Pubic Algae

[Nikki Casali]

Well, that says it all really. I think my 330l planted aquarium is going
through puberty. All this yucky black hair is very unattractive.
Definitely needs the full wax treatment.

Suddenly, I've noticed around the edges and tips of leaves an algae that
looks almost like black scraggy beard hair. I've just finished a course
of treatment to cure ich. That treatment lasted over 2 weeks. I checked
the phosphate level directly after and measured 2.75 mg/l. My tap water,
by the way, contains 2.20 mg/l of phosphate.

I'm wondering whether the ich medication had an impact on plant
phosphate uptake?

Today, the phosphate level is 2.07 mg/l. Yesterday, it measured 2.17
mg/l. I didn't feed the fish between the 2 measurements.

Other specifics are:
Nitrate 25 mg/l (tap 25 mg/l)
pH 7.4
CO2 around 18 mg/l
0.75 watts of fluorescent lighting per litre for 12 hours

Algae eating Fish:
2 Otocinclus
6 Ancistrus
5 Mollies
1 Labeo variegatus

Should I stop feeding the fish for further days to reduce phosphates or
would I be better to place a phosphate removing pouch in my canister
filter? Maybe I should reduce lighting hours?

I don't think any of my algae eating fish are interested in the hairy
stuff. Maybe the mollies would be if I starved them?

Any ideas?

Nikki

[cabaloz]

It sounds like Black Brush Algae and once it has a toe hold in the tank it
is near impossible to eradicate. I have battled it for almost a year now,
tinkering with the nutrient levels, bleach dips for the plants etc., all of
which slowed it down but couldn't kill it off completely.
At the moment I am at the mid-point of a 2 week treatment using a product
called Azoo Brush Algae Killer, recently renamed to Brush Magic. The staff
at my LFS confess that it works a treat, we'll see.
Do a Google on it and you will find lots of suggested treatments for it.
Hopefully one will work for you.
Good luck.


"Nikki Casali" > wrote in message
...
> Well, that says it all really. I think my 330l planted aquarium is going
> through puberty. All this yucky black hair is very unattractive.
> Definitely needs the full wax treatment.
>
> Suddenly, I've noticed around the edges and tips of leaves an algae that
> looks almost like black scraggy beard hair. I've just finished a course of
> treatment to cure ich. That treatment lasted over 2 weeks. I checked the
> phosphate level directly after and measured 2.75 mg/l. My tap water, by
> the way, contains 2.20 mg/l of phosphate.
>
> I'm wondering whether the ich medication had an impact on plant phosphate
> uptake?
>
> Today, the phosphate level is 2.07 mg/l. Yesterday, it measured 2.17 mg/l.
> I didn't feed the fish between the 2 measurements.
>
> Other specifics are:
> Nitrate 25 mg/l (tap 25 mg/l)
> pH 7.4
> CO2 around 18 mg/l
> 0.75 watts of fluorescent lighting per litre for 12 hours
>
> Algae eating Fish:
> 2 Otocinclus
> 6 Ancistrus
> 5 Mollies
> 1 Labeo variegatus
>
> Should I stop feeding the fish for further days to reduce phosphates or
> would I be better to place a phosphate removing pouch in my canister
> filter? Maybe I should reduce lighting hours?
>
> I don't think any of my algae eating fish are interested in the hairy
> stuff. Maybe the mollies would be if I starved them?
>
> Any ideas?
>
> Nikki
>

[Michi Henning]

cabaloz" > wrote in message
...
>
> At the moment I am at the mid-point of a 2 week treatment using a product
> called Azoo Brush Algae Killer, recently renamed to Brush Magic. The staff
> at my LFS confess that it works a treat, we'll see.

Be prepared for some fish deaths. Especially catfish seem to be susceptible.
The Azoo product contains high levels of copper (I measure it), which is
toxic to fish. And you may see some plant deaths as well -- especially
Vallisneria tends to melt away and die. The stuff does reduce brush
algae though, I admit that (although it didn't eradicate in my case). But,
personally, I wouldn't use it again -- too hard on the fish.

