Fastest way to treat bba?

[yiongcs]

Hi guys, the bba in my shrimp tank is blooming like crazy. Im planning to quarantine the infected plants. Is using ezylife algaexit effective agaisnt bba and is it shrimp safe?? Thanks in advance!


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[Urban Aquaria]

If BBA is in your tank, no point in quarantining the infected plants, the BBA is already everywhere in the tank and in the filtration system too. You'll have to treat the entire tank and all tools you use in it.

AlgExit can help to weaken and clear the BBA, but it works over a longer period of time and wouldn't do the job on its own, you still need to improve the tank conditions and have enough algae crew to assist in clearing it too. While i've used AlgExit at normal dosage in my tanks with shrimps and haven't experienced any issues with them, this can differ between tank setups (due to other factors and additives that may be in your setup), so if you have expensive shrimps that you cannot risk getting affected and dying (either due to odd chemical reactions, or the mass dying of algae and the resulting spikes in parameters), do remove them during the treatment.

I do overdose AlgExit treatments in my new plant quarantine tanks though, and that process does kill BBA faster, but at those higher overdose levels, the conditions will likely be harmful to livestock. So thats only applicable to isolated treatment procedures.

If you really want a faster way to kill BBA, then maybe consider the H2O2 nuke program, basically remove all livestock then dose lots of H2O2 into the tank and let everything fizz out. That will usually kill everything and also damage plants too. It's a drastic method though, and the tank will still need time to recover and stabilise before you can re-introduce livestock back.

[tanchini88]

Understand excel can also be used. Which is more effective? Excel or algexit? usage of either one of them will cause collateral right?

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[Urban Aquaria]

Understand excel can also be used. Which is more effective? Excel or algexit? usage of either one of them will cause collateral right?

Excel has a more immediate effect if you use it as spot treatment as it "burns" the BBA, the only issue is it also damages the surrounding plants too (delicate plants will be affected more than hardy plants).

AlgExit is more of a long-term treatment as its effects at weakening and inhibiting the algae work over an extended period of time. You will still need a good team of algae eaters (ie. army of hungry shimps, SAE) to consume and clear the weakened algae. At normal dosages its safe with all plants and most livestock (though very sensitive livestock may still be affected).

For both Excel and AlgExit, their effectiveness increase dramatically if overdosed in much higher amounts... but collateral damage will be much higher too. So its all a matter of dosage concentration.

[Bern C]

Sorry to hijack this thread.

Shifu UA, any idea on how to encourage BBA to grow on lava rock?? Let's say I grown some BBA on a lava rock in a container, then I put in the aquarium with fast growing plants, will the BBA spread from the rocks to all around the tank?

XD I find they are quite beautiful growing on rocks but I scare of it's very invasive.

[Urban Aquaria]

Sorry to hijack this thread.

Shifu UA, any idea on how to encourage BBA to grow on lava rock?? Let's say I grown some BBA on a lava rock in a container, then I put in the aquarium with fast growing plants, will the BBA spread from the rocks to all around the tank?

XD I find they are quite beautiful growing on rocks but I scare of it's very invasive.

Wow... this is definitely the first time i hear of someone wanting to intentionally grow Black Beard Algae (BBA) on hardscape.

Are you sure you are not referring to Green Beard Algae (GBA), the bright green fuzzy type that looks like fur carpet? That type alot of people seem to want instead.

Anyways, i guess if you want to grow BBA on rocks, just trim off bits and tie them to the rocks and put into the tank (like tying moss). Eventually if your tank conditions are favorable for it (ie. provide lots of excess light and nutrients, overstock, overdose ferts, don't inject Co2 or make it fluctuate, keep only sparse/dying plants, don't clean filter at all etc, just do all the things that most new aquarists do), it should grow like crazy... only thing is if your tank is such that BBA grows well, the plants are likely to be in less than optimal condition, so they may also get covered in BBA too. There is a reason why people go through great lengths to get rid of that particular type of algae.

That being said, growing a certain type of algae can be quite difficult, because there are many different other types of algae which are competing to grow in a tank too (you try to grow a particular algae, a different type pop up instead), and they all have different growth requirements, and its usually the dominant ones which eventually emerge and become the most noticeable. Previously when i tried to cultivate green fuzzy algae on my driftwood and rock, what i did was constantly seek out and selectively remove/kill all other types of algae but leave the green fuzzy algae alone, so that it can eventually become the dominant algae and out-compete the rest.

Sadly, i did a test treatment using AlgExit in that tank and all the GBA died off... after that it never re-grew back and i haven't managed to replicate that fuzzy rock effect since.

The before and after...

[Bern C]

Yup... double confirm. I thinking of growing some BBA balls on the rock... something like this.
bbalgae2.jpg


XD Green beard also nice!

Ohhh... I that is what I afraid too.. they invade he whole tank. @_@ I planning like growing them in a container with tons of nutrients and lights then once completed growing then put them in tank. But if tank too much nutrients ~_~ it will invade... too less not sure if it will vanish. XD

@_@ I have no samples of BBA so probably I gotta grow random algae till I get BBA...

Your fuzzy is really beautiful... but sad that all your hard work.... XD thinking of growing back again?? It's really nice that rocks and driftwood cover with algae.

