BBA - Could this approach work?

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superstein61

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Dec 10, 2002
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OK, well I have had a slight outbreak of BBA for some time now. Initially it was on one of my Anubias Nana and 3 small spots on my fake rock wall. My SAEs don't touch it for whatever reason.

I took the Anubia out about 2 months ago, did a 19:1 bleach dip and that cleared that up. I figured I would live with the couple of spots on the back wall as they were very small and I have no way to treat them separately. Well, after my last water change, I noticed the BBA spread quite a bit - to a couple rocks in the tank and a very large piece of driftwood. I took the rocks out, did the 19:1 bleach dip etc and they are fine. but upon close inspection, it appears I have much more BBA than I want growing on the back side of the large piece of riftwood I have in the tank. This side really isn't visable unless you look hard from a side angle for it as it faces the back wall.

I don't want to remove the driftwood as it would cause a major upheavel of the tank. But I also don't want to do a complete blackout either.

My two choices are - keep doing what I am doing (dosing with applicable ferts (Mostly Seachem stuff - Flourish, Iron, Potassium, along with FLourish Excel as a carbon source daily, and Fleet Enema for PO4 plus stump remover if need be)) or try and do a "partial blackout"

What I mean by a partial blackout is I could easily slip a plastic bag around the piece of the driftwood affected by the BBA (given the shape of the driftwood, I would just slip it on and tie the open end shut). This would in effect cover the BBA on the driftwood while keeping the driftwood in the tank. I know this may be hard to visualize - but picture a piece of wood, the base in the sutrate and the other end like a wing in the air. I will just slip the bag over the wing and tie it shut.

If I did this, does anyone see any downside to this approach for my fish? Is there anything I would need to worry about in doing this? ANd since I would use a dark, thick plastic bag that would block out the light, would this approach work in spot killing the BBA ?

Thanks
 
this is just my opinion, but i think it would work. it would keep it dark, and if there was no fresh water getting to it, it would eventually not be able to get more nutrients. but also, the stagnant water might not be so good for the tank when you take it off. but i dont know how long it would take for the water to become stagnant.... lets see what other peolpe have to say...
 
BBA is spread by water borne spores. I don't believe it can be treated in bits and pieces. All affected areas must be dealt with aggressively or it will pop up elsewhere in the tank.
It's easy to treat wood and other inanimate objects with 50/50 bleach, and plants with 19:1 dips. Anything treated with bleach should then immediately be rinsed thoroughly in fresh water treated with tap water conditioner. The substrate needs to be thoroughly siphon-vacced and daily water changes to get rid of as many spores as possible. If this doesn't work a TOTAL FULL TANK BLACKOUT is the best solution. And very effective.
Cover the tank with anything that will keep the tank in total darkness for 2 days. Remove enough of the covering to do a 50% or better water change and re-cover the tank for 2 more days. Then do as large a water change as possible and fertilize.
The plants will be fine. The fish will be fine. The BBA will be gone, for the most part. The SAEs should finish up the job for you. You still need to be aggressive with it if necessary. It's like a plague.
Super, your idea may work.....if not, this will.
Len
 
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Blackout did not fair well for BBA cures.

Scrubbing off manually, trimming the infected leaves etc, then adjusting to good CO2 levels, then adding KNO3 and so on will improve things and it will not come back.

Try to get all you can, use a scrub brush etc on the wood.
Take care of that CO2 also.


Regards,
Tom Barr
 
Thanks all for the input

Tom - quick followup. As per above, I use Flourish Excel as my carbon source. My tank is too big for DIY CO2 (plus my daughter has to have her bubble wand in it - LOL) and I didn't want to commit to full blown CO2 right now.

Would increasing my dosing of Excel achieve the same effect as increasing my CO2 levels?
 
Depends on the carbon needs of the plants and the light intensity.
If you have high light and high plant mass, well, the Excel can only add so much carbon for the plants, roughly about 1/3 of CO2.

This is fine for low light tanks.
Bubble wands etc are bad news. My son likes the CO2 reactor bubbles better and I have other things I can distract my kid into that is not a bad thing for the tank(Perhaps the main goal of a parent:-).

You can try a nice CO2 diffuser tube(internals which will produces loads of CO2 bubbles) and then there's the pearls of the plants which are like a giant bubble wand!

Once the kids see that, they forget about the wand.

Excel for larger tanks cost a fair amount. You'll be better off spending the 125$ or so for a gas system and making a gravel vac type tube for the CO2 diffuser or buy a commericially available internal.

Regards,
Tom Barr
 
Thanks for the input Tom.

Well, my tank really isn't high light - just about 1.5 watts per gallon - although it is with the compact flourescents and the AHSupply reflector - so I think I am getting better light than typical low-light tanks (ie my plants are growing, albeit slowly- even those considered more moderate to higher light plants)

When I started out, I had no live plants - but have slowly switched over to now 100% live plants. Guess I will look into a CO2 system down the road - and add the type of diffuser you noted to make my daughter happy. WHo knows, maybe i'll talk the wife into getting it for my Birthday - LOL.

Til then, I already have the Big economy size bottle of Excel - so I will use that

Thanks
 
Originally posted by plantbrain
Blackout did not fair well for BBA cures.

Scrubbing off manually, trimming the infected leaves etc, then adjusting to good CO2 levels, then adding KNO3 and so on will improve things and it will not come back.

Try to get all you can, use a scrub brush etc on the wood.
Take care of that CO2 also.


Regards,
Tom Barr
Click to expand...

I had BBA a month ago - I did as Tom suggested above without a blackout and I have no more BBA. I think that C02 levels must be maintained - I think that was the real key for me clearing up the tank.
I also ran a UV filter for a few days to kill any spores.
Also a bunch of water changes.

Good luck, it can be whipped!
 
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