I have BBA - If I rescape / remove plants will it continue on the new

[mr504]

I have BBA black beard alage - If I rescape / remove plants will it continue on the new?

If not, I heard dosing with Excel or using seachem phosphate guard may help.

How you guys dealt with BBA?




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[mnemenoi]

It is usually always found in aquariums to a trivial degree, usually it is some parameter that causes an outbreak and uncontrolled growth. Removal can help, especially any severely affected areas.

Excel dosing certainly will help and reduce new growth. Check water flow in the area to make certain water movement is occurring, this can help to limit this. Avoid any bubbles/venture style powerheads (air fed) as they will offgas available CO2 and increase BBA growth. Spot treat affected plants and areas with H2O2 (Hydrogen Peroxide), perform a large water change and hit the areas when they are exposed during the WC. An eyedropper or something similar helps. Safe for fish/inverts/and the plants, kills algae almost immediately.

Clean up crew can help, SAE (Siamese Algae Eaters, Crossocheilus siamensis) will eat it especially when younger. Amano Shrimp will also eat it, but in both cases avoid trying to feed them regular food types. If given regular fare their desire to scourge algae is diminished and half hearted at best.

[snailtrax]

I've had a lot of this stuff for ages. The plants just barely keep up with the BBA on them, but it's so ugly...on driftwood, and little blops in the gravel. I really can't imagine tearing down the whole 90 Gal. tank, new gravel and all to try and get rid of it, only to miss a bit somewhere and have it return. So yesterday, I was searching old posts about the stuff and someone had put up this link:
http://www.malawicichlidhomepage.com...peroxide2.html. In brief, his guy dosed his tank with peroxide from a big syringe over the plants, with fish and all in there, at a rate of ~ 2.8-3 cc / gallon, and let it carry on. Has anyone ever tried this?
I really don't want to kill my fish, but it sure sounds like the best bet for a heavy infestation. I've had bits of it turn up here and there in some of my other tanks, but only this one is out of control.

[mnemenoi]

There is some sort of overbalance in the tank. Not sure what it is without parameters and specifics on lighting. Many have achieved good results with adding Seachems Phosguard to rid tanks of out of control bba

[snailtrax]

There is some sort of overbalance in the tank. Not sure what it is without parameters and specifics on lighting. Many have achieved good results with adding Seachems Phosguard to rid tanks of out of control bba

Thanks. I'll look for some of that. Sounds a bit less like a science experiment than dumping in the peroxide. I may use some of that for cleaning up filter parts, rocks, and wood, though. I've had the problem so long, I'm not sure if it's a current imbalance problem, or an old one because it seems once you have the BBA, nothing much phases it. Seems like it first took hold on some cypress driftwood I got and spread from there. I did try some anti-phosphate embedded filter material, but it doesn't seem to have made a difference.

[mnemenoi]

Daily dosing of Excel can achieve good results. Spot treatment of peroxide on effected areas can yield death of treated areas. It can be useful, but full tank treatments are usually not as effective from our experiance and in high dosages can be dangerous