View Full Version : alge problems
bigmatt76
06-06-2005, 12:26 PM
i have a 60 gallon fresh water and i have live plants. all of my plants have black tuffs of alge on them. and they are all ocer the plants. what do i do to get rid of them?
matt
Sounds like BBA. Check the sticky at the top of the page for pictures so you can ID it, positively. Then try to pull it off the plant and if it's coarse and won't come off without almost pulling the plant out of the substrate, it's BBA.
Len
bigmatt76
06-07-2005, 12:46 PM
ok so is there anything i can put in the water that will kill it or eat it? its killing off my plants. its almost like they are taking over my tank. help!!!!!!!!!!!!!
matt
If it's BBA you have two options, after you clean it up.
1. Flourish Excel will kill it, but is very expensive to use in a 60 gal. tank.
2. An SAE will eat it, but only the new stuff. They will not eat the coarse black/brown hairy crap that you've apparently got on your plants now.
Both of the above options are to follow a cleanup which is the removal of a stuff you see, from everywhere you see it. BBA will also grow on filter returns, and heaters.
It especially likes fast moving water. You can prune the affected leaves off or bleach dip them, which is very effective and won't harm the plants if you do it correctly, but will kill off the algae. Following the removal, I suggest the immediate introduction of Excel or SAEs.
If you inject CO2, step it up to 30 - 35ppm. Plants that are growing well are less susceptible to BBA.
Len
bigmatt76
06-07-2005, 2:56 PM
how do i do a bleach dip? can you give me step by step directions?