JB Fish Mama Posted December 28, 2022 Posted December 28, 2022 Hello, This is slow growing, in small clusters of little soft spikes and I can not rub it off with my fingers. It is starting to spread to other plants and I’m worried it’s either harmful or invasive. Any tips or help would be appreciated. I just changed out half the tank water, so there are bubbles on it in the photos, but those normally aren’t there.
Fish Folk Posted December 28, 2022 Posted December 28, 2022 Black beard algae. Hard to get rid of. On Hardscape, sometimes you can dose with Hydrogen Peroxide. But be careful about any livestock. 1
nabokovfan87 Posted December 29, 2022 Posted December 29, 2022 Looks like BBA to me as well. If you want to try to resolve it, let's start from the top and go through everything. -Equipment and settings -Dosing and Schedule -Plant issues / Hardscape photos to show if this stuff is elsewhere or other algae issues. Usual causes: Too much light on slow growing plants, nitrate levels, phosphates, heavy metal issues, or equipment failure. The main driving cause for BBA, generally speaking, is going to be a lack of CO2. Given my own experiences with the stuff, there's a few other issues as well. 2
JB Fish Mama Posted December 29, 2022 Author Posted December 29, 2022 Thanks to you both! I started reading up on BBA after the first post and I think the lack of CO2 is likely the main culprit. I do water changes weekly and change almost half the tank’s water each time, but I wasn’t replacing CO2. There is only a little bit more BBA just getting started in a similar area up on the same type of plant on top and next of my log (circled in red). I think that the extra light there is also helping it to grow (see side view with yellow light and red circles of BBA locations). This is a 13.5 gallon tank (this is my first time having an aquarium) with a beta (Frankie). I have 3 otocinclus, 3 amano shrimp (2 currently carrying eggs for the last month or so), and a loach (Charles). The green algae on the back black wall is really the only other algae I can see as the shrimp, loach, and ottos keep it pretty under control. I have a current issue with ramshorn snails. I’ve been fighting it by hand picking them out and got to the point of 2-3 days without even seeing a snail when I first turned the light on, then woke up the next day to literally like 300 tiny baby snails on everything (ULG!). At that point, I got 3 Assassin snails and they’ve been in there for 2-3 weeks. I think I picked out 30-40 every morning for the first two weeks, it’s now down to 10-15ish. I’m hoping the Assassins start to help. (And I’m being careful to put less food in because I think that caused the snail issue.) For the BBA, here is my current plan: 1) I already cut off and removed the leaves with more than just one tiny tuft of it. 2) I’m dosing with CO2 (API CO2 Boost) after every water change. 3) I’ve set alarms so the light will only be on from 8-5 daily (sometimes I forget and it stays on longer). I was going to try that for a couple weeks then see how the BBA is looking. I’m hoping between the above and my Ottos and shrimp, it’ll be handled. Thoughts? 1
RadMax8 Posted January 2, 2023 Posted January 2, 2023 I wouldn’t put the API in, it’s active ingredient is gluteraldahyde and that can be harmful for crypts. Otherwise, I think you’re on the right track with removing the worst affected leaves and the changes to your lighting schedule. I’ve also had really good luck getting rid of BBA by spot treating with peroxide. Might take a couple treatments but it will eventually turn red and die. 1
Kurt Brutting Posted January 2, 2023 Posted January 2, 2023 It’s a beautiful aqua-scape. I like it a lot! Floating plants could also be very beneficial with helping suck up extra nutrients that the algae is using. 1
nabokovfan87 Posted January 2, 2023 Posted January 2, 2023 I will write this and ask for @Seattle_Aquarist to clarify for us here. I think your issue might be too much light more than anything else. Let's take a step back and see what's going on. Leaves marked in blue are where you see "high light" in terms of plant placement underneath your light. They are at a spot where the light is most intense, at it's brightest intensity. That being said, those plants are also very slow growing and can be prone to getting burned out when it comes to the light requirements, usually resulting in algae more than anything. This also happens when the leaves are in higher flow sections and something like otos or shrimp opt not to go and clean those leaves off. You can see the leaf in purple marked also, where it's doing quite fine. THAT SPOT is the optimal position for what most anubias want. They want to be on the side, or shadowed in your scape. Direct like can do more harm than good, depending on a variety of factors. 1