Cheers,

Michi.

--
Michi Henning Ph: +61 4 1118-2700
ZeroC, Inc. http://www.zeroc.com

[[email protected]]

"Michi Henning" > wrote in message >...
> cabaloz" > wrote in message
> ...
> >
> > At the moment I am at the mid-point of a 2 week treatment using a product
> > called Azoo Brush Algae Killer, recently renamed to Brush Magic. The staff
> > at my LFS confess that it works a treat, we'll see.
>
> Be prepared for some fish deaths. Especially catfish seem to be susceptible.
> The Azoo product contains high levels of copper (I measure it), which is
> toxic to fish. And you may see some plant deaths as well -- especially
> Vallisneria tends to melt away and die. The stuff does reduce brush
> algae though, I admit that (although it didn't eradicate in my case). But,
> personally, I wouldn't use it again -- too hard on the fish.
>
> Cheers,
>
> Michi.


Michi is correct, Cu is very effective at killing BBA and does little
harm when used correctly to some species of plants, others will die
like flies though.

You can use Blue Stone, available froma pharmacy, it 's CuSO4.

See APD for long ago methods of using copper. Neil Frank played with
it for awhile, I tried way back before I knew better and what was the
root cause of the BBA.

Now, I'd never suggest anyone use it
Add more CO2 and use that correctly, killing algae is not your goal,
growing plants is, therefore provide the plants with good conditions
and you will not have algae. CO2=> 20-30ppm the entire photoperoid.

No aquascaper/decent grower worth their salt uses algicides.
Guess why?

They grow the plants well.
Then the algae does not grow.

So focus on growing the plants, not killing algae.

Regards,
Tom barr

[Dick]

On Fri, 03 Dec 2004 21:49:41 GMT, "cabaloz" >
wrote:

>It sounds like Black Brush Algae and once it has a toe hold in the tank it
>is near impossible to eradicate. I have battled it for almost a year now,
>tinkering with the nutrient levels, bleach dips for the plants etc., all of
>which slowed it down but couldn't kill it off completely.
>At the moment I am at the mid-point of a 2 week treatment using a product
>called Azoo Brush Algae Killer, recently renamed to Brush Magic. The staff
>at my LFS confess that it works a treat, we'll see.
>Do a Google on it and you will find lots of suggested treatments for it.
>Hopefully one will work for you.
>Good luck.
>
>
My 75 gallon tank had BBA. I battled it for about2 months and it
finally cleared. That was well over a year ago.

My "fix" was a series of things, no chemicals. The tank had been
running for about 6 months before I realized I was having a "growing"
problem. I have no LFS, so I had to rely on Google to get help. I
didn't know of this news group at the time.

First I new I was having plant problems. I had learned of the "low
light" formula and realized my tank lighting was "low light." I had
bought pretty plants up to then. Since I do my buying via the
internet, I did a Google and found I could by assorted packages of
plants by ligh level. So I put in my order.

I also noticed that even the gravel had tufts of BBA growing. The
live bearers seemed to be eating shorter pieces, so I placed an order
for Siamese Algae Eaters, some Black Mollies and some Platties.

When the new plants arrived, I removed all the plants that had BBA,
removed all gravel that had BBA (I cleaned the gravel and spread it
out in the summer sun to dry and bleach), cleaned with bleach
ornaments and rocks and planted the new plants. The new fish arrived
about the same time.

