Jordanella Floridae American Flagfish for algae??

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RinaLane

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Hi guys. I got an issue, huge issue with black algae which covers almost everything in my tank. 1st time ever in 5 years I have this tank my echinodorus plants started to grow like crazy & i even have dwarf grass growing in 1 corner (before its just weathered away & dissolve never could make it even root) but with all of that I aslo got tons of algae.... Its like I can get all together or nothing to grow in my tank. I dont use CO2 nor any supplements for plants. Basically I'm not green thumb person I stick plants in & its up to them to grow or not.
I change 30% of my water every week, I soaked all fish tank equipment in bleach & yet black algae persists. Its even on my ground now. Its even trying to grow on front glass.... So I'm think about lazy solution to add florida flagfish to help with that will they eat it??
Its a cichlid tank with also loaches, cories & glow tetras. Never had florida flagfish will they be competitive?
Water is balanced. Fish feels fine. Just lots of algae.
 
In a planted tank, problem algae is caused when the balance of light/nutrients is out. The only way to deal with it is to find the cause and fix it. Acquiring a fish is never the solution; first, any fish that might eat algae is going to be very finicky about which algae they might eat, and second and even more importantly is that those fish have specific requirements that must be met or they will not be healthy. Addressing the cause is the only reliable and safe method to deal with problem algae.

I can see one possible issue right off, and that is the lack of plant additives. While it is certainly possible to have plants grow solely from the natural organics in the substrate (due to the fish and feeding) plus minerals in the water changes, this depends upon the plant species and numbers, the fish load, water changes, and lighting. The melting of the carpet plants is not surprising, as these need high light and good nutrient supplementation.

Light drives photosynthesis; it must be sufficient intensity and provide the necessary spectrum. We will need to know the data on your lighting so we can attempt to find the balance. Problem algae is probably most often due to the lighting being too intense or on for too long a period; but here I would suspect nutrient imbalance to be another factor.
 
Can you post a picture of the issue?

Are you sure it's algae and not Cyanobacter bacteria (aka blue green algae)?
Cyanobacteria cover everything in a film/ sheet of slime and can range in colour from blue, green, red, pink, brown & black. It grows extremely quickly and lifts off in pieces or sheets and has an unpleasant musty smell.

If it is Cyanobacteria, it loves nutrients, calm water, low oxygen levels and red light.

If it is Cyanobacteria, the best way to deal with it is to do huge (75%) daily water changes and gravel clean the substrate, and suck out/ remove as much of the stuff as possible. Increase water movement in the tank. Decrease the food going into the tank, especially dry foods. If you haven't changed the light globe in the last 12 months get a new globe (and starter if using fluorescent lights) with a 6500K (K is for kelvin) rating.

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American Flag fish don't eat much algae and won't touch blue green algae or black beard algae.
 
its not Cyanobacteria. It has black hair in patches coming off my plants & back wall of my fishtank constantly turns brown. Cant scrape it have to get inside with sponge & wash it off with force. Its very hard to remove from filters tubes without bleach. Will snap picture tomorrow right now my fish is sleeping :)
But its looks exactly like that

And brown stuff on walls I diagnose as diatoms algae
 
Black beard algae, horrible stuff to deal with. It comes in as spores in water or on plants and once it's there, it's there for good. All new plants should be quarantined or at least rinsed well before adding to a tank to try and prevent this stuff from spreading.

My way of dealing with it entails stripping the tank down and bleaching everything but others try to live with it and Byron and other people on here will give you some ideas on how they deal with it. Good luck :)
 
BBA can be treated with Seachem Excel, 2/3x the recommended levels for ten to fourteen days. However I don't know how good it will be for the live stock.

Ok Byron you can slap me now for suggesting it.
 
Its like I can get all together or nothing to grow in my tank. I dont use CO2 nor any supplements for plants. Basically I'm not green thumb person I stick plants in & its up to them to grow or not.

In general when all nutrients are present at sufficient levels for plant plants do well and algae does not. When nutrients are scars or missing algae does well and plant either grow slowly, don't grow at all, or die.

plants need the following t grow well (excluding light)
CO2, hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, potassium, calcium, magnesium, phosphorous, sulfur, chlorine, iron, boron, manganese, zinc, copper, molybdenum, and nickel.

IN my experience if just one is missing you could easily get algae.

As to black beard algae in the photo you posted many people find changing CO2 levels and water flow levels up or down can sometimes help. And some time ago I found an old post on another web site that stated:

I wanted to revive this topic after some experiments I did....

I used my Vietnamese biotope as a test subject. This aquarium has an overkill filter (Fluval U4) on an 10-12 gallon. I barely feed this tank and I do weekly 50% water changes. Almost no plants, and fertilizer whenever I feel like it. This means, plants are doing great sometimes, other times not so good. The tank is mainly filled with rocks and quite some flow (20x the tank volume). I can keep all these things constant and am able to induce BBA and stop it from growing by one simple change... oxygen!

