Black Beard (Brush?) algae

[blair thompson]

I have been infested with a plague of this algae, on the
heater, on the plants, etc. through my initial 10 gallon aquarium, and
now with my 20.

Any ideas how to get rid of it, apart from other plants to
compete for the nitrogen? I have lots of duckweed and another leafy
plant whose name I don't recall, but there seems to be enough
nutrition to go around for everything green (and black) in the tank.
I had heard that the only fish that likes to munch
on this stuff is a Siamese...or is it a Chinese algae eater. Anyone
have any miracle cures or other breeds that might like an aquarium
full of black salad?

Thanks for any information.
Blair
North Vancouver, B.C.

[Paul O.]

"blair thompson" > wrote in message
...
> I have been infested with a plague of this algae, on the
> heater, on the plants, etc. through my initial 10 gallon aquarium, and
> now with my 20.
> Any ideas how to get rid of it, apart from other plants to
> compete for the nitrogen? >
> Thanks for any information.
> Blair
> North Vancouver, B.C.

I just went thru battling that stuff after setting up my new tank in Jan.
Finally got a lot of good growing plants, checked the water parameters and
adjusted for what my phosphates and nitrates were. Re- figured my fert.
dosages and adjusted, tweaking here, tweaking there. Upped the co2 a little
also and adjusted lights for a little less time. It all appears to have gone
away. So not sure if their was any one thing I did that helped more than
another. Just kept fooling with it and got lucky and hit a right
combination. Be patient and keep trying different things. Good luck.
--
Paul O.

[Happy'Cam'per]

Blair,

Are you using co2, how much light do you have, is the tank heavily planted?
--
**So long, and thanks for all the fish!**

"blair thompson" > wrote in message
...
> I have been infested with a plague of this algae, on the
> heater, on the plants, etc. through my initial 10 gallon aquarium, and
> now with my 20.
>
> Any ideas how to get rid of it, apart from other plants to
> compete for the nitrogen? I have lots of duckweed and another leafy
> plant whose name I don't recall, but there seems to be enough
> nutrition to go around for everything green (and black) in the tank.
> I had heard that the only fish that likes to munch
> on this stuff is a Siamese...or is it a Chinese algae eater. Anyone
> have any miracle cures or other breeds that might like an aquarium
> full of black salad?
>
> Thanks for any information.
> Blair
> North Vancouver, B.C.

[chris nuttall]

I recently got rid of a serios infestation of black brush algea from
my community aquarium, it was so bad that it was killing the plants. I
tried all of the " keep pruning the plants, boiling the rocks, and
fiddling with the parameters" stuff.....nothing.
The ONLY way to get rid of the stuff is with a Crossocheilus
Siamensis. siamese algae eater (US) siamese flying-fox (UK). I bought
a pair and they cleaned up within a week! Like a pair of lawn mowers!
They are also quite entertaining fish to keep, fast moving,pretty, and
they have no swim bladder so if they stop swimming they sink.
These fish are often confused with three other fish;
False Siamensis (Garra taeniata, or Epalzeorhynchus sp)
Flying Fox (Epalzeorhynchus kalopterus)
Chinese algae Eater (Gyrinocheilus aymonieri)
I had them ordered into a LFS which ended up getting a few of all of
the above just to be sure!


Crossocheilus Siamensis is the only fish that will do the job, The way
to tell if it is the right fish is this.
The dark line along its side has a SAW TOOTH EDGE, it is not smooth.
It also runs right from the tip of the nose to the very end of the
tail. The other thing to look for is ONE pair of barbels.

Good luck

Chris

[Robert Flory]

I cut back on the hours of light and upped my nitrates ... it slowly died
back.

Bob

"blair thompson" > wrote in message
...
> I have been infested with a plague of this algae, on the
> heater, on the plants, etc. through my initial 10 gallon aquarium, and
> now with my 20.
>
> Any ideas how to get rid of it, apart from other plants to
> compete for the nitrogen? I have lots of duckweed and another leafy
> plant whose name I don't recall, but there seems to be enough
> nutrition to go around for everything green (and black) in the tank.
> I had heard that the only fish that likes to munch
> on this stuff is a Siamese...or is it a Chinese algae eater. Anyone
> have any miracle cures or other breeds that might like an aquarium
> full of black salad?
>
> Thanks for any information.
> Blair
> North Vancouver, B.C.

[Dick]

On Sun, 09 May 2004 16:58:42 -0700, blair thompson >
wrote:

> I have been infested with a plague of this algae, on the
>heater, on the plants, etc. through my initial 10 gallon aquarium, and
>now with my 20.
>
> Any ideas how to get rid of it, apart from other plants to
>compete for the nitrogen? I have lots of duckweed and another leafy
>plant whose name I don't recall, but there seems to be enough
>nutrition to go around for everything green (and black) in the tank.
> I had heard that the only fish that likes to munch
>on this stuff is a Siamese...or is it a Chinese algae eater. Anyone
>have any miracle cures or other breeds that might like an aquarium
>full of black salad?
>
> Thanks for any information.
>Blair
>North Vancouver, B.C.

After many futile efforts, I finally succeeded with a combination of
things. I can't rate their importance. I took out all effected
plants, removed gravel that had growth, put in low light plants to
match the tank light level, reduced the hours of light and included a
mid day lights off. It is a 75 gallon tank with about 80 fish. I
have had no further problem 9 months later.