Beard algae-eaters

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karen99

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Nov 21, 2005
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I'm looking into animals that will help control beard algae. I have a very badly infested old tank and will be moving everything to a nice new tank as soon as I'm done soaking some driftwood. I will of course wash everything well and treat the few plants with bleach, but I still think there will be a good chance of getting some beard algae in the new tank (I also have high phosphate levels in my tapwater ). So I want to start out with some animals that eat the algae and hopefully keep it from becoming a problem in the new tank.
The only animal that everyone seems to agree eats beard algae is the Siamese algae eater. But I can't find any locally and I'm suspicous of ordering them since I'd like to see the fish first to be sure I'm getting a real SAE.
Other animals that some websites claim eat beard algae are:
-Malaysian trumpet snails
-Rosy barbs
-Amano and cherry shrimp (only the young algae growth)

Does anyone have experience with these or other animals actually eating beard algae? I think I may get some of the snails anyway, but not sure about the others.
Thanks.
 
I second the rosy barbs. also american flag fish. my amanos made little to no difference. the trick to getting them to actually eat the algea is to starve em, if not they usually dont eat. hope this helps
 
I had beard and what worked was rosys. I don't much like them as fish, though... they're very jumpy and eat like horses. Most of my other poor fish dread them, luckily I have 6 so they don't actively act aggressive or nip anyone that I know of.
 
I had BBA in 2 of my tanks, put in some nerite snails (which do not readily breed in freshwater so don't overpopulate the tanks) and it was gone very quickly! They are steady, hard workers. You need to be careful just adding fish to eat algae because you want to be sure they will agree with your other fish (AFF can be agressive, rosy barbs can be nippy, etc). Just my two cents!
 
Here's some advice based on my experience with BBA. Don't get any 'animals' to control this algae. The only ones that will eat it are YOUNG SAEs and they will grow to be from 4.5'' to 5.5'' in length, lose interest in the algae, and in my experience will chase, annoy and stress many of the fish in a community tank. They are just not worth the hassle.
And yes, I'm talking about the 'true' SAEs. I've had them in every one of my tanks at one time or another with the same result....good initial eating followed by being a general PITA in every tank.
Instead, get yourself some Seachem's Flourish Excel. That product will increase your plant growth and eliminate your BBA problem, over time.
If your tank is on the small side it won't take much of it, per dose, to do and effective job.
If you use CO2 you can use it in conjunction with the CO2. It's perfectly safe if the directions are followed. Basically, the solution to ridding yourself of BBA is to clean it out when you see it and then get the plants growing.
BTW, excess P is not going to cause BBA.

Len
 
I agree that Flourish excel works wonders. I will say however that zebra otos have a big appetite for BBA. They cleared my tank of it within days. I thought it may have been coincidence at first, but have heard the same thing from others as well.
 
I tried the Flourish Excel route and I guess I did it incorrectly as I still had algae. I did not want to add any fish or shrimp to my tank since I did not think they would be compatible with the fish I already had, hence the nerite snails. They really do a great job on BBA. Now that there is not a huge amount of algae, they eat wafers, lettuce, and zucchini.
 
This is what makes it hard to decide what to do - I guess every tank responds differently. My tank is only a 29g, so I think I will probably start out with some snails and otos; I want some anyway. And I'll try the Fourish Excel if and when I see the beard algae growing.
I read that elsewhere too that Excel will kill beard algae. Does anyone know why it does that? It's just carbon - does it let the plants outcompete the algae or does it actually poison the algae somehow?
 
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