Adam M Posted September 21, 2021 Share Posted September 21, 2021 This is my first aquarium it has been setup for about 6 weeks, has had fish in it for the past 2 weeks. some of my plants mainly java fern (in picture) growing off it, i have 2 nerite snails, 6 tetras 1 common goldfish and a pleco. nothing seems to eat it Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keeg Posted September 21, 2021 Share Posted September 21, 2021 Thats black beard algae, fish dont seem to eat it because it doesnt taste great to them. Best solution is to manually remove it and find a balance between nutrients and light in your tank. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Atitagain Posted September 21, 2021 Share Posted September 21, 2021 (edited) BBA needs to be dealt with quick too. It’s hard to remove even after it’s dead and will spread fairly quickly. I let some go in a tank before I knew what it was thinking it looked kinda cool where it was growing. Huge mistake took me months to get rid of it and more than a couple decorations I just threw away because I couldn’t get them clean. lost a bunch of plants to. Edited September 21, 2021 by Atitagain 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adam M Posted September 21, 2021 Author Share Posted September 21, 2021 Thanks for the quick reply! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Patrick_G Posted September 21, 2021 Share Posted September 21, 2021 (edited) I’ve found a few things help with bba. Reducing light seems to be key, but you’ll want to keep the plants growing well so they can outcompete the algae. This means making sure the plant has enough nutrients, but not over fertilizing and creating more algae. Easy Carbon or Seachem Excel are chemicals that can be added to the tank directly or spot treated to the affected plant with a syringe but are not always necessary. What you’ve probably read about balancing the tank really works, it’s just a matter of getting the right amounts or light, fertilizer, plant mass and clean up crew. It takes time but it really works. On 9/21/2021 at 2:03 PM, Atitagain said: BBA needs to be dealt with quick too. It’s hard to remove even after it’s dead and will spread fairly quickly. I let some go in a tank before I knew what it was thinking it looked kinda cool where it was growing. Huge mistake took me months to get rid of it and more than a couple decorations I just threw away because I couldn’t get them clean. I think I was lucky. I read (captions on youtube!) about it a ton before it appeared in my tank. I had doubled the light so I was ready in advance. I mostly remove affected leaves and reduce light. That seems to keep it under control. Edited September 21, 2021 by Patrick_G Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Atitagain Posted September 21, 2021 Share Posted September 21, 2021 On 9/21/2021 at 5:16 PM, Patrick_G said: Easy Carbon or Seachem Excel are chemicals that can be added to the tank directly or spot treated to the affected plant with a syringe but are not always necessary I used easy carbon and had really good results. Even spot treating on plants. If you use chemicals make sure to turn all water flow and air stones off while treating. If I remember right only have to shut down for 10-15 minutes during and after treatment. And don’t overdose, be patient you can’t use much each treatment and it took me weeks to get good results. Another tip when treating with easy carbon after a few days the BBA will start turning color purple if I remember right and once it does that it’s starting to die and some fish will eat it then, I got a couple Siamese algae eaters and they went to work.check these out before using chemicals. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adam M Posted September 21, 2021 Author Share Posted September 21, 2021 i removed the java fern, and a pleco tube that had the most on it and cleaned off what little was on a couple other decorations and plants. i have just ( over this past weekend setup co2 for the tank and have it flowing at about 1 bps). also just replaced the stock led hood with a finnex plant 24/7 ( just did that today after the bba cleanup) 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Atitagain Posted September 22, 2021 Share Posted September 22, 2021 On 9/21/2021 at 6:08 PM, Adam M said: i removed the java fern, and a pleco tube that had the most on it and cleaned off what little was on a couple other decorations and plants. i have just ( over this past weekend setup co2 for the tank and have it flowing at about 1 bps). also just replaced the stock led hood with a finnex plant 24/7 ( just did that today after the bba cleanup) I’m no expert the video with @Cory above is what taught me and now a little bit of experience. Try to do any cleaning outside of tank so not to spread spores, the plant can be saved if it’s not in to bad of shape. Cut worst leaves off and try to clean other leaves put in another tank if possible get back to good and reinsert if no other tank you can place back in your tank just remove to do any future cleaning , the cave you can bleach treat or in the sun for a few days. Any rooted plants or major hardscape will need dealt with inside of tank, use small vac hose to pull as much of debris as you go with tooth brush, when cleaning inside of tank ALWAYS turn off filter and any air stones anything that makes the water move ALWAYS. Do plenty of water changes but be sure to refill very slowly and / or light mist if possible. sounds like a lot and it is but BBA is the worst and if you caught it early enough it won’t take to long. If you don’t get started fixing it now, it will take over and you lose. It will only get worse. good luck 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Patrick_G Posted September 22, 2021 Share Posted September 22, 2021 On 9/21/2021 at 5:59 PM, Atitagain said: ALWAYS turn off filter and any air stones anything that makes the water move ALWAYS. 😆 know I know why spots of bba turn up all over my tank! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Atitagain Posted September 22, 2021 Share Posted September 22, 2021 On 9/21/2021 at 9:44 PM, Patrick_G said: 😆 know I know why spots of bba turn up all over my tank! It is so crazy how hard it is to get under control, I absolutely had to use easy carbon and it took forever. Went through a bottle and a half for a 60G. Uggggg 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adam M Posted September 23, 2021 Author Share Posted September 23, 2021 removed all the plants that wasn't rooted and peroxided them, removed all the drift wood and stuff and cleaned them off put all back in aquarium reduced lighting slightly and upped co2 to about 1.2 bps will post updates as the battle continues 🙂 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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