BLACK bRUSH aLGAE

[dpatte]

Does anyone have any new advice for how to deal with black brush algae?

I had a wonderful 50 gallon barb tank (living room) that for some reason now has a horrid growth of BBA.

Im thinking my only solution is a complete restart after nuking the tank with javex.

Any ideas of its cause and solutions?

[dpatte]

READ This - SCARY - From thekrib website

Black brush algae (RE: Aquatic Plants Digest V3 #560)
by George McDonald <georgem/socketis.net>
Date: Wed, 7 Oct 1998
To: APD
   Having initially encounted BBA about 6 yrs ago with a well established
75 gal tank, that was very densly populated with plants, driftwood, and
gravel, with a modest population of tetra schools with several large
Austrailian Rainbows as centerpeice fish.  This system runs lighting on
timers, has W/D filter system, as well as E-Heim canister for mechanical
filtering system combined tank water turnover was 3.75 times per hour,
temp was a constant 78 deg (F).
   30 gal waterchanges were done monthly using collected rainwater, both
Tetra Tabs for the graval fertilization and Tetra Flornina were used as
directed.  Plants and fish florished, with the exception of PH (7.7 avg
reading) this was a model system. The tank was a showcase for about 3
yrs from its setup, plants grew out of the top of the tank and I dare
say that I gave away at least 15 buckets of plants to others from it.  
Then one fine day the BBA arrived, the source of that arrival has never
determined.  The BBA took over very slowly and was first noticed on the
driftwood, it eventually found no surface in the tank that it would not
adhere too.  Driftwood, spillway, rocks, graval and then plants in that
order slowly were covered.
   At first I would remove it with a fingernail and actually pick out the
graval that it would adhere too, many additional SAE 's were added,
Plattys were added, flagfish as well none seemed interested in this BBA,
no matter how hungry they got.  It eventually overcame the entire tank
taking almost 2 yrs to kill all the plants, and pretty much seemed
unkillable.  Even with weekly cleanings, taking hours to remove by hand
the BBA, the only option left was a full nuking of the tank and all
accessories.  Not one to go quietly into the that night, many many tests
were done before hand most in bell jars using up everyones ideas.  The
more I looked and asked the less I found out about this BBA as I had
never encounted algae that was like this, and have many years of
experience in the freshwater hobby.
   Observation of this algae was done for months, but a few things were
quite evident.  It took about 3-4 weeks to attain full size from a small
speck, it shed small furry type spores that would drift with the water,
and wherever it landed would take hold and the cycle would begin again.
   A full tear down was done, over a two week period of time, driftwood,
rocks and all internal tank components were submerged and soaked in 20%
Clorox / 80% water solution, changed every other day.  All filtering
elements, hoses were discarded, along with all graval and rocks.  
Filter, hoses, valves, sump, bioballs and all hose fittings were treated
with the 100% Clorox solution.  Several tests were made before hand and
found that BBA turned fully white within 24 hrs with this bleach level
solution, and when reinserted into the tank, would not grow again.
   As the driftwood was rather special looking it was some kinda of cyprus
bogwood roots these were given additional treatments of 100% clorox, and
wirebrushed to remove the top layer of wood as that was the only way the
spores could be removed.   Needless to say, all kinds of rinsing and 4
days of drying in sunlight to rid it of any bleach traces, this was done
for all wet components in the system, as well as all nets, cleaning
pads, and brushes.
   Tank was reset up, new graval, hoses, filter elements added and cycled
with some goldfish and that removed after the first week.  At the end of
the week about 35 medium plants were added to the tank, and a few days
later the former finned occupants were also added.  (Original tank fish
were maintained in original tank water and then moved into a temp
hospital tank, during the nuking process,  that never had any trace of
BBA, and still doesn't)
   Observation was pretty constant, no sign of BBA anywhere was noticed.  
At the 22nd day of the new set up, the lights came on one morning and lo
and behold, my two prized and expensive cyprus driftwood centerpeices
had full blooms of young BBA all over them, all very tiny but obviously
BBA youngsters within minutes they were removed from the tank.  To this
day they have never been returned to tank water.
   It was an exasperating experience with many drastic measures taken (ie.
UV water treatment for 3 weeks, Diatom filtering for days on end,
assorted anti-algae treatments) lotsa advice was received but not much
seemed to apply or work.  From some of these rather radical tests did
find out some interesting things about this BBA:
It has shown to survive a temperature range to 40 deg (F) to about 125
deg (F) as long as it has light.
Removal of light does not kill it it just suspends/retards its growth.
If a pile of it is removed it emits a real foul and pugnet smell
immediately.
If you were to squish it between your fingers it seems to feel oily in
texture.
Old Gravel with BBA on it that was used as a covering on several outdoor
window box planters, retarded or limited the growth of the assorted
outdoor pansys that were normally planted in them.
Old gravel that has wintered outdoors on the ground, put into a
contanier with aquarium water and left in the sunshine, will exhibit new
BBA growth within 4 - 6 weeks.
Tests at a LFS of every algaecide that they had, showed at best only a
mild retarding of growth.
Water PH quality does not seem to affect its growth or propagation.