I don't remember any more steps. I hope my experience is some help.
I avoid chemical additives in my tank. Today my plant growth is
luxurious and the tank is algae free except for some dots of green
algae on the glass. I love the SAEs, so much so I now have 9 of them
in the tank. Since ridding the 75 gallon of BBA, I have added to my
menagerie a 29 gallon and 3 ten gallon tanks. By following the things
I said above, I have avoided the awful BBA in those tanks. Quite
possibly BBA is imported. In which case my efforts had nothing to do
with it clearing.

dick

>"Nikki Casali" > wrote in message
...
>> Well, that says it all really. I think my 330l planted aquarium is going
>> through puberty. All this yucky black hair is very unattractive.
>> Definitely needs the full wax treatment.
>>
>> Suddenly, I've noticed around the edges and tips of leaves an algae that
>> looks almost like black scraggy beard hair. I've just finished a course of
>> treatment to cure ich. That treatment lasted over 2 weeks. I checked the
>> phosphate level directly after and measured 2.75 mg/l. My tap water, by
>> the way, contains 2.20 mg/l of phosphate.
>>
>> I'm wondering whether the ich medication had an impact on plant phosphate
>> uptake?
>>
>> Today, the phosphate level is 2.07 mg/l. Yesterday, it measured 2.17 mg/l.
>> I didn't feed the fish between the 2 measurements.
>>
>> Other specifics are:
>> Nitrate 25 mg/l (tap 25 mg/l)
>> pH 7.4
>> CO2 around 18 mg/l
>> 0.75 watts of fluorescent lighting per litre for 12 hours
>>
>> Algae eating Fish:
>> 2 Otocinclus
>> 6 Ancistrus
>> 5 Mollies
>> 1 Labeo variegatus
>>
>> Should I stop feeding the fish for further days to reduce phosphates or
>> would I be better to place a phosphate removing pouch in my canister
>> filter? Maybe I should reduce lighting hours?
>>
>> I don't think any of my algae eating fish are interested in the hairy
>> stuff. Maybe the mollies would be if I starved them?
>>
>> Any ideas?
>>
>> Nikki
>>
>

[Robert Flory]

" > wrote in message
om...
> "Michi Henning" > wrote in message
> >...
>> cabaloz" > wrote in message
>> ...
>> >
>> > At the moment I am at the mid-point of a 2 week treatment using a
>> > product
>> > called Azoo Brush Algae Killer, recently renamed to Brush Magic. The
>> > staff
>> > at my LFS confess that it works a treat, we'll see.
>>
>> Be prepared for some fish deaths. Especially catfish seem to be
>> susceptible.
>> The Azoo product contains high levels of copper (I measure it), which is
>> toxic to fish. And you may see some plant deaths as well -- especially
>> Vallisneria tends to melt away and die. The stuff does reduce brush
>> algae though, I admit that (although it didn't eradicate in my case).
>> But,
>> personally, I wouldn't use it again -- too hard on the fish.
>>
>> Cheers,
>>
>> Michi.
>
>
> Michi is correct, Cu is very effective at killing BBA and does little
> harm when used correctly to some species of plants, others will die
> like flies though.
>
> You can use Blue Stone, available froma pharmacy, it 's CuSO4.
>
> See APD for long ago methods of using copper. Neil Frank played with
> it for awhile, I tried way back before I knew better and what was the
> root cause of the BBA.
>
> Now, I'd never suggest anyone use it
> Add more CO2 and use that correctly, killing algae is not your goal,
> growing plants is, therefore provide the plants with good conditions
> and you will not have algae. CO2=> 20-30ppm the entire photoperoid.
>
> No aquascaper/decent grower worth their salt uses algicides.
> Guess why?
>
> They grow the plants well.
> Then the algae does not grow.
>
> So focus on growing the plants, not killing algae.
>
> Regards,
> Tom barr

Tom's method works. My first planted tank was being taken over by BBA. It
was bushier than my beard. Adding nitrates and uping my CO2 cured the
problem.

