# Black Algae or Moss



## KaspR (Jun 18, 2009)

Hey Everyone,

thanks in advance for any replies/help/advice.

My freshwater planted tank has had a recent (within 3-4 months) outbreak of some black algae or moss. when I looked it the closest i could find was black fan. 

To get rid of it I've tried everything from low to no light, reduction in feeding and increased water changes and even added more plants to the aquarium however with no results, in fact it looks to be spreading.

Any advice would be great.


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## Hitch (Apr 26, 2009)

sounds like black beard algea, start manual removal. Or you can spot treat to excel or H2O2.


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## KaspR (Jun 18, 2009)

sorry i had meant black brush algae however they look the same to me.

thanks for your reply, is there a thread on how to spot treat effectively without harming your fish or other plants?


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## Hitch (Apr 26, 2009)

I usually resort to manual removal.

Im sure some of the planted tank experts on here will reply soon. Im more of the catfish person...lol


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## Darkblade48 (Jan 28, 2008)

Manual removal and/or chemical methods of treating it (i.e. hydrogen peroxide and/or Excel) are really only stop gap measures. Unless you treat the underlying cause, the algae will eventually come back (and usually with a vengeance).

If you could post up some pictures, it would help us positively identify the algae that you have, and then we can suggest a course of action from there.

In addition to that, if you could provide us with your tank specs (size, volume, amount of light, type of light, duration of light) and also other helpful information (i.e. fertilization regime, plants being kept, whether CO2 is being injected or not, etc), it would assist us in helping you.


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## Mr Fishies (Sep 21, 2007)

If getting a good shot proves difficult, this site http://aquariumalgae.blogspot.com/ has a good array of pics to help you ID what you might be dealing with and some advice, but it's pretty general. So the info DB48 has asked about might help provide advice more relevant to your set-up.


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## KaspR (Jun 18, 2009)

Thanks, ya form the pics on that site its black beard/brush algae.

tank specs i beleive off the top of my head 29g, 30x12x12...sound right?

lights are generally on for 6 hours a day ill have to reply later this afternoon with the actual light specs however important to note that when i noticed this agae spreading i started by moving them higher from the tank and blcoking out parts so only a small amount of light got in, also went a month where i only turned the light on one day a week.

plants
I have 2 java ferns, 
some cambomba(i beleive)
1 large amazon sword -leaves spread to cover a portion of the surface blocking light
1 broad leaf sword

have discus so feed small amounts of blood worms and other foods 4 times a day 

Water changes once every week at most every week and a half

no c02 however add a couple table spoons of big als plant food supplement every week and add flourish tabs buried by the roots or so. Plants are thriving however so is the algae
I have tried manual removal however this stuff is stubborn and will not come off my laval rocks(have 3 in a pile) however only the java fern has any gorwing on it and would have to prune the plan down to roots to get rid of it.


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## KaspR (Jun 18, 2009)

any ideas??


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## powertrip (Mar 13, 2010)

sopposedly BBA is caused by too much iron and phosphate in the water (the big als fertiliser is a likely culprit) i'd cut the fertiliser off as a first step, but i may be wrong as i'm curently battling the stuff in my main tanks too.


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## AquaNeko (Jul 26, 2009)

I just won a battle with BBA. I had a thread a while ago which I can link you when I find it.

I tried hydrogen peroxide with no success. The BBA would turn slightly pink but would rebound a day or two later.

What did work for me was using Excel dosing daily it at the recommended dosing for about 1 month then every other day and my BBA went from 50% tank to ~3% right now.

I used a nail nylon brush and my brass rifle bore cleaner tip for the tight spots. No I did not use a used brass tip. I used a new unused new one I had as a spare.

Check www.mops.ca and price match it at BigAl's (print ad out as they want hard copy proof) and get a bottle of that and a eye dropper from a drug store. I got my droppers at Shoppers Drugmart and it was a 1mL size with IIRC 4 smaller measurements. I have a 10gal so I dose 3mL each time now. First time was 5mL.

Better to buy a bottle size up fromy our needs as Excel is very useful. It took me about a 3 weeks before I started seeing huge improvements in the tank. Since the clear up I added more plants in and threw in a few more ramhorn snails (which I took out before) and those snails sure helped clear out the remaining stuff as with some free red cherry shrimp I got before I found out in shock that my z.danios picked on them till they died and nibbled on them.   Got 10 RCS and 1 CRS from Jamesren and in the end only have 1 RCS remaining. It must have been from the live mealworms I was feeding the z.danios a few months ago that conditioned them to the live food and took the shrimp as food.  And I read that z.danios are ok with RCS.

/me grumbles..


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## AquaNeko (Jul 26, 2009)

Ok found it.

http://gtaaquaria.com/forum/showthread.php?t=11093&page=4


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## mrkrabs (Jun 17, 2010)

Use Granular Ferric Oxide to eliminate any phosphates. www.aquarium-products.ca sells for a good price, so does www.aqauriumsupplies.com


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