What on Earth is this and how do I get rid of it?

[Bitsy]

I think I remember reading somewhere that brush algae spores(is that what they're called? Can't remember!) are airborne. Don't quote me on this as I can't remember where I read it but this would be a plausible answer to where it came from so suddenly. Good luck with the tank, doesn't sound like much fun to deal with!

 

[divingne1]

I hope this is a different kind of problem than what I had. I had my "infected" piece of driftwood in the tank for about 4 months before I saw a problem. At first I just tried to starve it out like they suggested but it quickly got out of control. If you do put new plants in, just to be on the safe side, try to give them a quick bleach bath of 10% bleach. Not the roots of course, just the leaves. I would maybe even dilute the bleach to 5% for the amazons. Those are the plants that are struggling for me after this last bleach bath.

 

[SchizotypalVamp]

Do you have any other unplanted/partly planted tanks? This may sound silly, but if not, putting some water near a lit window may clarify if it has suddenly descended from the air or the water.

 

[carkeys89]

This seems like an unusual pest, but it sounds a little like it might be BBA. There is an article here that talks about flourish excel as a treatment for this. http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/algae/20172-excel-treatment-bba-experiences.html
I am currently trying this in my 90 gallon planted tank, although I am not over dosing at levels as high as mentioned in the article because I was worried that it could hurt my fish. I am 4 days into the treatment and the algae looks to be dying, and has stopped spreading.

 

[Hermes]

If it's established, you won't likely be able to out-compete it. I've never dealt with this myself, but if you absolutely want it gone and nothing works, you could always take it apart and wash EVERYTHING thoroughly with a cleaner (And make sure you rinse too!).

 

[gsparsan]

The fastest growing plant I know of is Elodea. They are cheap and grow really fast. You don't even need to plant them. Just throw a lot of it in the tank. Cut the long stems into shorter pieces and each one will throw new shoots in no time. They will adapt to almost any lighting condition.

 

[kimmisc]

Ok that looks like what I had and let me tell you what I have done to try to get rid of it. I could not starve it out as suggested on this forum so the first time, I took everything out of the tank except for the gravel and bleached it. I took out the return tubes, suction tubes, driftwood (it ruined a beautiful piece of driftwood), real and fake plants, the only thing I didn't take out and bleach was the gravel and the eheim filter (only the intake and return tubes were bleached). Well this took care of the problem for like 2 days. I noticed a small amount on a few pieces of gravel so I tried to get them out...too late. That stuff started spreading again. I tried a 3 day blackout but it still continued to spread. It got on my new piece of driftwood so I took EVERYTHING out of the tank and bleached it this time...including the gravel. The only thing I did not bleach was again the eheim. If this stuff comes back this time then I am going to have to break down the eheim and completely re-cycle my tank. Most of my live plants did not survive the bleaching this time. I was much more aggressive about bleaching everything. I just did this second breakdown and bleaching this past weekend and so far, nothing is in the tank. I am keeping my fingers crossed.

I have read that you only get it by having an "infected" (meaning a piece that has been exposed to it) piece of decor or plant. In my case, it was just starting on a piece of driftwood that I bought from a store that was using it in their display tank.

This is all too familiar. I got BBA from an infected piece of driftwood, and tried everything to get rid of it until I put my fish in a Rubbermaid tub and bleached everything in the tank overnight (I poured the bleach into the tank and left it with the filter running all night), including the driftwood, substrate, filter. If the spores aren't all killed, it will always come back.

MM if you try the other things and can't get rid of it, you might have to take drastic measures, but atleast you can seed it from one of your other tanks afterwards.

 

[divingne1]

OH WOW - I had no idea you could put bleach in your aquarium without the residue harming your fish. I did take all my fish out so I could get the gravel out but did not even think I could pour bleach in my water. What did you do to remove the bleach besides a major water change? Did you use something like a declorinator/water conditioner to get the bleach out of the filte? If this comes back, it looks like that is my only option.

BBA seems to root on whatever it touches. If it roots to driftwood (or something pourous) it clings on and will not come off without bleach and elbow grease scrubbing with a strong bristle brush even after it is dead. The piece of driftwood it covered (a 2 foot piece) now looks like it is coated with white fuzz instead of greenish grey black fuzz and that is after 3 months of sun bleaching and chemical bleaching overnight.

 

[ct-death]

hmm..double post? sorry

 

[ct-death]

MM - If it is Gray BBA I kept a few links I found in searching for you earlier...Here is a good excerpt:

Black-Beard Algae (BBA), Red-Brush Algae

Brush/Red Algae ( Black-brush algae) has been known to thrive in both, acidic and alkaline waters. In hard waters it will form lime tissue (biogenic decalcification) which makes it harder to be eaten/consumed by the only algae eater known to eat this type of algae, the Siamese Algae Eater (SAE). Biogenic decalcification can be prevented by adding CO2. Healthy fast growing plants will out-compete this feathery-black algae that tends to grow on slow growing plant leaves. When buying new plants, before planting, it's good to soak them into a weak household bleach solution for two minutes. 1 part of bleach (don't use bleach that has lemon, orange or any kind of scent) to 20 parts of water. Do not forget to rinse the plants well with clean water before adding them into the aquarium. The only perfect way to combat Brush algae is planting lots of healthy fast growing plants, introducing a few SAE, maintaining CO2 at 30ppm, nitrates at 15ppm and phosphates at 0.5ppm. Leaves that are badly overtaken should be discarded.
Observations;
When I had a problem with BBA, I dosed 1ml per 50 liters of Easy Carbo (equivalent to Flourish Excell) every other day for a week. The algae turned purpleish/pinkish and disappeared. Maintaining the same CO2 levels is the best way in controling this algae.
Photo by Dusko Bojic.
- posted by Dusko Bojic @ 6:28 AM
--- FROM: http://www.aquariumalgae.blogspot.com/

...And I'm sure you know about this one (my fav): http://www.plantgeek.net/article_viewer.php?id=9

I too have a minor case of BBA and will be trying out the suggestions above.

- Phosphates at .5ppm
- Fast growing plants (BTW I will gladly pay shipping for some - uninfected that is! )
- Keep nitrAtes below 15ppm
- Ordering 4 SAEs
- (I just can't do the CO2 ATM)

I will post how things go later on.