Bob

[Nikki Casali]

Robert Flory wrote:
> " > wrote in message
> om...
>
>>"Michi Henning" > wrote in message
>...
>>
>>>cabaloz" > wrote in message
...
>>>
>>>>At the moment I am at the mid-point of a 2 week treatment using a
>>>>product
>>>>called Azoo Brush Algae Killer, recently renamed to Brush Magic. The
>>>>staff
>>>>at my LFS confess that it works a treat, we'll see.
>>>
>>>Be prepared for some fish deaths. Especially catfish seem to be
>>>susceptible.
>>>The Azoo product contains high levels of copper (I measure it), which is
>>>toxic to fish. And you may see some plant deaths as well -- especially
>>>Vallisneria tends to melt away and die. The stuff does reduce brush
>>>algae though, I admit that (although it didn't eradicate in my case).
>>>But,
>>>personally, I wouldn't use it again -- too hard on the fish.
>>>
>>>Cheers,
>>>
>>>Michi.
>>
>>
>>Michi is correct, Cu is very effective at killing BBA and does little
>>harm when used correctly to some species of plants, others will die
>>like flies though.
>>
>>You can use Blue Stone, available froma pharmacy, it 's CuSO4.
>>
>>See APD for long ago methods of using copper. Neil Frank played with
>>it for awhile, I tried way back before I knew better and what was the
>>root cause of the BBA.
>>
>>Now, I'd never suggest anyone use it
>>Add more CO2 and use that correctly, killing algae is not your goal,
>>growing plants is, therefore provide the plants with good conditions
>>and you will not have algae. CO2=> 20-30ppm the entire photoperoid.
>>
>>No aquascaper/decent grower worth their salt uses algicides.
>>Guess why?
>>
>>They grow the plants well.
>>Then the algae does not grow.
>>
>>So focus on growing the plants, not killing algae.
>>
>>Regards,
>>Tom barr
>
>
> Tom's method works. My first planted tank was being taken over by BBA. It
> was bushier than my beard. Adding nitrates and uping my CO2 cured the
> problem.
>

What were these CO2 levels? I'm wondering the safest, highest level of
CO2 I can have in my tank, taking into account inaccuracies of pH
measurements, before it poses a danger to the fish.

Nikki

[Susan]

"Nikki Casali" > wrote in message
...
>
>

BIG SNIP

>
> What were these CO2 levels? I'm wondering the safest, highest level of
> CO2 I can have in my tank, taking into account inaccuracies of pH
> measurements, before it poses a danger to the fish.
>


As I understand it, CO2 doesn't push out O2. The level of O2 is determined
by the gas exchange at the surface with the additional O2 from the plants.
The amount of CO2 is independent of O2, I thought. At night, O2 is taken up
by the plants, so I think most people turn off the CO2 injection at night,
since it isn't being used by the plants, anyway.

Here's a good link:
http://faq.thekrib.com/plant-co2.html
Down near the bottom

Regards,
Susan

[Nikki Casali]

Susan wrote:

> "Nikki Casali" > wrote in message
> ...
>
>>
>
> BIG SNIP
>
>
>>What were these CO2 levels? I'm wondering the safest, highest level of
>>CO2 I can have in my tank, taking into account inaccuracies of pH
>>measurements, before it poses a danger to the fish.
>>
>
>
>
> As I understand it, CO2 doesn't push out O2. The level of O2 is determined
> by the gas exchange at the surface with the additional O2 from the plants.
> The amount of CO2 is independent of O2, I thought. At night, O2 is taken up
> by the plants, so I think most people turn off the CO2 injection at night,
> since it isn't being used by the plants, anyway.
>
> Here's a good link:
> http://faq.thekrib.com/plant-co2.html
> Down near the bottom
>

At a certain concentration CO2 becomes toxic to fish, I believe.

Nikki

[Michi Henning]

"Nikki Casali" > wrote in message
...
>
> At a certain concentration CO2 becomes toxic to fish, I believe.

Depending on whose numbers you believe that is somewhere above
30ppm or 40ppm. According to Tom Barr, you should shoot for
20-30ppm of CO2. Apparently, there is little point in going above
30ppm because CO2 levels above that make little difference to
plant growth. I've gone to 30ppm in my tank with no ill effects
on the fish.

Cheers,

Michi.

