Black Beard Algae

[Moe]

Well, after doing some research I'm pretty sure I have Black Beard Algae. Does anyone know how to get rid of it? I saw a product called AlgaeFix that claims to get rid of this type of algae without harming plants or fish, has anyone tried it? I'm so discouraged I could just cry. Help!!!

 

[odjbo]

See:

http/www.thekrib.com/Plants/Algae/algae-randall.html

http/www.thekrib.com/Plants/Algae/friend.html

http/www.thekrib.com/Plants/Fertilizer/s...ars-conlin.html

http/www.thekrib.com/Plants/Fertilizer

Treating Aquarium Plants with Bleach @ http/www.aquabotanic.com/plantsandbleach.htm

Good Reading.

D.

 

[Cian McLiam]

Just a note from my expierience:
I used to have black beard, green, stringy and any other type of algae in my 50g bow front tank, I had pretty much given up on the black beard algae after trying ancistrus, amano shrimp even some nasty chemicals in the smaller tank. One day I was in the LFS and saw a curious looking gibbiceps plec, he looked really cool with his flared nostrils and almost star like pattern around his eyes.
Anyway to cut a long story short,after two days in my 50g, the was no trace of any type of algae on plants, bogwood, glass. In fact the bogwood was cleaner than it was after I gave it a good scrub before putting it in the tank, and is now a permanent shade lighter! Hence his nickname suggested by my girlfreind ' The Gob'

Two things tho:
He gets very big 18" + (but gets cooler looking the bigger he gets!)
He really does crap like no fish I have ever seen! but this is much easier to remove than algae!

see a (bad0 picture of him in my post in the aquarium pictures gallery 'The Gang'

Good Luck!

Ken

 

[Moe]

Thanks for your replies. I read in one of the links that SAE will eat beard algae. I'm going to try them. I have a gibbiceps pleco in my tank, he is about 3 inches. He does keep the tank free from most algae, but he will not touch the beard algae, neither will the ottos. The bleach link was very interesting. I think I may try it as a last resort. Has anyone actually tried treating plants with beach??

 

[Alien Anna]

Thanks for your replies. I read in one of the links that SAE will eat beard algae. I'm going to try them. I have a gibbiceps pleco in my tank, he is about 3 inches. He does keep the tank free from most algae, but he will not touch the beard algae, neither will the ottos. The bleach link was very interesting. I think I may try it as a last resort. Has anyone actually tried treating plants with beach??

SAEs are wonderful fish and do eat beard algae. However, you need to be aware that they can grow to 5" long and are schooling fish, so you need a decent sized tank for them.

The only treatment I've found for beard algae, and its pretty drastic but effective, is to turn the tank lights out for a fortnight and keep the nitrates down to a minimum. Not so great for your plants, so you might want to temporarily re-house them for a while, but its the only thing I know that can kill a severe beard algae problem. Even a school of SAEs won't touch the manky stuff - they like it fresh.

 

[odjbo]

Further reading on the BLEACH Subject:

http/fins.actwin.com/aquatic-plants/mont...1/msg00231.html

D.

 

[Moe]

OK here's what I've done so far. Went to LFS and got one SAE - I wanted two but they only had one. I will try back in a week to get another. I trimmed all the stems that seemed really bad. I think turning out the lights for 2 weeks would kill all of my plants and moving them would not work because the beard algae is on the plants. LFS said that all algae growth is due to extra nutrients in the water. I'm pretty sure I got this because I added root tabs. I never used any fertilizer in the tank and things were growing great, but I had to screw with things. About 4 days after adding the tabs the algae appeared. So LFS suggested doing 25% water changes daily for a few days to cut back the nutrient levels in the tank. I'm going to try it. If that doesn't work it's onto bleach. Any other experience with black beard algae is appreciated.

 

[Moe]

Update: black beard algae is not a problem any more. I've been doing the water changes, got the SAE although I've never seen him near the plants. The red glass barbs I got last week (Traded them for my zebra danios) have been eating the black beard algae like mad. They have it just about gone. I did have to get rid of my sunset hydro which had the worst problems. So things are looking up.

 

[odjbo]

Good, well done !



D.