor. I rinsed with some tank water.

 

[KmanFishNewb]

Hi all

I thank you for your advice. I ended up buying three Siamese algie eaters. After two weeks in the tank i have noticed a considerable decrease in the growths.

The plants are almost clear and the tank is beguinning to look very good. Im in the weird situation now of not wanting it all to get eaten. Then i have to find something new for them to eat!

I thought it was a cool solution for the problem no chemicals or nasty blackouts. Lets hope the SAE dont breed then ill need a preditor fish!

Thanks