help - green thread algae in java moss - H2O2 treatment successful

[HappyGuppy]

I can neither confirm nor deny whether it is a good idea to dose ferts while doing peroxide treatment.  Doubt you'd get an explosion though

However consider this... while your algae is dying it will contribute waste to the take, so do you think adding more nitrates at this time is a good idea?  If it were me I'd hold back on the ferts for a a while.  At least a week.  Furthermore, if you have lots of plants they'll soak up the extra nutrients in your tank, however if you don't have ample plants then water changes are a good idea to remove the decaying algae.

I personally would have done *at least* double your dosage, but since it is your first exposure to this taking it gentle is probably better for your mind.  You will see an effect, particularly in the local areas where you did the syringe.  You will need to do it a few times to nuke it.

Good luck & have fun!

[magnosis]

while your algae is dying it will contribute waste to the take [...] water changes are a good idea to remove the decaying algae.

Both valid points.

I personally would have done *at least* double your dosage

The articles you pointed me to previously were claiming that 2ml / gallon is about the highest concentration one should use, beyond that is ok for a quick bath, but when dosing directly into the tank with live critters, I understood that 2ml/g is the suggested dosage.

But as you said, I went with a lower concentration at first to ease my mind and make sure there's not ill side-effect at this point.

[magnosis]

36 hours after my first H2O2 treatment (1.5ml /g) and I haven't noticed any difference yet.

I am doing another treatment tonight @ 2.5 ml / g, again dosing directly on BGA with a syringe.

[HappyGuppy]

Magnosis,
I remember reading some time ago that ramshorn snails enjoy eating BGA.  I don't know for a fact whether this is true or not, but ever since I got them I have never even once seen the tiniest bit of BGA.  Of course I did experience BGA before that time, but never since.  I love my ramshorns, and would NEVER have a planted tank without them.  I am happy to share some with you if you'd like.

Please share with me your experience with H2O2 on BGA.  I've had plenty of experience with most other nasties (cladophora, BBA, red, diatom, green hair, staghorn, etc) but I have never personally done BGA.  I am confident that it should work, and am keeping a keen eye on your posts.

[HappyGuppy]

36 hours after my first H2O2 treatment (1.5ml /g) and I haven't noticed any difference yet.

I am doing another treatment tonight @ 2.5 ml / g, again dosing directly on BGA with a syringe.

One more thing... it might not seem like much is going on the first few days, but the algae is dying.  Yes, do your other dose (even third & fourth), and they you'll see the alge disintegrating.  I hope you have plenty of snails (pretty much any kind will do for this) to eat it up as it starts to decay.

[magnosis]

While I was dosing tonight, I had time to take a closer look and notice that all the hair algae (though there isn't much to start with) had definitely withered and turned a little grew in color compared to yesterday.  The difference is little but noticeable.

After dosing, for about 10 minutes, there was a lot of O₂ bubbles coming from any and every surface. The otos look as happy as ever, so far this looks like a promising experiment

[HappyGuppy]

While I was dosing tonight, I had time to take a closer look and notice that all the hair algae (though there isn't much to start with) had definitely withered and turned a little grew in color compared to yesterday.  The difference is little but noticeable.

After dosing, for about 10 minutes, there was a lot of O₂ bubbles coming from any and every surface. The otos look as happy as ever, so far this looks like a promising experiment

Guppies, endlers, and I'm sure many other fishes would too, love to eat that graying due to dying algae.  I love watching them... reminds me of kids slurping in spaghetti noodles.  One of my tanks, which had all the snails killed due to the chemicals I dosed last year, had a horrendous outbreak of algae.  I dosed it very heavily with H2O2, making my whole tank look like champange!  The actions of the fish suggested to me that they loved it when I did that... they even breeded extra enthusiastically.  O2 is a good thing.  Anyhow, the endlers started devouring the algae with incredible gusto.  Whenever I've been giving them flake foods for the past couple of weeks they pretty much ignore it.  They have a 24 hour buffet, and they are eating like 24 hours practically.  The strings of greenish poop coming out of them, and the snails, are longer than I ever saw.  And frequent too (eating lots).  I added a handful of ramshorns and to my joy they finally didn't die!!! Yeah!  The chemical must have degraded after such a long time.  I simply can not believe how fast these snails are growing.  They litterally eat 24/7.  The dead hair algae is apparently very tasty for both the fish and snails.  Seriously, they don't even care for my spirulina flake food I usually feed them.  I *had* a lot of hair algae, which is about 75% eaten (the dead stuff not yet eaten is so fragile a fish swimming by breaks the strands).

