Attacked by Algae in my planted tank. BBA / BGA / GSA - Help!

Zak Rafik · 6 Nov 2014

Hi eveyone,

This morning I noticed in my tank, 3 types of algae.
Black Brush Algae -BBA
Blue-green algae (Cyanobacteria) -BGA
Green Spot Algae -GSA

For the first time, my 255 liter tank is being attacked at a large scale. Usually, the algae problems would be at a selected spot and would go away on it own or with a bit of cleaning up.

I am now in panic mode! As I don't know how to control black beard algae and blue green algae which is now spreading all over the tank.

I'm mostly to be blamed for this situation. I tried to play smart and played around with my EI dosing minerals. I wanted to slow the growth of plants as I was doing heavy trimming every 14 days. I used an online EI dosing calculators to get my "new quantity for stock solution but I guess I must have either read or input the wrong info. ( If Clive reads this paragraph, I'm toast ) :nailbiting:

Anyway, I knew I had fumbled badly with my EI dosing as I noticed my plants were not growing at all after my routine plant trimming about 3 weeks ago . No new growth and leaves were looking light yellow. Everything just stood still.

Add to this trouble, my inline Co2 diffuser was clogged up and was gradually slowing down the Co2 mixing with water from the external filter. A week ago, I have started using a Sera 1000 Co2 reactor connected to my spare external filter.

About 1 week ago, I started dosing EI as per my old formula ( the one advised by Clive) and now the plants are growing back fast and with new shoots. Maybe the Co2 reactor is also doing it job as I notice the new plant growth is more compact and fast which I have never seen in my tank. (Please photo below)

The below are the control methods which I have started 1 week ago:

Dose EI as per original mix.
Dose Flourish Excel 10ml everyday.
Dose Potassium Phosphate 1/4 teaspoon every other day.

I'm think of using EasyLife's BlueExit to control blue green algae. Has anyone tried this before?

Do you think increasing water changes to twice a week will help?

How about decreaing light period?
Now my tank has total of 6 hours. 3 hours of light at 50% strength and the next 3 hours at 100% strength.

Does fish food play any role in this situation? Currently I'm feeding them flakes twice a day and making sure all the flakes are eaten up within 3 minutes.

Can the members here advice on how to control this nasty situation. I would appreciate it.
Sorry for the lengthy write up.
Thanks and Cheers
Raffik

http://i1295.photobucket.com/albums/b631/Zak_Rafik/Algae-attack-on-tank_zps05c17190.jpg

http://i1295.photobucket.com/albums/b631/Zak_Rafik/new-growdth-04_zps5e3c6d38.jpg

http://i1295.photobucket.com/albums/b631/Zak_Rafik/new-growdth-02_zps996e2e30.jpg

http://i1295.photobucket.com/albums/b631/Zak_Rafik/new-growdth-03_zpsf2a26f41.jpg

http://i1295.photobucket.com/albums/b631/Zak_Rafik/new-growdth-01_zps4c8b72a3.jpg

ian_m · 6 Nov 2014

I am slightly shocked with such a wonderful succulent green & varied tank as you have got, compared to mine, you have allowed this to happen. 😱😳😡. I would be so chuffed looking at a tank like this instead of watching TV in the lounge. 🙂. But hey ho, with high tech, take your eye of the ball even for a short while and disaster happens, as you have found.

This is really the definitive algae site.
http://www.theplantedtank.co.uk/algae.htm

All of these point to poor CO2 and poor flow and low nutrients.

Your tank is massively full of plants and clearly playing around with EI dosing (as you admit) has probably caused the plants to starve and algae to flourish.

BGA is poor CO2 and flow, which is the result of your CO2 escapades.

The way you slow plant growth is reduce lighting level and light on time not starve the plants. Keep EI and CO2 the same, just lower light. When I went away for over 3 weeks I seriously reduced the light period (1/3), reduced the CO2 time and auto-dosed 1/3 EI amounts. Tank wasn't as green as I would have liked when I got back, but slowly increasing all 3 over a month or two all returned to monster growth and green.

So to fix, in my experience.

