What is this hairy stuff on my plant?

[Bieffe]

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Having trouble with my low tech plants...mostly will die.
Was thinking it was substrate so from gravel i changed.
Then now I think my Beamswork 600 is too weak for the tank...not enough lights?
Also felt it was CO2 so adding tablets but is of little or no use.

Now have funny growth....what that?

Roots growing...but the plant usually turns brown.

[joe]

This is the infamous BBA - Black Beard Algae.

[wongce]

Confirm it is BBA....welcome to "BBA grower club"...lol

Spot dose seachem flourish excel.. And it will turn white/red and die off/eaten by shrimps.

Co2 tablets are a waste of money. In low tech setup, excel is more effective although a bit expensive in the long run.

Main cause is fluactuating co2 level. A very common ugly algae...

[berlinjs]

Confirm it is BBA....welcome to "BBA grower club"...lol

Spot dose seachem flourish excel.. And it will turn white/red and die off/eaten by shrimps.

Co2 tablets are a waste of money. In low tech setup, excel is more effective although a bit expensive in the long run.

Main cause is fluactuating co2 level. A very common ugly algae...

besides co2 issue, how can we tackle this bba?
will more water changes help?
I had this problem as well, what l did was l removed most of the plants affected.
removed those woods affected but l could only pour boiling water into a big pail till the top level to soak them and scrub them. However l can't boil the woods.

[wongce]

As i mentioned earlier, this is a common algae...for me,almost unavoidable...lol...i am trying to grow some green bba though lol...

Spot dose using diluted seachem excel works best. Off the filter or anything that creates flow in the aquarium for 1-2 hours during treatment and you will see them change white/pink colour, my shrimps will do the rest. I use seachem excel regularly and i notice slower growth/ reoccurrence of bba.

Do not pluck them or they will grow at other place they stuck to....

Some people uses SAE FISH to counter bba, but my sae likes fish food more than algae. You need young sae to eat bba...bigger sae are lazier or prefer easy food

[Bieffe]

Goodness this is like VD for plants. Just did a hot water scrub. Tried my best but it impossible to be 100%. I trim some of the badly infested leaves too. I'm not gonna buy descent just yet. Is like spending $20 to safe a $5 plant....besides havinformation more bottles of medication than live stock and that's a bad sign.

Thanks for the head up and would appreciate more solution to due with the BBA. I have a SAE inside but he is totally not interested.

[li_gangyi]

Might be good to post your other tank specs like what kinda fertilization regime are you going with (if any), and what your water parameters are. I've had a BBA infestation previously, upping the CO2 levels in my case slowed it's growth down alot, spot dosing and dosing with excel killed the remnants. In a low tech setup, I'd think the only few things you can do to eradicate it is to lower your lighting a bit, use excel and/or get some livestock that can help with BBA.

[Urban Aquaria]

Yeah, in a low tech setup, you have to match your lighting intensity and duration with the amount of Co2 naturally present in your tank (Excel works as an additional carbon source too). Anything out of balance and algae will take hold, its a matter of adjusting the various parameters until you find the most stable equilibrium.

A good practice i've been doing on my low tech tanks is to let the conditioned/de-clorinated tap water "age" for at least another 1-2 days in a bucket before each water change (especially if you are doing more frequent water changes for new tanks), and i've not encountered any significant BBA so far in those tanks.

I followed the tips in this link: http://freshaquarium.about.com/od/wa...rium-Water.htm

From what i've read, water from the tap is under pressure and contains dissolved gases, in particular, CO2. So letting the conditioned/de-clorinated tap water age in a bucket for a period of time allows the Co2 to "off-gas" and stabilize its levels, hence reducing Co2 fluctuations during water changes.

Maybe you can try that practice and see if it helps reduce the chances of future BBA attacks too.

[Bieffe]

Might be good to post your other tank specs like what kinda fertilization regime are you going with (if any), and what your water parameters are. I've had a BBA infestation previously, upping the CO2 levels in my case slowed it's growth down alot, spot dosing and dosing with excel killed the remnants. In a low tech setup, I'd think the only few things you can do to eradicate it is to lower your lighting a bit, use excel and/or get some livestock that can help with BBA.

Excel is expensive...but if it keeps BBA away I may consider. Didn't know more lights gives more BBA. I always feel my LED is weak thats why my plants keep Browning.
I add Sera Florena but very little otherwise will have lots of green algae.
CO2 only tablets for now. Cannot have canisters wife will drown me.

[Bieffe]

OK when LFS today and saw excel. It's basically liquid CO2. How will that cure the BBA? That's to stabilize the CO2 levels? With this I no longer need tablets and is closest to diffused C02?
Then I can across a solution by sista Taiwan company say the liquid will kill off a series of algae. They split into 3 categories. Green, blue and black.
$12 so didn't get as I'm scared it may kill some of the fishes in my tank....should I?

[wongce]

seachem excel's "glutaraldehyde" is a chemical compound which acts like a algaecide. It is liquid carbon which has a half life of 11-12 hours.

It is not a complete co2 replacement but works better than co2 tablets (i can say proven to work)

I am using it without any problems...so far so good

Not sure about insta brand algaecide though.

[li_gangyi]

To get rid of BBA with excel, most people use a syringe to spot does the affected areas during a water change with the filters off to prevent it from being circulated, and use 2x the daily amount (not the initial). It's known to stress your other fauna in the tank though, I'd think shrimps and/or inverts would be the most suseptible, so you might want to move those away 1st. Overtime, excel will break down (especially under strong light) and thus no longer pose a threat to your livestock.

Too much light itself doesn't make BBA grow, too much light without a lot of growing plants seems to be the problem. You're gonna have to experiment to determine the right balance for your setup.

[loohc]

My experience is use horn snail and zebra snail. Very effective in my anted tank. So far my tank free ofthis black algae. Good luck.

[li_gangyi]

My experience is use horn snail and zebra snail. Very effective in my anted tank. So far my tank free ofthis black algae. Good luck.

Nerite snails are known to consume BBA, they should work very well for a low tech setup, since there's no CO2 injection going on the PH will be closer to neutral and the shells won't eventually get dissolved. Some might find it's eggs unsightly though.

[Bieffe]

Wow thanks for the info guys. No snails as it will make my wife squirm.
Many users of seachem excel says it kills algae but funny seachem themselves make no mention.

I guess will have to give it a go.
The isita stuff...sounds so deadly...it's says melt and fall off....etc...sounds so power. Very scared it kills everything and anything.

[Shadow]

Since it is on the leaf, trim it.

[felix_fx2]

Since it is on the leaf, trim it.

yes I agree, but seems not only 1 leaf affected.

trim the badly affected ones and try pushing your co2 higher. if no co2 then try giving a higher dose excel.

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[Shadow]

OK lah, in the early days, I trimmed Java fern botak before .

[Bieffe]

See now my plant become like that.
Is it gonna die?
I just got excel today.

[stormhawk]

Cut off those leaves that are left with the skeletal structure, those will begin to rot soon after. I have BBA in my tank, never dosed Excel or CO2 just let it be. It seems to only affect slow growing plants.

wongce, I also trying to grow green BBA. Already have some growing on pieces of coconut shell. They much slower growing than BBA.