What kind of fish do you have in there?  Have they discovered the grey-food-buffet yet?  That hair algae is as good as gone.

How about the BGA?  What are your observations with that so far?

[magnosis]

There are only 6 otos, 6-7 ruby nerite snails and a handful of pond snails in there.  They're all quite happy now   The otos seem to prefer green spot algae to the hair algae so they don't really mind it for the moment.

I'd be interested in getting my hands on some MTS and Ramshorn snails, it's not the first time I hear how great they are at cleaning a tank (keeping in mind they also add to the payload)

[HappyGuppy]

I am one of the few people who actually feeds the snails in a tank to deliberately grow them and their population.  The tank I do that in is always my most pristine tank.  I grow them to have enough for myself, and to share with others - I've actually supplied dozens of people these awesome little cleaners.  I would be happy to give you some too.

FWIW I am in the process of trying to get blue ramshorns, which I don't believe are even in canada yet.  It is amazing how difficult this can be... but I love ramshorns so much, and blue is my favorite color.  I won't even mention how much they cost.

[delslo]

I had the exact same problem. I tried cutting the light hours down to 8 helped. Flying fox fish a little, put it's too far gone at your point. Get 1 american flag fish. They willingly eat the algae. Just don't feed for a few days. You will see them pull it off of the moss and eat it like spaghetti. You can get more than one, but I found that if you only have one they behave more like community fish and less like semi-agressive fish. This worked for me. Also, adding some excel flourish will help aswell. Finally manual removal of as much as you can is essential. Hope this helps

[magnosis]

I have to say, the H2O2 treatment was a real success !!  It killed all the thread algae and most of the BGA though some BGA remains, but little enough it's now manageable with a toothbrush and python.

Many thanks to Happy Guppy for having shared his experience; I followed in his tracks and it worked for me too 

[HappyGuppy]

I am delighted to hear of your success with this!

I believe we should "spread the word"... before I knew this algae was my biggest PITA, and I know it is for many others too.  Of all the solutions I have tried, and those researched but not tried, this one I found to be most effective, quickest, and also the cheapest.

My final tip to anyone reading this is to add algae eating snails to the crew.  My two favorites are ramshorn snails (if anyone needs some, I breed them deliberately to share), and nerite snails.  First one breeds in your tank so you never have to buy them again, but if you prefer to not have breeding snails then go with the nerite.  The snails should manage your tank afterwards to prevent another algae outbreak.  IMHO they are better, overall, than any other commonly kept aquarium animal for algae control (remember, little snails go where big algae eaters can't go).

One word of caution.  If you depend on the micro life (ie infusoria, phytoplankton, green unicellular algae) to feed fry in your tank, then save some water and culture the stuff in a jar before you do your treatment.  Afterwards simply add the culture back into your tank.  Note that it could also bring back algae spores.  You have to decide what is more important to you.

[HappyGuppy]

Going back over this thread I noticed the OP, and the link to this
http://ovas.ca/index.php?topic=45211.msg255976#msg255976
WOW WOW WOW!!!  That is just incredible!!!  An aquatic bonsai tree!  OMG, I am so hot to make one of those.  Looks like Christmas moss though.  Think it could look nice with java moss?  You said that you have one similar to this.  Could I beg your indulgence for a photo?  Tips on how to create one?  Please create a new thread to discuss that, and PM me the link as I'd loooooove to read your instructions.  Thank you!!!!

[magnosis]

Going back over this thread I noticed the OP, and the link to this
http://ovas.ca/index.php?topic=45211.msg255976#msg255976
WOW WOW WOW!!!  That is just incredible!!!  An aquatic bonsai tree!  OMG, I am so hot to make one of those.  Looks like Christmas moss though.  Think it could look nice with java moss?  You said that you have one similar to this.  Could I beg your indulgence for a photo?  Tips on how to create one?  Please create a new thread to discuss that, and PM me the link as I'd loooooove to read your instructions.  Thank you!!!!

I still have mine   I posted some pictures and a little bit of a log here.