Seattle_Aquarist Posted January 4, 2023 Posted January 4, 2023 Hi All, I think everyone did a good job analyzing the issue with @JB Fish Mama plants. It looks like BBA to me as well. I'm not sure that insufficient CO2 is the cause however, excessive light intensity, poor water circulation, and possibly a build up of waste seem to bring on an outbreak in my tanks. Seachem Excel (glutaraldehyde) can help keep BBA in check (when dosed per instructions on Excel bottle) and I have seen absolutely no adverse effect on my cryptocorynes. I also noted a couple of other issues in the OP pictures. The #1 arrows in the picture are pointing to signs of insufficient available iron. Either not sufficient iron being dosed or incorrect iron for the pH. The #2 arrow is pointing to green spot algae (GSA) which typically shows up in my tanks when I dose insufficient phosphorus (P). Hope this helps! -Roy 4
JB Fish Mama Posted January 4, 2023 Author Posted January 4, 2023 @Kurt Brutting, Thank you. I tried floating plants but the current up top is so strong that they got water logged and sank. The tank is so small that it jets right across that area of too much light as well. @RadMax8, can you share more on how you peroxide dose? I’ve read that it can hurt fish. Could I spot treat it with a Qtip after dropping the water down during a water change? @nabokovfan87- So should I just move those slow growers down a bit to get them out of the intense light? Will I then get BBA on the wood? Do you see any other plants in my tank that may prefer the brighter light? @Seattle_Aquarist You are so right. I had not been dosing phosphates or iron at all. I just started dosing API Leaf Zone weekly. Let me know your thoughts on that plan. Really happy to have met so many experts on here! Thanks to all. 🐠
nabokovfan87 Posted January 4, 2023 Posted January 4, 2023 On 1/4/2023 at 10:34 AM, JB Fish Mama said: @nabokovfan87- So should I just move those slow growers down a bit to get them out of the intense light? Will I then get BBA on the wood? Do you see any other plants in my tank that may prefer the brighter light? Definitely possible. That's what happened to me. You can then spot treat the wood to remove algae there. Plants have to grow and catch up, essentially, once you get enough of the plants in there to outcompete and then everything is balanced, then you'll see the algae back off.
Seattle_Aquarist Posted January 4, 2023 Posted January 4, 2023 On 1/4/2023 at 10:34 AM, JB Fish Mama said: @Seattle_Aquarist You are so right. I had not been dosing phosphates or iron at all. I just started dosing API Leaf Zone weekly. Let me know your thoughts on that plan. Really happy to have met so many experts on here! Thanks to all. 🐠 Hi @JB Fish Mama API Leaf Zone contains no phosphorus (P); just potassium (K) and EDTA chelated iron (Fe) (EDTA iron works OK in tanks with a pH lower than pH@6.8. If the pH is higher than 6.8 I would use Seachem Iron which is easier for plants to utilize when pH is neutral or above. -Roy 1
Rube_Goldfish Posted January 4, 2023 Posted January 4, 2023 On 1/4/2023 at 4:44 PM, Seattle_Aquarist said: Hi @JB Fish Mama API Leaf Zone contains no phosphorus (P); just potassium (K) and EDTA chelated iron (Fe) (EDTA iron works OK in tanks with a pH lower than pH@6.8. If the pH is higher than 6.8 I would use Seachem Iron which is easier for plants to utilize when pH is neutral or above. -Roy I've only ever used Easy Green and Easy root tabs, and I've been mostly very happy with the results, but my Java ferns often look lackluster, and from what I understand they are potassium hogs. My pH is low to mid-6, so it sounds like Leaf Zone might be helpful. Thanks!
anewbie Posted January 5, 2023 Posted January 5, 2023 One issue you might face is the anubia definitely do better in low light but they are highest and other plants want a stronger light so there is going to be a bit of conflict in that area....
RadMax8 Posted January 9, 2023 Posted January 9, 2023 @JB Fish MamaMy technique is to take a pipette, fill with H2O2, and spot treat. Just a little bit on each area. I always make sure any filtration is off, with no flow. As long as you don’t go nuts, you shouldn’t hurt your fish. Good luck!
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