When I aerate the tank 24/7, no BBA at all. When I stop aerating, BBA pops up. Aerate again and it stops growing (it doesn't die). Not sure whether it is the direct effect of the high oxygen, or the fact that all organics are broken down easier. But with the mass overcapacity of the filter and low organics due to little dying plants and little fish food, I almost expect the direct effect.

In my other tank I use CO2, but by keeping the tank clean, I reduced the oxygen demand of the organics, and thus raised the amount of oxygen as well. When people use more CO2 and conquer BBA, they raise the amount of O2 as well, by making their plants produce more.

https://www.aquaticplantcentral.com/forumapc/algae/87902-cause-solution-bba-3.html

So in your case I would suggest trying an airstone and air pump and or changing the water flow to increase surface agitation of the water. All these can increase oxygen levels and it that old post is correct it might work. Personally I have had a number of issues with algae but I have never seen BBA. My tank has always been well aerated.

But long term you probably will have to fertilize your tank. Very few tanks can have minimal algae with fish without some source for nutrients. While too much or too little light or OC2 can cause algae in my experience most algae issue are due to mineral deficient.

While using fish, shrimp and snails can work to control algae quite often it doesn't work because the algae is growing faster than it can be eaten. so the most important thing to do first is to find ways to slow it down.

It is also important to do weekly maintenance. Substrate vacuum to keep organics under control and weekly water changes are also very important. If maintenance is inconsistent tanks can get out of balance very fast.

Black beard algae, horrible stuff to deal with. It comes in as spores in water or on plants and once it's there, it's there for good.

Most algae is floating in the air (microscopic particles) with dust. If the conditions in the tank are favorable once it lands in the tank it grows and spreads. However if you can make the water conditions unfavorable it will die off. There is no easy way to prevent it from getting into the tank and even the best effort can fail.
 
I have black beard algae and it is hard to get rid of. I have massive water flow in my freshwater 55 gallon - I move approx. 400+ gallons an hour (2 powerheads (under gravel filter) and a Aqueon 75 HOB. In addition I have a 18 inch bubble wand and a separate air stone. My parameters are good except my nitrAtes are high 100 or so. The best way I have found to control this beast is with Hydrogen Peroxide. Look this up on You Tube. With in minutes it turns the stuff red and kills it and does no harm to the fish. I have found when you peel it off - you loses some pieces in the tank water and it spreads. You can use a spray bottle and add a "hard" plastic hose to spot direct the H.P. I suggest shutting off water flow while you are doing this for more precise spray. I spray it on live plants, my plastic plants and my filter. I like the idea of the American Flag fish - I might try that also.
 
Can you post a picture of the issue?

Are you sure it's algae and not Cyanobacter bacteria (aka blue green algae)?
Cyanobacteria cover everything in a film/ sheet of slime and can range in colour from blue, green, red, pink, brown & black. It grows extremely quickly and lifts off in pieces or sheets and has an unpleasant musty smell.

If it is Cyanobacteria, it loves nutrients, calm water, low oxygen levels and red light.

If it is Cyanobacteria, the best way to deal with it is to do huge (75%) daily water changes and gravel clean the substrate, and suck out/ remove as much of the stuff as possible. Increase water movement in the tank. Decrease the food going into the tank, especially dry foods. If you haven't changed the light globe in the last 12 months get a new globe (and starter if using fluorescent lights) with a 6500K (K is for kelvin) rating.

---------------------
American Flag fish don't eat much algae and won't touch blue green algae or black beard algae.


Why are dry foods worse for algae Growth?
 
Dry foods often sink to the bottom and don't get eaten. This provides an ideal habitat for Cyanobacteria (blue green algae). If all the food gets eaten it isn't an issue but I have seen lots of tank that contain small fish and people put full flakes into the tank. the fish try to eat the flakes but can't and they settle on the bottom and blue green algae takes off.
 
I have black beard algae and it is hard to get rid of. I have massive water flow in my freshwater 55 gallon - I move approx. 400+ gallons an hour (2 powerheads (under gravel filter) and a Aqueon 75 HOB. In addition I have a 18 inch bubble wand and a separate air stone. My parameters are good except my nitrAtes are high 100 or so. The best way I have found to control this beast is with Hydrogen Peroxide. Look this up on You Tube. With in minutes it turns the stuff red and kills it and does no harm to the fish. I have found when you peel it off - you loses some pieces in the tank water and it spreads. You can use a spray bottle and add a "hard" plastic hose to spot direct the H.P. I suggest shutting off water flow while you are doing this for more precise spray. I spray it on live plants, my plastic plants and my filter. I like the idea of the American Flag fish - I might try that also.
Yep, hydrogen peroxide works best, or don't worry about it and let it grow. 👍
 

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