Algae!?!

[Byron]

Oh god that really does sound like a killer job. I would like to be dealing with blue green algae Instead too I turn my light on at around 12 am and turn it off a around 12 pm also. I have 2 mollies, 4 guppies, about 10-11 shrimp, 4 neon tetras, a small young pleco, and a bunch of guppy fry. The only plant that I had in the tank that was effected was a cryptocortne undulate, I also have 2 moss balls which don’t seem to be affected, or at least I can’t really tell on them. I don’t use any fertiliser in my tank. I’m pretty sure I have a higher bio load than I should because my mother loved feeding my fish VERY regularly, she’s stopped now thankfully so that’s under control to one feeding a day and I’m also trying to limit my lighting.

Considering that the algae will always come back eventually, is it dangerous or harmful for my fish to just keep it in there and deal with it like I have?

Right off I see a few things likely to be causing this, but we still need the whole picture. It is not that difficult to work out the balance of light and nutrients that will work. Light is one issue that stands out...12 hours is too much for most tanks, and given the single plant and moss balls, this is definitely going to cause algae. I will need to know more data (below) before I can recommend a better duration, but reducing this to 7 or 8 hours max is going to be necessary. Getting some more plants, especially floating will also make a big difference.

It is not necessarily harmful to fish, but here we come to the underlying causes again. If there are high nutrients, from for example too many fish and/or too large fish for the tank volume; insufficient water changes, filter cleanings, and/or substrate cleanings; too many plant additives; and/or over feeding the fish--any one or more of these will create more organics and this can cause problems for fish. We need to know the test results for especially nitrates and pH, as these two can be indicative of problems. Ammonia and nitrite are also worth testing, though less likely to be a factor here, but it is as well to know for certain.

Can you provide data on the light...the type, wattage, spectrum, etc. And the tank size...without knowing that we cannot say if these fish are too many or not. How frequent are water changes, and what volume of the tank water is changed?

 

[Super Nova]

The light is a fluorescent 15w ip67. I’ll be honest, I don’t know much about tank lighting so I hope this is the correct information you need. I change about 25-30% of my water every week.

 

[Byron]

The light is a fluorescent 15w ip67. I’ll be honest, I don’t know much about tank lighting so I hope this is the correct information you need. I change about 25-30% of my water every week.

What is the tank size, volume but also length and width please? I have to be able to relate this light with the physical space.

 

[Super Nova]

Oh sorry! Forgot to mention that, its a 60l with the dimensions of W60xD30xH30.

 

[Byron]

OK, from the data so far we can provide a few ideas. First, a 60 liter (15 gallon) tank that is 60 cm (24 inches) long should have no problem with the light you mention. I am assuming this is a fluorescent tube, a T8, 15w, so it will be 18 inches in length (the tube itself). No problem with this, but you might have better results depending upon the spectrum. At one end of the tube there may be writing, can you give me all there is? I'm looking for the Kelvin which will be a 4-digit number with a "K" suffix. Or whatever else if not.

The light should not be on more than 7-8 hours. That is certainly one big problem here. The spectrum is related to this, but for the moment I would suggest reducing the duration. This should be the same each day, so a simple lamp timer can do this. Doesn't matter when the "daylight" period (when the tank light is on) is, so long as it is consistent day to day. This is important for fish too, not just plants and algae. May have more when I know the spectrum.

More plants, especially floating, will certainly help here.

Now to the fish. While not likely a big problem now, it will be. Mollies need more space, they should grow to 4-5 inches. Being primarily vegetarian, they eat more, so that means more waste. Waste equals organics, a food for algae (and higher plants, so more will help here too). The pleco, what species? These are notorious for producing waste. The common pleco attains 18 inches. So determining the species is important. Guppies are insignificant, except you seem to have fry so that means regular batches and this has to be resolved. They can't all get eaten.

Given the fish load, I would increase the water change to at least half the tank, once a week. Do it on the same day each week so it becomes regular, and this helps too. Keep the filter rinsed, even if you do it every water change. The brown gunk is organics, you want to remove these from the system quickly. I'd still like to know the pH and nitrates if you can test for them; these tests are worth doing periodically so test kits are a good investment. Do you know the GH (general or total hardness) of your tap water? Might find this on the website of the water authority.

