Tropical Fish Forum
Tropical Fish Keeping Help and Advice => Fish Tank Plant Advice => Topic started by: fruitbat on March 27, 2017, 06:17:56 PM
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hi guys, has anyone got some advice on getting rid of bba ... its not taken over just yet but i would like to get rid of it if possible .. thanks
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Best to take action now before it gets worse as it's a pain to get rid of. I tried all sorts with mine and in the end had to do it the old fashioned way of getting everything out and giving it a manual scrubbing.
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@fruitbat I don't have a silver bullet but I am going through the same issues so I can tell you what I'm doing to control it. The usual explanation is that there is an imbalance in the light, nutrients or carbon in the tank that favours algae over the plants. In my case I moved to a larger tank, and was having trouble keeping plants alive, the hood lights were very much underpowered, so I added a 1m high output Led bar. Everything took off growing but in addition the ambient lighting has increased in the room with the day length and I probably left the day period too long.
I am currently reducing the on cycle an hour at a time each week, and have got to the point where I noticed that the algae growth rate only seems to increase later in the week and also some of the leaves on a Amazon sword are deforming and bleaching so my next move will be to increase fertiliser with a second dose mid week and see what that does.
If this doesn't work I was considering adding some shrimp to the tank, but it's still relatively new so I have held off on that step for the moment. I would also like to work out what is happening rather then throw a patch on it.
So I guess this is just a suck-it-and-see approach, just changing one thing at a time. No doubt you won't have the same cause, but look at what has changed reciently and at what you can alter to get the balance back.
Good luck, it's nasty stuff :(
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Is the tank planted? Get some fast growing plants, which act as algae inhibitors, to use up excess nutrients.
Are you adding CO2 to the tank? If not, I recommend adding double the recommended dose of liquid carbon (Easycarbo or similar). This is an algaecide and has the added benefit of increasing plant growth. You need to be consistent with your routine, as fluctuating CO2 levels are a cause of BBA. You can also spot dose algae with liquid carbon and a syringe, just remember to turn off your pump first.
Amano shrimp devoured my BBA, but I'm pretty sure this was mainly because I upped my liquid carbon, which weakened/killed the algae.
Keep an eye on your livestock after you start dosing as too much may result in them gasping at the surface. If this happens do a quick water change to reduce CO2 levels. I've never seen this in my tank, even when I dosed incorrectly and added 3x the recommended dose, but it is something to be aware of.
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hi . thanks for the info .. i will start with the light first as they on 10 h a day and with the daylight outside getting longer this may be a factor.. i have shrimp in but still growing all over .. i also have one live plant which grows like mad don't know what its called but its like the oxygenating plant in ponds .. ill keep you updated if i find a cure ... thanks
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I've just realised this is the algae I have too :o Nightmare!!