Your Anubias have GSA, mine suffer that directly under my lights. I have moved mine under the tank bracing bar, where it gets less light and GSA has not re-appeared on new leaves. With old leaves you can wash with diluted Excel (out of the tank) to kill the GSA. But too weak Excel solution it doesn't work and too strong it kills the leaves. I have also used kitchen towel soaked in Excel, then pressed on to the leaves to remove the GSA in the tank. Best cure is slightly lower light.

As for BBA and BGA, physically remove as much a possible. I used a square of filter floss to wipe the glass, hardscape etc.

BBA and BGA can be killed with Excel and/or hydrogen peroxide squirted directly onto the algae via a syringe. Turn off all pumps etc when you do this and maybe massive water change afterwards. Excel on a wad of kitchen towel pressed onto offending hardscape works well.

So not the end of the world, even with BBA, BGA and GSA tank is a wonder in my opinion.

Bhu · 6 Nov 2014

Well all I can say is that I hope its not down to the new sera 1000 😉

Saying that it may be indirectly. As now the tank will be getting a different co2 injection rate for sure if its all dissolved now so maybe they are registering a fluctuation in co2 and hence the BBA and GSA. Once they get used to the new co2 level maybe it will all settle down again?

Zak Rafik · 6 Nov 2014

Bhu said:
I hope its not down to the new sera 1000

I don't think so. The main reason being, if you notice the Limnophila aromatica 'hippuroides' ( 3rd photo from the top), the new growth is more compact is showing some nice colour. I have never has this when I was using the inline diffuser for Co2 supply. Apart from my hasty action in trying to change the EI dosing, I did not change anything to the tank. Bad luck, when the plants were suffering from inadequate fertilizers, the Co2 supply was also going down due to the clogged inline diffuser.

Bhu said:
Once they get used to the new co2 level maybe it will all settle down again?

I hope so too.🙂

Zak Rafik · 6 Nov 2014

ian_m said:
I am slightly shocked with such a wonderful succulent green & varied tank as you have got, compared to mine, you have allowed this to happen.

Well you know the saying "the grass is always greener on the other side". Not realizing how lucky I was to have tank with minimal algae growth and such healthy plant growth, I tried to be smarty pants. :banghead:

ian_m said:
All of these point to poor CO2 and poor flow and low nutrients.

Yes you're right.
For Co2, I have started using a Sera Co2 reactor which I think is doing a good job.
To improve flow, I have trimmed tall plants and have also increased the outflow from my power head.
As for nutrients, I have gone back to my original formula.

ian_m said:
Keep EI and CO2 the same, just lower light. When I went away for over 3 weeks I seriously reduced the light period (1/3), reduced the CO2 time and auto-dosed 1/3 EI amounts. Tank wasn't as green as I would have liked when I got back, but slowly increasing all 3 over a month or two all returned to monster growth and green.

Your comments could not have come at a better time. I'm indeed going out of the country for 3 weeks and these are very same issues I was thinking about. I'll create a new post soon with regards to this and I need you valuable feedback. :thumbup:

ian_m said:
With old leaves you can wash with diluted Excel (out of the tank) to kill the GSA. But too weak Excel solution it doesn't work and too strong it kills the leaves. I have also used kitchen towel soaked in Excel, then pressed on to the leaves to remove the GSA in the tank

A few weeks ago, I had some BBA ( a few tiny spots here and there), used a small painting brush to brush full strength Excel onto the wood. After 2 days, all the moss was nuked. :arghh:

( Please see photos) I remember very clearly that I did not touch the moss.

http://i1295.photobucket.com/albums/b631/Zak_Rafik/damaged-weeping-moss_zps7bb3dbe8.jpg
http://i1295.photobucket.com/albums/b631/Zak_Rafik/healthy-weeping-moss_zpsf4870d9c.jpg

Can I have you opinion of

Easy Life's AlgeExit
http://www.easylifeint.com/freshwater/algexit

AlgExit easily removes stains caused by Green and Red Algae in freshwater aquariums.
Removes and cleans algae stains from plants, bottom material and other aquarium surfaces.
Unwanted filamentous, brush and beard algae stains are removed. Harmless to fish, crustaceans and plants.

and

BlueExit.
http://www.easylifeint.com/freshwater/blue-exit

Blue Exit easily removes stains caused by CYANOBACTERIA / blue-green algae in
freshwater aquariums. Removes and cleans algae stains from plants, bottom material and other aquarium surfaces.
Unwanted blue-green and slime algae stains are removed rigorously. Harmless to fish, shrimps, snails and plants.
Also great for preventing cyano problems.

