Anubias and Use of Excel for Treating BBA

[Cincy_bob]

I have been working to clear up a bit of BBA in my 80g heavily planted tank. The BBA had begun to get a foothold on some of the equipment and some slow-growing plants. So I worked over the course of the past weekend to clean it up. I removed and thoroughly cleaned all the affected equipment and removed nearly all the leaves where the BBA had begun to grow on the couple of affected plants.

My Anubias Nana and Lilaeopsis Brasiliensis were the plants most affected by the BBA. Since the Anubias is growing on a driftwood log that is fairly easy to remove from the tank, I decided to follow some advice I found here to treat the BBA by direct application of Flourish Excel to the two Anubias plants. I removed the plants and driftwood from the tank last Sunday, used a cotton swab to apply Flourish Excel to the top sides of most of the Anubias leaves and then promptly returned the plants and driftwood to the tank.

Unfortunately, the Excel appears to have taken a serious toll on the Anubias plant. What began as a pair of very healthy plants (perhaps only ten or twelve leaves beginning to show signs of BBA growth) are now showing visible damage to the majority of the leaves. A few of the leaves have developed holes where the veins remain intact but the body of the leaves have melted away, and most of the remaining leaves have turned partially brown - as if the Excel caused a chemical burn of sorts.

Has anyone else experienced this problem in directly applying Excel to Anubias leaves? Any advice on restoring the plant to health?

Also does anyone have any ideas on how to go about treating BBA on Anubias with Excel without encountering the problems I am currently experiencing?

 

[Tony Swinney]

HI

I've been fighting BBA myself recently (and winning ). I've only dosed Excel / Easy Carbo directly onto the hardscape in the tank, rather than dosing it directly onto the plants. With my anubias (and all the plants) I just trimmed out all of the leaves and stems that had BBA on them, and allowed new growth to come through. As long as you also treat the initial cause of the BBA, it shouldn't return on the new growth.

Tony

 

[Cincy_bob]

Thanks, Tony.

For those of you who are interested, here are some details on my system:

Tank: 80 U.S. gallon bowfront (265L)
Lighting: Four 55W T5HO flourescent lamps (6500K), on 10 hours with 3-hour midday burst (only two lamps on for remaining 7 hours)
CO2: Pressurized, injected using Red Sea Reactor 500
Water hardness: 4dKH, 8dGH
Plants: Valisneria spiralis, Limnophila aromatica, Limnophila aquatica, Hydrocotyle leucocephala (Brazilian pennywort), Ludwigia repens, Echinodorus kleiner bar, Ammannia senegalensis, Cryptocoryne wendtii green, Cryptocoryne wendtii red, Cryptocoryne lutea (walkeri), Hemianthus micranthemoides, Anubias barteri var. nana, Hygrophila difformis (Water wisteria), Nymphoides aquatica (Banana water plant), Nymphaea stellata (Dwarf aquarium lily), Eleocharis parvula (Dwarf hairgrass), Lilaeopsis brasiliensis
Fauna: Paracheirodon axelrodi (Cardinal tetras), Hemmigramus bleheri (Rummynose tetras), Hyphessobrycon erythrostigma (Bleeding heart tetras), Hyphessobrycon megalopterus (Black phantom tetras), Nannostomus trifasciatus (Three-lined pencilfish), Otocinclus affinis, Caridina japonica (Amano shrimp)
Filtration: Two Rena Filstar XP3s (2 x 350gph), Purigen and Zeolite used in both filters
Additional Circulation: Two Hydor Koralia 1s (2 x 400gph)
Fertilizer Dosing: EI regimen
Water Changes: 50% once per week
Filter Cleaning: Once per week at water change alternating so that each filter is cleaned once every two weeks

My BBA troubles were, I believe, triggered by low and fluctuating CO2 levels during a roughly two-week period at the end of February, during a period when I was traveling extensively. My wife did her best with the tank during this period, but I later discovered that the CO2 levels were fluctuating and consistently below 30ppm during this period.

I have since restored the CO2 levels to a continuous 30ppm level, and I spent a number of hours over the course of the weekend cleaning the equipment and removing the affected plant leaves. The BBA was mostly in the form of a black/purple film or spots and had mostly not yet developed into those lovely, grey, furry tufts. I was hoping to treat the Lilaeopsis and some very lightly affected Anubias leaves using Flourish Excel. However, my experience since Sunday has me regretting the direct application of the Excel to the Anubias leaves.

Currently, the only remaining visible BBA in the tank is on the Lilaeopsis plants. Numerous leaves are showing a "black peppered" look where the BBA has begun to grow on the top 1-2cm of certain leaves. I used a syringe on Sunday during my water change to inject Excel directly onto the affected areas of the Lilaeopsis lawn while I had the water level down and the filters and circulation pumps turned off. However, that does not appear to have deterred the BBA, as I am now noticing the development of four or five of those "grey tufts." I suppose I will need to use a scissors to "mow the lawn" in order to remove the BBA-afflicted Lilaeopsis.

Any advice on how to deal with the Lilaeopsis? Any further thoughts on the Excel-inflicted Anubias damage?