Many thanks for the tips~

[tetrakid]

Specific algae growth is usually only accidental by occurrence.
Which means to say a specific type of algae will grow and flourish by themselves only when a certain set of conditions exists in a tank.
Usually such conditions are unique in that they usually cannot be created, no matter how much the hobbyist tries. Even when a desired culture
sample is introduced into a particular ideal set of conditions, it may still not survive or thrive for long.

[Bern C]

Specific algae growth is usually only accidental by occurrence.
Which means to say a specific type of algae will grow and flourish by themselves only when a certain set of conditions exists in a tank.
Usually such conditions are unique in that they usually cannot be created, no matter how much the hobbyist tries. Even when a desired culture
sample is introduced into a particular ideal set of conditions, it may still not survive or thrive for long.

XD Still reading up what causing BBA but to no avail. @_@ most factors listed are also others kinda of algae boom factors. Maybe the best way is what UA shifu said, find some algae seed and type them to the rock. XD

[PKB]

I normally threat them with Excel. There is once they grew all over my large drift wood. I remove the drift wood and spray the wood with excel.
I use those spraying bottle that people use to water plant, fill it with excel and spray the wood. Follow by a large water change and dose the water with Excel.
The rest of the BBA in the tank died as well although I didn't spray them. Maybe I got lucky.

[Dscheng]

BBA is really no joke. Nightmare of all algae, i got once mass infested with BBA on my java fern. I try on spot excel, no chance at all. It just spreading. End up, i threw away the java fern lolz. Problem solved.

Hehe BBA on seaview's tank.


I find it disgusting !

[tetrakid]

XD Still reading up what causing BBA but to no avail. @_@ most factors listed are also others kinda of algae boom factors. Maybe the best way is what UA shifu said, find some algae seed and type them to the rock. XD

Yes Bern, I think is will be a good idea for entrepreneurs to create a range of simulated algae-coated rocks, which should be popular.

[tetrakid]

Hehe BBA on seaview's tank.I find it disgusting !

Actually, that tank is very healthy.
I like it.

[Urban Aquaria]

Yup... double confirm. I thinking of growing some BBA balls on the rock... something like this.
bbalgae2.jpg

XD Green beard also nice!

Ohhh... I that is what I afraid too.. they invade he whole tank. @_@ I planning like growing them in a container with tons of nutrients and lights then once completed growing then put them in tank. But if tank too much nutrients ~_~ it will invade... too less not sure if it will vanish. XD

@_@ I have no samples of BBA so probably I gotta grow random algae till I get BBA...

Your fuzzy is really beautiful... but sad that all your hard work.... XD thinking of growing back again?? It's really nice that rocks and driftwood cover with algae.

Many thanks for the tips~

Yeah, you can't really control where the algae grows. Since they can grow on any surface, so there is always a high change they end up covering the plants too. Good example is in the photo of the tank at Seaview, the plants are also covered in the algae too.

Like the saying goes... when you don't want algae, they keep popping up non-stop, but when you want certain type of algae, somehow very difficult to generate.

It alot more difficult to get rid of algae once they establish though, compared to plants. So maybe consider just tying compact moss like mini fissidens to your hardscape to grow instead, at least next time can easily sell them to other aquarists for good money... on the otherhand, i don't think anyone will want to buy wood or rocks covered in BBA.

[Bern C]

BBA is really no joke. Nightmare of all algae, i got once mass infested with BBA on my java fern. I try on spot excel, no chance at all. It just spreading. End up, i threw away the java fern lolz. Problem solved.

Hehe BBA on seaview's tank.

I find it disgusting !

But I like it a lot... maybe I never have BBA before. When I saw it the 1st time at seaview... I was like WOW what kind of moss is that? XD Since then that's tank I will always look at whenever I visit seaview. They have a few new setups since few weeks ago. I went there this evening, and realized there's a clay jar with BBA in the apistogramma setup. I have been suspecting they purposely plant them on rocks and decor.

Yes Bern, I think is will be a good idea for entrepreneurs to create a range of simulated algae-coated rocks, which should be popular.

XD That is a good idea... I suspecting seaview is purposely planting BBA... I should have ask them just now..

Yeah, you can't really control where the algae grows. Since they can grow on any surface, so there is always a high change they end up covering the plants too. Good example is in the photo of the tank at Seaview, the plants are also covered in the algae too.

Like the saying goes... when you don't want algae, they keep popping up non-stop, but when you want certain type of algae, somehow very difficult to generate.

It alot more difficult to get rid of algae once they establish though, compared to plants. So maybe consider just tying compact moss like mini fissidens to your hardscape to grow instead, at least next time can easily sell them to other aquarists for good money... on the otherhand, i don't think anyone will want to buy wood or rocks covered in BBA.

XD Yeah... agree with you. Like green water also... I can hardly get them in my aquarium but fireblade got super green pea water easily. I got some green water recently in my 3 weeks old tank with 2 small pots of plant but the water clear up after ytd 30% WC. XD Maybe I shouldn't be desiring for BBA then tmr might pop out one by one in the fish tank...

=X Time to walk to path of algae culturer. But must put warning sign, buy at your own risk. XD