 

[seangee]

The only way to effectively deal with this is to ascertain the cause and fix that. Nothing else will be effective long term and it will come back.

I agree. Until recently I had to regularly scrub everything in my tank because this kept coming back. With a monthly scrub and dip it wasn't unattractive and I was resigned to this.

I have posted elsewhere on my efforts to reduce nitrates as my tap water contains these at 50ppm. Since I have eliminated the nitrates from the water I put in it has simply stopped growing. Like Byron I do have some of it dead on some of the wood. Not saying your problem has the same cause and the info requested in post #14 may help pinpoint the cause - but in the meantime everything suggested in post #2 is about trying to create the correct balance.

And FWIW the fish aren't in the least bothered by the algae - that's just us. But it may be a hint at an underlying problem like the excess nitrate in my case.

 

[AbbeysDad]

It's almost funny...algae to most hobbyists is like a dirty word. When in fact, to another way of thinking, algae is very beneficial in nature AND in the aquarium because like plants, algae removes excess nutrients (aka pollution) from the water making it more pure. The trouble, at least in the aquarium, is in the excess. It not only looks bad, but can kill some affected plants as it inhibits their photosynthesis ability.

As previously mentioned in this thread, algae typically blooms when water nutrients are not in balance and light is excessive. I myself have had a war with BBA I 'inherited' from some plants I got from the '@bay'. And this was followed by a black spot algae. I think BBA is one of the toughest algae's to beat. I've even heard some resign in defeat and confess that the only way they got rid of it was a total tear down and sterilization!

As @Byron points out, the only real way to solve a problem is to uncover and resolve the root cause. He has already identified that the light is on too long and the weekly water change is likely insufficient to flush out the pollutants that the algae is feeding on. So of course, these must be corrected, but the cure (to kill the existing algae) may involve more...
(Some redundancy here so bear with me)

> Reducing the light as necessary, but a blackout of several (2-3) days may also help.

> Test your source water. It's not uncommon these days, especially in agricultural areas, after years of petro-chemical fertilizer use to have high nitrates in source water.

> Feed high quality food. I'm down on foods where the first ingredient is fish meal as these foods require copious amounts of grain starch as binder/filler. Fish can't process this so it just goes through them as excess waste - and excess waste means higher tank nitrates/pollution (that feed algae).

> Keep a clean tank. If your using gravel, it can become a nitrate factory as waste too easily gets down under. Consider switching to sand where fish food/waste stays on top. Enlist a good cleanup crew such as cory catfish and Malaysian Trumpet Snails. Service filter(s) regularly to get crud out of the system.

> Increased partial water change frequency/volume. @Byron suggested 50% weekly which is good...but several back to back (a day or two apart) water changes may be beneficial initially.

> Fast growing (especially floating) plants to out compete algae for nutrients. (plants like water sprite, frogbit, hornwort, anacharis, water wisteria, to name a few).

> Fertilize! It may sound counterintuitive when we say algae blooms badly with excess nutrients, but we need our plants to grow more than algae. If I have weeds in my garden, I won't starve my veggie crops. Think of ferts as positive nutrients and nitrates/pollution as negative nutrients.

> Manual removal of algae. In some cases, trimming and removal of badly affected leaves. Rocks and wood may be removed and treated. When removing algae from glass, best to do so just before a water change to get it right out of the system.

> Affected plants that can be removed (like java fern, anubias) might receive a 5% bleach dip (20ml bleach to 1l water) or be sprayed with hydrogen peroxide (H2O2), rinsed and returned.
(Note: I have used H2O2 spray successfully on java fern, anubias, and dwarf sag, but when I did so with an amazon sword, it later turned yellow and died!). I have also heard, but have not tried, a spray using a 50/50 mix of bleach and Seachem Excel.

> I don't like glutaraldehyde concoctions and @Byron will likely scold me w/o mercy, but treating the tank with Seachem Excel at 2x the normal dose (for a week or more) may be the only way to recover from a bad BBA infestation. In its raw and concentrated form, glutaraldehyde is a chemical used to sterilize heat sensitive medical and dental instruments. Seachem's Excel is far less concentrated and is often referred to as liquid carbon for planted tanks. It breaks down in the aquarium to provide a source of carbon for plants. However, it also seems to indirectly serve as an algaecide. Use at your own discretion, but if you do use it, use no longer than absolutely necessary to control the problem.