I have read in forums where Blue Exit has proven to be a good fix.

The only confusing part when using this product is that it mentions :
The cyano stains disappear within 5 to 14 days after the first dose. Do not replenish or change the water, nor make use of adsorbents until the stains are gone.
As I'm dosing EI, how do I skip the weekly 50% PWC?
I have e-mailed to EasyLife today and am awaiting news from them.

ian_m said:
So not the end of the world, even with BBA, BGA and GSA tank

Fear not, for I shall never go into the dark side. :lol:

Cheers

ian_m · 6 Nov 2014

Zak Rafik said:
I was thinking about. I'll create a new post soon with regards to this and I need you valuable feedback.

I went away for 3 week s(family holiday to Florida) and initially I bought loads of 20ml containers from http://www.ampulla.co.uk/ which I was going to prefill with 20ml (or what ever) macro and micro all labelled Mon, Tues etc etc so neighbour could just pop in, empty the relevant day into tank. Done. No thinking required.

But neighbour got scared might ruin the tank and didn't really want to, so I built this...
http://www.ukaps.org/forum/threads/diy-dual-peristaltic-dosing-pump-with-alternate-switching.22332/

Still going. Even got a pump to dose liquid carbon now as well.

Zak Rafik · 7 Nov 2014

ian_m said:
But neighbour got scared might ruin the tank and didn't really want to, so I built this...
http://www.ukaps.org/forum/threads/diy-dual-peristaltic-dosing-pump-with-alternate-switching.22332/

My goodness. I must say you're one dedicated fish keeper. You must have had sleepless nights trying to come up with this gadget. 🙂 Fantastic job. :thumbup:

How did you handle the water change part for the 3 weeks?

Cheers

ian_m · 7 Nov 2014

Zak Rafik said:
How did you handle the water change part for the 3 weeks?

I didn't.

If you slow your tank down, shorter light period, less CO2 and less ferts you can extend the period between water changes, no issues. It was probably over 4 weeks between water changes when I went away. I started slowing the tank down a couple of weeks before going, just to check things were OK.

Zak Rafik · 12 Nov 2014

Hi,
I used Hydrogen Peroxide 6% and with a needle syringe, I applied on the spray bar (which had BBA) and rocks (which had GSA) and on the carpet plant near the front glass and 1 to 2 cm inside the substrate (which had BGA).

Here are the results using this method:
BBA on spray bar and rock
It totally took care of the BBA. Within 24 hrs, the BBA turned to pink and died away.

GSA on rock
Its like 50% effective. I can still see some GSA on the rocks. Maybe it needs one more treatment.

BGA on carpet plants and inside substrate.
This method took care of the GSA inside the substrate BUT it also took care of the Monte Carlo carpet plants and my Staurogyne repens. Yup, it burnt the plants so bad, within 36 hours almost 60% of my monte carlo carpet plants and 90% of Staurogyne repens are now gone.🙁
I had to do damage control on the dying plants cause if I don't, the plants will start decaying and mess up the tank even more.🙁
When applying the Hydrogen Peroxide, I took care on not to touch the plants at all. I used a total of 20ml as the maximum for a 250+ Lt tank is 30ml.

Not a good day for me and my tank. It's a total mess now and I still have GSA and BGA😱
The only saving grace was that none of my fish or my shrimps died. :thumbup:

Zak Rafik · 13 Nov 2014

I don't know what's happening. BGA is back on the substrate. Plants are not doing good. Now most of my Limnophila hippuroides are gone. The leaves are simple melting away. Sad day for me. 🙁

Michael W · 13 Nov 2014

Hi,

This is an example of trying to fix a problem at hand without tackling to root cause of the problem. The causes of this can be due to poor nitrates, poor water circulation, dirty substrate and filter. http://www.theplantedtank.co.uk/algae.htm

I used to have this algae in my tank, I manually removed as much as possible, kept the tank clean by removing dead/decaying leaves caused by the BGA and also cleaned my filter. I also conducted two water changes a week. Eventually the algae went away on its own.

