I have a 29 gallon up and running for 2 years with the following fish: 2 skunk corys, 3 spotted corys, 5 Glo tetras (2 are long-fin), 3 black skirt tetras, 2 GloFish Purple Pristella tetras, 3 bleeding heart tetras
3 very small nerite snails, 1 amano shrimp. I added all live plants over the last 3 months. One of them must have had black beard algae and took over my tank. I had to start from scratch with the plants it totally overtook them. Now these plants are doing well but at least every 2 weeks when I do a small water change I have to scrub them to get the bba off of the edges and other things in my tank. Water parameters are as they should be but I can’t rid this bba. Any insight on how I can combat this?
Thank you!
Posted by JIK15
2 Comments
BBA feeds on waste organics in the tank. This can be fish waste, but really is plant enzymes, plant dna, and plant particulate that breaks down etc that is free floating in the water column. Common in overstocked tanks. Its second source of fuel or trigger rather is unstable Co2 levels in high tech tanks. Due to either inadequate flow or unstable regulation of the gas in the tank. Also common in tanks with a lot of non-inert stones and Co2 injection.
How to deal with BBA depends on where its predominantly growing. If you only see it on plants, it is a plant issue, if it all over the tank its a tank issue. For only plants ensuring they have proper fertilization is key to long term allow them to fight off BBA. Healthy plants can fight off BBA, also healthy plants do not release enzymes into the water to feed the algae. Short term you can spot treat the impacted leaves with liquid carbon, hydrogen peroxide or APT fix.
For waste organics, increase water changes in the tank. Ensure there is sufficient flow around the tank as well to knock detritus off plants. I would also add a Seachem purigen pouch to your hang on back filter for a short period of time, this will also help reduce waste organics in the tank.
Aw man. I have the same tank and stand! I had a crazy algae outbreak but mine was a different kind. Don’t give up though!