I'm sure @Byron would say that this is bad for fish as would be overdosing ferts. However, sometimes you just need a little medicine to cure an illness or disease.

Whew - good luck and keep posting.

 

[Byron]

Yes, I will not advise Excel ever, given that it is a highly toxic disinfectant and will get inside fish. Leaving that issue, there is no need to "kill" the algae there; if you correct the cause it will simply stop spreading and that is the goal. I have had this occur several times.

I know it is usually our first instinct to think we must add something to do this or cure that...I used to be like this too. Then I studied fish physiology and learned why this is never the best approach. The algae is not hurting the fish, but chemical cures will have an impact and it will not be beneficial to the fish.

 

[Colin_T]

Just for the OP, you haven't done anything wrong to cause this. Black beard algae is transferred into tanks from contaminated tanks and plants. You might have bought a plant with a bit on, or you got some spores from a contaminated tank, possibly through water from another tank when you bought fish or plants.

Cleaning tank conditions up and moderating light will normally help, but once the stuff is in the tank, it is usually there for good.

Quarantining plants and fish can usually help prevent this type of event

 

[AbbeysDad]

Yes, I will not advise Excel ever, given that it is a highly toxic disinfectant and will get inside fish. Leaving that issue, there is no need to "kill" the algae there; if you correct the cause it will simply stop spreading and that is the goal. I have had this occur several times....

@Byron - I think we might say that adding chemical ferts for plants is also bad for fish...unless we consider products like Trace and/or Fresh Trace that Seachem claims are beneficial for plants AND fish.
Research seems to confirm that Seachem's Excel is not the highly toxic concentrated glutaraldehyde used to sterilize/disinfect. It is more appropriately a mild reducing agent that breaks down to act as a bioavailable organic carbon. Excel is not marketed as an algaecide as there is no FDA or EPA certification. It has been used successfully in planted tanks for many years in many aquariums....with no apparent harm to fish or invertebrates.
If your tank is full of BBA, stopping the spread is short of the goal.
BBA is very stubborn and if not eliminated it just keeps coming back. It may not harm the fish, but it sure harms plants!
I don't use medications either, but sometimes it may be required.

 

[Byron]

@Byron - I think we might say that adding chemical ferts for plants is also bad for fish...unless we consider products like Trace and/or Fresh Trace that Seachem claims are beneficial for plants AND fish.

Yes, these products are indeed bad for fish. I had a couple of marine biologists point this out to me, which is why I stopped using most of them. It partly depends upon the fish species, as minerals may benefit, but with soft water fish they certainly do not. If the fish live in zero mineral water it is obvious they do not need any minerals beyond what they get in their food.

Having said that, I do use Flourish Comprehensive, but less than recommended and I work up to it from nothing so that I see some benefit in the plants; benefit here meaning the plants waste away without it, so adding a minimal amount allows them to remain alive. The same biologists noted that in this case the plants would be using most of the additive so the fish fare better.

If your tank is full of BBA, stopping the spread is short of the goal.
BBA is very stubborn and if not eliminated it just keeps coming back. It may not harm the fish, but it sure harms plants!

Sorry but this is not true. I have several times stopped brush algae simply by restoring the balance, and over a period of a year I repeated the experiment. Brush algae will not increase if conditions are not to its advantage.

 

[stanleo]

I have BBA and it’s a pain. I took my photoperiod to 7 hrs from ten and moved the light 8 inches above the glass cover and all the while dosing trace and flourish with every water change. I would take a few leaves out a week but wanted to get it more under control so I decided to dose ferts twice a week. The thinking was that the higher plants needed more food to out compete the algae. Big mistake. My anubais was covered in days and in a week I had twice the amount of BBA in my tank. So now I have stopped dosing ferts altogether (for only one water change) and I’m going to get more floating plants, currently I only have some frogbit but I’m going to try water sprite. I’ll see if that works but I am resigned that it is there to stay.

So I too believe that ferts can work against you.

 

[Super Nova]

I have tried some advice given on here.. and I must admit, it’s really effective. I’ve decreased the light and food amount.. no chemicals or anything like that. Stuck to my weekly water changes, however I went from 25% to 50%. It just started coming off the plants and air stone like magic. Makes me so relieved because I really dreaded the idea of bleaching my plants, I can’t thank everybody enough!