Bba In Planted Tank

[Fishmanic]

I've have had bba in my 29 gallon rectangular tank for a couple years. I remove all the plants (anubias and java fern on wood or rocks) about once every 6 - 8 weeks and do a chlorine dip and that helps till it grows back again.

I have lights on about 9 hrs a day--just low to moderate led lights.

I have one otocinclus in the tank. I had 3 but 2 of them died. Today I removed the BN pleco that was in my other tank and put it in this tank. Will the pleco eat bba and help with my algae problem?

I dose flourish once a week and dose excel every 2 to 3 days. I do 50% water changes weekly and rinse out the filter material in tank water about every 6 weeks.

Any input is welcome.

 

[Ch4rlie]

Pleco will not eat BBA, there is one possible species eat BBA as far as I know, SAE, but would not recommend that.
 
That would not remedy the cause of BBA problem.
 
Its usually down to something like, lights, flow, fluctuating co2, nutrients etc etc
 
i wonder, do you have a airstone in your tank, it's a long shot, but if you do have an airstone, and that is on and agitating the water surface as well as having a filter rippling the surface of water, this could cause low or unstable co2 levels as airstone can drive off co2.
 
Just a hypothesis....

 

[Fishmanic]

yes I have a small airstone and also have a sponge filter that gives off bubbles. Also I have a penguin filter that agitates the surface. The air pump runs all the time.

Also, I only recently started using the flourish and excel but had the bba algae before using any ferts.

 

[DrRob]

Annoying stuff. It doesn't take anywhere near as much to keep it going as it does to get started.
 
Too much light and not enough CO2 is the usual culprit. My personal view is that if it's in a high flow area then it's likely CO2 related, if it's hidden in a corner then it's likely flow. Mine tends to form if I've messed up dosing and is almost always in the filter jet areas, but then I tend to overdo the flow somewhat.
 
Mechanical removal and getting the cause solved is the way forwards. Sadly you need to do both. Personally I'd leave the plants alone from the chlorine dip, but I've found the having them more established is better than moving them a lot. Depends on the setup entirely though.

 

[Goggy]

Lol, i got really excited about this post, i thought bba was a typo for Aba. Ive never seen someone kept an aba knifefish so i jumped onto this post too bad its not about knifefish 

 

[nic1]

Aba knifefish? they get  really massive dont they?
 
Ive got bba in my planted tank, Its a huge planted tank and its mostly on the stems of my plants where the tops are green and healthy...so I cant just cut it away or dip them (i let my plant just grow out of control-the fish like it that way!)
Ive got true SAE and they hardly make a dent in it, ive also got ramshorn snails thinking they would make a difference...and no!
I dose with liquid co2 everyday, took out the air pump, reduced the light period, do a 50% clean every thursday and stared and the tank hoping the bba will just get lost!!
 
It has slowly started to fall off in small clumps after using the co2 (been using it for 2 weeks) but yeah, I just thought id share your fustration with you, but seriously yours isnt that bad....if you saw my tank you'd be glad its not yours!