# Beard Algae



## OoglyBoogly (Oct 19, 2010)

Massapequaaaaa... haha are you able to have fish in your tank? Otocinclus (can be bought from petland for $1), Siamese Algae eaters (can be bought for $2 at Winn Tropical in NYC), and Amano shrimp (can be bought from petco for $2.50)etc will eat it from what I've read.


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## OoglyBoogly (Oct 19, 2010)

Lol I ALWAYS think of this video when I hear massapequa.
http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/mon-june-15-2009/long-island-wants-to-secede


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## Green024 (Sep 19, 2009)

http://www.theplantedtank.co.uk/algae.htm

Great algae website...


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## sewingalot (Oct 12, 2008)

Ottos won't eat it. You could remove the driftwood and treat with H202 (hydrogen peroxide) or overdose excel. These are methods to get rid of it so you have a heads up on figuring out what's causing it.


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## OoglyBoogly (Oct 19, 2010)

sewingalot said:


> Ottos won't eat it. You could remove the driftwood and treat with H202 (hydrogen peroxide) or overdose excel. These are methods to get rid of it so you have a heads up on figuring out what's causing it.


Hmm I started getting what looked like bearded algae on my gravel... it had a reddish hue under a flashlight. Anyway's I suck at identifying this stuff... I drastically cut down on the amount i fed my fish where the ottos were no longer getting the leftovers that would fall to the bottom and in a few days my algae starting dissapearing and I noticed my ottos (and guppies) were always sucking at the leaves of plants and gravel. Anyways I reserve the right to admit that my experiment was less science and more wishful thinking! :angel:


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## sewingalot (Oct 12, 2008)

I could be wrong. I've never seen mine eating it, but I do have plenty more algae for them to eat.


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## OoglyBoogly (Oct 19, 2010)

Mine won't touch that string algae that grows into really long strands. I've even tried mincing it for them which I think just made it more mobile and it wound up getting everywhere in my tank... lol so much for half thought out experiments although my guppies DID eat some of it. I think the key is to force fish to go back to their instincts of constantly foraging for food rather than just waiting for the hand of god to feed them. Just be careful that they don't go after delicate plants or shallow/weakly rooted carpet plants in cruddy gravel like my setup. I had read what happened to your downoi and I would have minced my fish to feed to eachother if that happened to me! my guppies never bothered my RCS but they had a field day today picking at the RCS corpses left in the tank while I was out. I got home and then realized O SNAP Ammonia spike potential but ammonia was at 0... then I thought OH NO they are getting the taste for shrimp blood that might have some chemicals in it... lol I removed most of the shrimp carcasses until I got sad finding so many of them and just put everything back the way it was and walked away... uhhh yea big tangent... sorry!

I acquired a copy of Walstad's book and she writes some fantastic stuff on algae. I'd recommend checking it out!


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## sewingalot (Oct 12, 2008)

Interesting story. Love the mincing up the hair algae, lol. Weird. I wonder what got your shrimp? Maybe your nitrates are high? Never read Walstad's book, too cheap to buy it. 

Laura, do you dose co2? Almost always, BBA is caused by low/fluctuating co2. In my experience, it's been more on the fluctuating part due to a crappy needle valve.


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## Pookie Bear (Sep 2, 2010)

I don't dose with Co2. I have a ton of Ottos in my tank but they won't eat the stuff. I'm not sure if the nitrates are too high, all my fish seem to be fine. Maybe i have the light on for too long? Someone told me Nerite snails would probably eat the algae so i might try that.


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## OoglyBoogly (Oct 19, 2010)

Laura, do you feed algae wafers to your ottos?


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## Pookie Bear (Sep 2, 2010)

I do but they usually don't eat them (at least i don't see them eat them). Actually my GBR and EBR go crazy over the algae wafers.


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## Centromochlus (May 19, 2008)

Although they are mainly known for being great hair algae eaters i occasionally see my florida flagfish snacking on the BBA in my tank. Definitely worth a shot.


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## OoglyBoogly (Oct 19, 2010)

AzFishKid said:


> Although they are mainly known for being great hair algae eaters i occasionally see my florida flagfish snacking on the BBA in my tank. Definitely worth a shot.


 Are they omnivores? meaning will they eat my future shrimp and current fry? LOL


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## mistergreen (Dec 9, 2006)

Somebody (problemMan?) recommended to me Garra fishes. I hear they're good filament algae eaters.


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## Centromochlus (May 19, 2008)

OoglyBoogly said:


> Are they omnivores? meaning will they eat my future shrimp and current fry? LOL


 Probably... they're known for being some-what aggressive. I wouldn't try it. :hihi:


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## OoglyBoogly (Oct 19, 2010)

mistergreen said:


> Somebody (problemMan?) recommended to me Garra fishes. I hear they're good filament algae eaters.


 LOL I just found the most fantastic info based on your suggestion: http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/lounge/120635-simulataneous-hand-tank-pedicure.html


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## Pookie Bear (Sep 2, 2010)

I decided to take out the driftwood because 1. it was too big and 2. it had all the beard algae on it. I also took apart the filter and cleaned it because that had some algae on it too. Hopefully it won't come back!


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## OoglyBoogly (Oct 19, 2010)

Hmm algae is usually indicative of other problems. You are basically treating the symptoms of a problem. I think unless you completely sterilize every single thing in your tank the algae will come back until you address the cause of the algae outbreak. Too many nutrients, light, not enough co2, fluctuating co2 (as per sewingalots posts)...

But yea sorry if I sound like a downer but I do hope it doesn't come back. Good luck!

Can you post pics of your setup/driftwood?


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## captain_bu (Oct 20, 2007)

Hope is not a solution for algae problems. Unless you fix the reason it is growing in the first place it will come back.

You haven't given us any information about your tank except that you have algae.

What type of lighting do you have and how long is it on for? Do you add any fertilizers? Do water changes? What is the stocking level in the tank? How often and how much do you feed your fish? How about maintenance, are you cleaning the tank and filter regularly?

Without info any responses are only guesses.


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## 2ManyHobbies (Sep 18, 2007)

Anyone have luck with these and BBA?


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