Help identifying and dealing with this algae

[Andrew M.]

Hello all!

This is my first time posting so I apologize if I don't get everything correct the first time. I have a 55 gal planted tank that has been struggling with algae for months now. I have done tons of research, water tests, tried various solutions (adjusting lighting and duration, easy carbon dosing, easy green dosing, increased water changes, etc.). If someone could provide some insight on what this algae is and how I can get it under control it would be much appreciated! I'll share my plant stock below, but I am happy to share any additional information that is needed to help better understand my parameters :). Thanks in advance!

My current plant stock is:

• a large and a small Amazon sword
• 7 stems of pogostemon stellatus
• 1 java fern
• 1 Crypt wendtii green
• a few val shoots
• a few stems of bacopa caroliniana

[Expectorating_Aubergine]

Looks like either brown algae, or the beginnings of black beard algae....

[Andrew M.]

Thanks for responding! I thought it might have been brown algae, but when i've dealt with brown algae before and in my previous experience it's very easy to remove from the leaves. This stuff just won't rub off and the leaves start to tear instead because it's so stuck on.

[Patrick_G]

Brown algae is usually pretty easy to remove, but this might be something closer to green spot algae, and that’s difficult to manually remove from leaves. It could also be the start of black beard algae like @Expectorating_Aubergine mentioned. That’s another tenacious form of algae.
 

Here’s my recipe for algae control:

1. Cleaning crew of Amano shrimp and Otocinclus 

2. Reduction in light intensity or duration 

3. manual removal if possible 

4. Easy Carbon or other chemical algicide. I use this sparingly, and it’s effective in knocking back an infestation while you work on fix the root cause of the algae. 

5. More plant mass! A large mass of healthy plants seems to outcompete algae. 
 

[jsem321]

This worked for me very quickly. I have a 60gal, 3 months old, so we're not far off from each other in size. I was suffering from either Diatoms or a brownish algae on my leaves. The OTTO Cat cleaned that mess. Then came some  Hair Algae and the Siamese Algae Eaters made quick work of that. I'm currently working on my tank's ballance so I this won't repeat, by : 

1. I cut my light intensity back 20%

2. I cut my lighting times back from 12 hours to 8-9 hours. Some will say that 8 or 9 hours is still too long and it most likely is, but I want to see my tank too. Oh well.

3. Cut my Fertilizers by 50%. Easy Green (3-4 pumps) on Sundays and Leaf Zone (15-20mls) on Wednesday. I will probably get nailed here. But the bottom line is , no problem Algaes and beautyful plants. This is what works for me and is just my opinion. 

4. Get 6 Otto Cats and 4 Siamese Algae Eaters. (these guys are tied for "PLAYER OF THE MONTH"). I've also read the shrimp are great as a clean-up crew, but I have 0 experence with them.

Water Parameters if interested, Ammonia 0ppm, Nitrites 0ppm, Nitrates (hovering around 20-40ppm, PH 7.2-7.4

[nabokovfan87]

Definitely black beard algae.

It's a form of red algae which is why it has the black, iridescent coloration sometimes.

Let's start from the beginning..... Show us the full tank, especially hardscape, filtration, and light.  Let's talk about how things are setup, then lets dive into light settings and maintenance.  Once we go through all those baselines, THEN we can nudge things and determine where some issues might be cropping up.

 

[Rita]

So I'm not convinced this is black beard algae. I have similar problems as I'm maturing a tank, this part usually came after diatom but before hair algae... black beard is usually last. Also when black beard forms on the leaves of my plants it's very patchy and looks fuzzy fairly immediately, most notably around the edges of the leaves. Andrew, if you try to wipe off this algae from your leaves is it almost slimy? I had a hell of a time trying to wipe to off my plant leaves and eventually gave up. Nerite snails do a wonderful job getting a lot of it off since it tends to stick to the leaves pretty well. Shrimp help but can't seem to penetrate it as well as the snails do. So my advice other than trying to wipe them manually is snails!

[jsem321]

5 or 6 Siamese Algae Eaters will knock it out fast. They look nice and are very active

[Andrew M.]

Thank you everyone for the replies! I'll try to address the questions asked in order.

@jsem321: My current stock is 11 gold barbs, 1 electric blue acara, 7 green cory aeneus, a nerite snail and 5 ramshorn snails, I don't know if i'd be pushing it adding ottos or siamese algae eaters but I think it's a great idea if I have space.

@nabokovfan87: I've attached a full photo of the tank, filtration is a Fluval 407 canister that is maintained once a month, lighting is from a fluval plant 3.0 at 30% max power (I grabbed the ratios from another thread on this forum), depending on nitrate build up I've been doing 30-50% water changes weekly.

@Rita: Yes this very slimy and slippery, I've noticed my ramshorn snails are doing a good job at eating it... when they decide to get on the plants haha.

[jsem321]

I see. Your tank looks very nice. Love the Amazon Sword. They are beautyful when they're big like yours. What is the large plant on the right side. I've got a perfect place for something like that.     Jerry

[nabokovfan87]

On 11/26/2022 at 7:50 AM, Andrew M. said:

@nabokovfan87: I've attached a full photo of the tank, filtration is a Fluval 407 canister that is maintained once a month, lighting is from a fluval plant 3.0 at 30% max power (I grabbed the ratios from another thread on this forum), depending on nitrate build up I've been doing 30-50% water changes weekly.

Yeah, it looks like the ratios I use.  I've cut my tank back to 4 hours (yours is at 6 it looks like. 

I honestly think your issue is the plants aren't getting enough light.  The leaves are covered and you have a "tall tank" and generally might need more light. Especially for PSO. 

What is your dosing schedule.  It's hard to point towards a solution right now.  If you use a toothbrush, hold the leaves, is it easy to brush this stuff off?

On 11/26/2022 at 1:01 PM, jsem321 said:

What is the large plant on the right side.

Pogostemon Stellatus 'Octopus' variety.  There is a few different kinds with different length leaves.