   The amount of information on BBA is quite limited, as I am not an
experienced biologist, but I can tell you this is some hardy stuff now.  
I did try searching the web, and was astonished at how many different
kinds of algae that there is, and how little info showing a picture of
the actual algae exists.  The possiblility does exsit that I might have
found it searching the web, but didn't realize it.
   My primary concern has been how did it get into the system in the first
place.   That answer has never been found, according to my logs, no
plants or fish were added for 6 - 7 months prior to the outbreak.  But
since then all new fish, plants and components like rocks or wood get to
spend a least a month in the temporary aquarium prior to transfer into
the main system.
   The only common elements with the tank was the use of Florina plant
tabs (still in use) and Florina liquid (no longer used) and the
driftwood, evidently the driftwood could not be cleansed of the original
BBA infestation.  As I and a friend pretty much bought the entire
shipment from our LPS of this driftwood, and his is still in use with no
BBA this sorta rules it out as the source.  We no longer feed frozen
anything to the tank, and have used assorted aquarian dry food products
as primary feed for the fish.  As I tend to keep general logs of the
aquarium, including testing, cleaning and inhabitants additions, the
driftwood was fine for 15 months before the BBA showed up.
   Sorri for the length of this, but should anyone have any additional
information on this subject, I for one would be glad to see it posted.  
When I first had this problem, I saw little written on BBA on this
group, it seems to be more frequent as I now have been reading it for a
couple of years.  Possibly someone can add some educational wise
information (please keep in mind were hobbiest of aquariums) or some
dectective skills to the origin of this stuff, and maybe even some thing
that can really eradicate it.
George McDonald
<georgem-at-NOSPAM.socketis.net>
(Delete NOSPAM. for correct email address)

[dpatte]

the only odd things about the tank before infestation where a pH crash that occurred (ph 6) a few months before [i use no CO2 on the tank], and the fact that I added kent blue to the tank just before the infestation occurred.

If anyone else has bba that occurred suddenly in an established tank, do you have any ideas of things you may have done just before it showed up?

[BigDaddy]

I get BBA in my CO2 tank when CO2 levels are too low.  I have occassionally gotten it in 10 gallon "low tech" tanks from over fertilizing.

SAEs, left unfed, do wonders on BBA.  They will mow it down like there is no tomorrow.  I find younger SAEs to be a bit more effective, as the older ones who've been in a community tank for some time usually hold out for the impeding flake or other foods soon to be delivered.

What's in Kent Blue?

[dpatte]

kent plant fertiliser comes in two types - pink and blue. I seldom use the pink as it has nitrate. The blue has more iron. I'll try moving some SAEs to the tank - come to think of it the tank used to have SAEs before the BBA arrived. hmmm

[BigDaddy]

Possibly a little bit too much iron.  Although I doubt it, as the dosages on the manuals are quite low, in order to limit the possibility of overdosing or algae problems.

[Flawed_Artist]

Although I don't post often and feel like I'm entering threads when I should keep my mouth shut, I really wanted to point out how much I like your posts, BD.

I did some reading when I had BBA on a 27 tall tank. I had CO2 for two months on it, and I had two Fluval 1+ internals, as well as two Aquaclear (I forget the sizes). It was a heavily planted tank, with two young Geophagus brasiliensis, a large school of black neons, and a large school of clown loaches. I was using Nutrafin iron plant-gro and Nutrafin NPK, substrate fertilizers, Hagen's CO2 kits - only one, and I was adding a little bit of baking soda, too. I was measuring *everything* - I never had anything even remotely different from 7.4 pH, no NH3, NH4, NO2, NO3, about 0.3 ppm chelated iron, etc. Temperature was at 78F. The only problem I had with plants was that my Geo's were uprooting them. Everything was perfect - before the Geo's, I even used peat and regulated the pH drop to breed the black neons, and my Geo's even bred when I put them in, more than once. I w/c'd anywhere between once every day to once every three days, 25-50%. Everything from Hygro. rosanervis and E. parviflorus to my Java moss was spreading and breeding by the bucketfull. Everything was awesome.

Then the BBA hit. It started slowly, one week, about a month or two after I shut off my CO2 and started using an aeration kit. Within a month, it was conspicuous enough to make me take out some affected plants.

I added SAEs and they worked a little, but they didn't solve the problem within another two weeks or so, so I did more reading. I didn't want to put in ramshorn snails because of the loaches, and I just didn't want flags in that tank - still don't know why, but I had a feeling that my Geo's would hurt them. I tried Amano shrimp, but they got lost in my tank, only seen through the occasional moult. I think they must have been harassed by my . . . well, everything.

One website mentioned that the higher the CO2 level, the less that the BBA could survive. I tried it. It worked within the week. I took off the air bubbler, and reset the CO2 kits.

Without the aerator (which I continued to use to run a slew of smaller tanks, by means of a gang-way valve), and with renewed CO2, it went away.

I get BBA in my CO2 tank when CO2 levels are too low.  I have occassionally gotten it in 10 gallon "low tech" tanks from over fertilizing.

It seems to match with that quote, too. Try it out? Either way, good luck.

[dpatte]

WOW - i will try adding CO2 and SAEs to the tank and report the results

My Tank had alot of fast growing plants before this problem started - perhaps they depleted the water of CO2.

[Poustic]

I've had good success getting rid of BBA, but using a combination of things as opposed to a single solution: removing as much of it manually as possible by bleaching the affected rocks/wood, soaking the sturdier plants in diluted bleach solution for 1 minute; good fertilization to stimulate plant growth and allow trimming affected leaves without compromising the plant; root tabs; CO2 injection; keeping phosphates relatively low (but > 0) with nitrate-phosphate ratio between 5:1 to 10:1 (as per BD advice); ensuring light spectrum has main peaks in red and blue zones and less in other wavelengths; adding SAEs.