I am also guessing the dying of plants from the use of Hydrogen Peroxide contributed to the waste in the tank. I noticed that while you removed the bulk of the dying plants, you also left some of the remains behind, this probably helped the 'algae' to come back.

Zak Rafik · 14 Nov 2014

Michael W said:
Hi,

This is an example of trying to fix a problem at hand without tackling to root cause of the problem. The causes of this can be due to poor nitrates, poor water circulation, dirty substrate and filter. http://www.theplantedtank.co.uk/algae.htm

I used to have this algae in my tank, I manually removed as much as possible, kept the tank clean by removing dead/decaying leaves caused by the BGA and also cleaned my filter. I also conducted two water changes a week. Eventually the algae went away on its own.

I am also guessing the dying of plants from the use of Hydrogen Peroxide contributed to the waste in the tank. I noticed that while you removed the bulk of the dying plants, you also left some of the remains behind, this probably helped the 'algae' to come back.

Hi
Thanks for your tip.
Guess I'll have to trim more plants. I'm going to clean the filter and replace all the pre filters.

Martin in Holland · 14 Nov 2014

The same happened to me to once, after a H2O2 treatment for BGA. I'm not using H2O2 anymore instead (so far only needed once) I spayed KNO3 dissolved in a bit of water directly on the BGA ...worked perfect

Zak Rafik · 14 Nov 2014

Martin in China said:
The same happened to me to once, after a H2O2 treatment for BGA. I'm not using H2O2 anymore instead (so far only needed once) I spayed KNO3 dissolved in a bit of water directly on the BGA ...worked perfect

Hi Martin,
Thanks for your reply.
Before I wanted to do the hydrogen peroxide treatment, I thought of using EasyLife's BlueExit but I was quite on confused when the product's label stated on not to do water change for 14 days. When I email EasyLife about this and about 50% PWC when dosing EI fertilizer, their reply the exact same word as those on the product label.😡.

I posted about BGA in this forum and was instructed to sprinkle Potassium Nitrate but this mineral is banned in my country. I had Calcium Nitrate but was unsure of the quantity to use as I did not want to mess up the tank even more. This problem all started due to my fault in changing EI dosing. When I came across a YouTube video on using Hydrogen Peroxide, it seemed like a silver bullet for all of my BGA problem. Guess I shot myself in the foot with this one! :facepalm:

Just out of curiosity, I noticed BGA starting about 2 cm below the substrate facing the glass about 3 weeks after my tank setup. How did it get there? If I'm not mistaken BGA can be due to low level of No3 and flow in the tank. How can one dose No3 and have flow below the substrate surface? Sound like a very silly question but just curious to know. :wideyed:

Michael W · 14 Nov 2014

One method I have seen people use in ridding or preventing BGA from under the substrate is by taping or somehow covering the outside of the aquarium glass around the substrate with black card.This can stop the BGA from photosynthesizing, therefore limiting its growth under the substrate.

Zak Rafik · 14 Nov 2014

Michael W said:
One method I have seen people use in ridding or preventing BGA from under the substrate is by taping or somehow covering the outside of the aquarium glass around the substrate with black card.This can stop the BGA from photosynthesizing, therefore limiting its growth under the substrate.

That a nice tip.
Can BGA be completely removed from a planted tank?
How about applying ( car window film which blocks UV and other light rays ) just enough to cover from the tank's bottom till 2 cm above substrate level. Will this work?

Cheers

Michael W · 14 Nov 2014

I'm not sure about completely removing BGA as I believe algae spores are constantly in the tank, it's just a matter if you trigger a bloom or not through high lights, poor flow, poor CO2 etc. Therefore, it is probably more fair to say that you can remove enough BGA and other algae to the extent which is not visible to the naked eye until a factor triggers a bloom.

