BBA Eaters?

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littletankbigworld

Superstar Fish
#1
Aug 16, 2009
1,318
0
0
SW Pennsylvania
#1
I know I shouldn't be trying to cover up my algae problem...I should be trying to fix it. Until I can order a new double strip light fixture, I'm going to need to find a way to control my BBA. It's killing my plants. I also have some green spot and green hair algae. I'm planning on some type of snails for that. I cannot find nerite snails in any pet store. Do apple snails eat plants? I really do not want them making a salad bar of my hygro. Apple snails cannot reproduce if there's only one, right? I'm fairly certain they aren't hermaphrodites. Is there a snail or a very small fish (for 29 gallons of water) that will eat BBA? I googled this question and a bunch of jerks were recommending plecos for 2 gallon tanks with algae. *ALL*

Thanks, guys!
 

anshuman

anshuman

Large Fish
#5
Nov 16, 2009
686
0
0
Mumbai India
#5
Turn off the filters for 20-25 mins (if you have them running). Then use hydrogen peroxide (in 5ml or 10ml plastic injection syringe found in med-stores), spot treat bba on the plants and glass (it turns dark-green as it dies, i have read some fish quickly eat this died stuff). then after some minutes, turn on the filters. I suggest if you have v precious fish, remove them in a bucket with air-stone running for the day when you do this, but this is only needed if you have v v precious fish and overstocked the tank. if water is plenty , moving out fish is not that necessary.

but then , to stop getting the algae, fix your lights and co2 and fertilizers dosing in tank, when that balances in proportion, its impossible to get algae even if you have very strong lights and if you keep them on for too long (i have one killifish tank, and its impossible for me to get algae on it even when sunlights falls on one side of tank for a hour).
 

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littletankbigworld

Superstar Fish
#6
Aug 16, 2009
1,318
0
0
SW Pennsylvania
#6
@Orange: Unfortunately, no fish stores around here sell Excel. I've been looking and looking for it and it doesn't help that none of the stores have ever heard of liquid fertilizer.
@Anshuman: I've heard of this method before. I'm worried that this will kill some of my fish. Since I can't leave them all in a 5 gallon bucket for the day (dad hates when I mess with the fish), I'd have to somehow catch my otos. I'm mostly worried about them. Hmmm...I might try this anyway. I'm desperate. Will this place my plants in a temporary shock?
 

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anshuman

anshuman

Large Fish
#7
Nov 16, 2009
686
0
0
Mumbai India
#7
I haven't done it actually on wide scale, i turned off lights in my tank for 8 days (actually i upgraded to 46 gallon with no lights and i was forced to keep planted tank with no lights) the bba just vanished, still i used peroxide to douse off v little bba on contortionist valli, it didnt hurt it, infact it turned bright green next day (donno why).

someone who has done it extensively and has more experience with this can reply you better i guess.
 

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OrangeCones

Elite Fish
#8
Feb 27, 2009
4,395
0
36
#8
littletankbigworld said:
@Orange: Unfortunately, no fish stores around here sell Excel. I've been looking and looking for it and it doesn't help that none of the stores have ever heard of liquid fertilizer.
Click to expand...
LFS in my area sell it but I still order it online as its much cheaper that way.

For the peroxide treatment, there is no need to remove your fish. Peroxide turns to oxygen and water rather quickly.
 

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littletankbigworld

Superstar Fish
#9
Aug 16, 2009
1,318
0
0
SW Pennsylvania
#9
I used the Peroxide. How long until I see results? On some leaves the algae looks grey instead of black but on others, nothing has changed. Is it possible to put in too much peroxide?

I accidentally forgot to turn the filter off at first. What will the peroxide do to the filter or will the filter neutralize it?
 

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OrangeCones

Elite Fish
#10
Feb 27, 2009
4,395
0
36
#10
littletankbigworld said:
I used the Peroxide. How long until I see results? On some leaves the algae looks grey instead of black but on others, nothing has changed. Is it possible to put in too much peroxide?

I accidentally forgot to turn the filter off at first. What will the peroxide do to the filter or will the filter neutralize it?
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The grey is the BBA dying. A lot of fish will nibble on it when its grey. The changes take place almost at once but damage done will sometimes cause parts of it to die over the the next day or two. Just do a small section at a time and you will get it all eventually. If you have a lot on a plant easily removed (like something attached to driftwood), you can treat the plant outside of the aquarium. Just rinse it in dechlorinated water before putting it back in the aquarium.

Peroxide doesn't last long in the water (2 parts H2O2 breaks down into O2 and 2 H20). Leaving the filter on broke it down before it could do much good against the algae.
 

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littletankbigworld

Superstar Fish
#12
Aug 16, 2009
1,318
0
0
SW Pennsylvania
#12
Ahh, as long as the peroxide didn't do damage to the filter bacteria, it's all good. :D

I'll remember to turn off my filter, then. I bought a snail today. It is a yellow, black, and green mystery snail. It's very pretty and I'll post a couple pictures once it is used to its new home. :)

@unwritten law: I will research both of those species. For now, I'm going to see if the peroxide with work. Hopefully I'll be able to get the lights soon and I won't need to rework my 29 gallon plan.
 

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littletankbigworld

Superstar Fish
#13
Aug 16, 2009
1,318
0
0
SW Pennsylvania
#13
I did the treatment without having my filter on. The algae turned vibrant red before it died. Is this normal? Also, a few leaves that I treated died because of the peroxide. It killed the algae, though.

The mystery snail I got is the laziest snail. He doesn't move more than 1 foot in 8 hours and hasn't eaten any of the algae yet.
 

Newman

Newman

Elite Fish
#14
Sep 22, 2009
4,668
0
0
Northern NJ
#14
mystery snails fail at algae in my experience. they prolly only eat diatoms. SAEs will eat BBA and other hair algaes, but they dont work long term in a 29 gal. Peroxide treating is the best way. once the algae starts to die off, many herbivorous fish will begin to eat it.
algae turning red is normal. its dead.
 

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