--
Michi Henning Ph: +61 4 1118-2700
ZeroC, Inc. http://www.zeroc.com

[Susan]

"Nikki Casali" > wrote in message
...
>
>
>
> At a certain concentration CO2 becomes toxic to fish, I believe.
>
> Nikki
>

Learn something new every day. I guess I hadn't heard that since the usual
normal disturbance of the surface of the water makes excess CO2 dissipate.
Most people don't have to worry about that much CO2, I would think. The
article I pointed to on the Krib made no mention of this. It made it sound
like the water would get saturated and any extra would dissapate into the
air -- no mention of harm to fish. Other sources do talk about CO2 toxicity,
of course, but there isn't much to worry about since the solution is so
simple.

Regard,
Susan

[Nikki Casali]

Can anyone tell me what colour hair algae turns when it dies? I
experimentally bleached one stem of anacharis for 1 minute. The hair
algae turned grey. That may mean nothing as my clothes turn grey also
under bleach. But this has suddenly made me aware that a lot of the hair
algae in the aquarium is now grey. I don't believe this was so some days
ago. Is this dead algae or another species of it?

I have placed Green-X AND Rowaphos in my canister filter to reduce
phosphates. The phosphates are less then 1 ppm today.

Nikki

[Mark Stone]

Nikki Casali wrote:
> Well, that says it all really. I think my 330l planted aquarium is going
> through puberty. All this yucky black hair is very unattractive.
> Definitely needs the full wax treatment.
> Suddenly, I've noticed around the edges and tips of leaves an algae that
> looks almost like black scraggy beard hair. I've just finished a course
> of treatment to cure ich. That treatment lasted over 2 weeks. I checked
> the phosphate level directly after and measured 2.75 mg/l. My tap water,
> by the way, contains 2.20 mg/l of phosphate.
> I'm wondering whether the ich medication had an impact on plant
> phosphate uptake?
> Today, the phosphate level is 2.07 mg/l. Yesterday, it measured 2.17
> mg/l. I didn't feed the fish between the 2 measurements.
> Other specifics are: Nitrate 25 mg/l (tap 25 mg/l) pH 7.4 CO2 around 18
> mg/l .75 watts of fluorescent lighting per litre for 12 hours
> Algae eating Fish: 2 Otocinclus 6 Ancistrus 5 Mollies 1 Labeo variegatus
> Should I stop feeding the fish for further days to reduce phosphates or
> would I be better to place a phosphate removing pouch in my canister
> filter? Maybe I should reduce lighting hours?
> I don't think any of my algae eating fish are interested in the hairy
> stuff. Maybe the mollies would be if I starved them?
> Any ideas?
> Nikki

Algae needs light to survive. I think the most effecient way to deal with algae is to do what some authors suggested years ago, and that is to cover the aquarium with a dark blanket and leave the lights off for three or four days. As the algae dies, it gives off a lot of CO2, so you would need to place airstones at one end of the aquarium to rotate the water for oxygenation. Also, the dead "plant" material would quickly foul the water, so you would need to follow up with a couple of partial water changes. This is a time-tested method, as simple as it gets, and involves no chemicals. --Mark:cool:



--
Posted via CichlidFish.com
http://www.cichlidfish.com/portal/forums

[Nikki Casali]

I didn't mention that some months ago, before I added any real plants to
the tank, and in my ignorance, I added a pH adjuster to my tap water.
Because that water is so hard, much of the chemicals precipitated out
like snow. It completely blocked up my canister filter.

I am wondering whether that snow like precipitation was actually pure
phosphate.

Even with Rowaphos and Green-X working in the canister filter, and a
pinch of food a day, phosphate has only now leveled out at 0.80 mg/L. It
was up and down like a yo-yo a couple of days ago. I wonder whether some
of the precipitation is still in my tank and is now dissolving back into
solution?

The anacharis stem I bleached with 1:19 concentration, for 1 minute
only, has not recovered after 2 days.

Nikki