Regarding the car window film I'm actually not sure. Maybe someone could make a comment on that aspect.

ian_m · 14 Nov 2014

Zak Rafik said:
car window film which blocks UV and other light rays

Glass block's UV anyway, which is why you can't get a sun tan in a green house. What "other rays" are you talking about ? Conveniently cheap black card blocks all "rays" (including UV) very well. Car film just generally lowers the light level.

candymancan · 3 Dec 2014

Zak Rafik said:
I don't think so. The main reason being, if you notice the Limnophila aromatica 'hippuroides' ( 3rd photo from the top), the new growth is more compact is showing some nice colour. I have never has this when I was using the inline diffuser for Co2 supply. Apart from my hasty action in trying to change the EI dosing, I did not change anything to the tank. Bad luck, when the plants were suffering from inadequate fertilizers, the Co2 supply was also going down due to the clogged inline diffuser.

I hope so too.🙂

You don't need CO2 to get red out of plants.. specially the Limnophili Hippuriodures.. You just need enough light and the right spectrum... For example.. these are mine in my 27g hexagon.. using 1 PC light 6700/10k combo and 1 t8 floramax light.. Your Hippodurias are actually too green/white.. they look a little clear and whitish and not dark enough.. That is usually a sign of lack of light.. Your tanks on partially for 3 hours and full blast 3 hours is IMO the reason why those plants lack any color. And yes mine look a tad yellow but its actually a orange because they are extremely purple/red under the leaves

I do however have a slight GSA problem on them and some of the plants, but I found GSA seems to grow when light is literally directly over a plant for long periods. Like my Anubias has GSA on the broad leaves if its directly under the light.. but if I put my anubias in shade or use a floating plant to block some light.. The GSA goes away,

As for the OP's question for GSO and cyanobacteria.. I only get Cynobacteria in some of my tanks only if the lights are on too long AND I don't have enough water flow.. Cyno from my experience form from stagnant water with the lights on too long.. For example my floating watersprite in my 55g get cyno on it when its floating on the side of the tank where there is no filter and I have no power heads so the water is pretty much sitting there.. Like 14 hours a day... If I do get Cyno.. just black out the tank for 2-3 days and it completetly disappears.. I don't think your lighting is very high.. if it was your Hippodurias plants wouldn't be green like they are.. Mine are only green like that if they don't get enough Intense lighting.. usually when they are closer to the substrate... but when they grow higher in the tank midway point they start to really turn red/purple. I have a 25 inch tall tank fyi

As for your Black beard algae.. a simple fix for that is to overdose on seachem excel for 3-4 days and once it turns red stop dosing it.. and for me the BBA usually never comes back... Also if the BBA is really bad pluck all the affected leaves out of the tank and remove all the BBA out by hand on top of dosing excel.. This is how I eliminated it from my tanks.. I've never use hydrogen peroxide... and frankly I don't see why people would use that.... You do know peroxide is a disinfectant and destroys cells... that's why they use it on wounds to kill and remove infected/dead flesh and germs... I wouldn't use that on my plants... Instead just overdose excel... If you have a 55g tank for example instead of using 1 capful for 60g like the bottle says.. I would use 4-5 capfuls every day for like a week until it turns red.. This stuff is actually derived from an algaecide

candymancan · 3 Dec 2014

Oh and Blue green Algae isn't an Algae its a bacteria that uses Photosynthesis...

If you black your tank out for 2-3 days (toss a towel over it if its near a window) trust me.. it will be completetly gone

So this is what you need to do..

A... black your tank out for 2-3 days to kill off the blobs of Cynobacteria (Blue Green algae)...

B.. Manually remove leaves affected with BBA and remove the BBA on the pumps and driftwood and so forth.. Then dose 3-4x the normal amount of excel for your tank size for about a week or until it turns red..

C. Increase water flow where your Cynobacteria is growing.. it only forms from stagnant poor flow area in the tank with too much light.

D. Get some floating plants like watersprite or duckweed or something to block some of the lighting coming down over your plants that are effected by GSA... GSA seems to only grow on plants with leaves especially plants with broad leaves that are directly under light .. it doesn't grow on water sprite or combamba or any needle like plants I noticed

Attacked by Algae in my planted tank. BBA / BGA / GSA - Help!

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