# BBA starting -- how to fight?



## mistergreen (Dec 9, 2006)

It's yellow and the fish don't freak .

On water changing day, it directly squirt excel on the BBa with the recommended dose. It works and I don't have to stress out the fish.


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## TexasCichlid (Jul 12, 2011)

mistergreen said:


> It's yellow and the fish don't freak .
> 
> On water changing day, it directly squirt excel on the BBa with the recommended dose. It works and I don't have to stress out the fish.


I have been slowly increasing my CO2. Fish seem fine so far but every day they are fine, I crank the CO2 up slightly.

I don't have any BBA in the tank to squirt, really. When I see it on plants, instead of treating chemically I just physically remove the entire leaf. I had a tuft or two on the glass that I hit with H2O2 with the filters off and let sit for 20 minutes. Then I scrape it off and suck it out with a syringe.


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## mistergreen (Dec 9, 2006)

I was battling with for a long time. Remove affected leave, fix co2, and direct squirting of excel was how I got it under control. It's still around but excel takes care of that.


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## TexasCichlid (Jul 12, 2011)

Sounds like I will keep on trucking the way I am doing it now. Hopefully it resolves itself after a bit.


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## HD Blazingwolf (May 12, 2011)

mistergreen said:


> It's yellow and the fish don't freak .
> 
> On water changing day, it directly squirt excel on the BBa with the recommended dose. It works and I don't have to stress out the fish.


I Can take a picture of mine. mine is yellow daily, and fish dont freak

yellow is not the end all be all for fish death. green is just a starting point in terms of drop checker color

and yes my fluid is appropriately 4 dkh. its turning yellow in a 5 dkh checker as well just not quite as bright yellow, more of a greenish yellow

good surface agitation and Low BOD keep oxygen levels sufficient for higher co2 levels safely,
my rainbowfish spawn frequently as well


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## syzygy9 (Aug 9, 2010)

Crazy...you and I have nearly the same set-up/issue.

I run the Finnex Ray2 on a 36G for 7 hours per day.
EI dosing, but my Nitrates run high so I add a little less KNO3.
50% weekly water change. I turn my CO2 on 2 hrs before light, but that is only because I either have a leak (that I can't find) or a very innefficient reactor. I'm running a freaking stream of CO2 to get my DC to a yellowish lime green. I turn the knob a bit more every couple days, but the BC is totally useless as a gauge in my case.

I check each evening and remove any leaves with even the slightest strings of BBA. I have only seen it on my Blyxa and my Acmela Repens stems. They are on opposite sides of the tank from each other. One is in a high flow area and the other not so much...this seems odd to me.

I had been running the light for 8 hrs and it was definitely worse then. I hate to cut to 6hrs as it feels like the kids and I hardly get to enjoy the tank as it is. I'm tempted to step down to the FugeRay. I could probably run the light for 10hrs a day, but some of my plants may not be happy with the lower output.

Anyway, hopefully one of us figures out a solution that the other can benefit from.


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## HD Blazingwolf (May 12, 2011)

if it helps syn.. i run a stream into my 29 gallon to keep the DC bright yellow, and i have a buttload of light. 
algae is always ready to take hold, this is the dilema with high light, one slip and its there

keep trimming, adjust co2, keep it steady and eventuall plants will grow in and black algae will quit growing, anytime u get an unhealthy leaf though, guess what's gonna show up


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## tetra73 (Aug 2, 2011)

Any reasons why you don't dose NO3??? For me, I tried to scrap them off if possible and then to siphon them out. I find that spot treating with Excel would tend to damage the leaves too. Same with H2O2. I simply just remove the affected leaves at the right time when there are a lot new ones growing. I also make sure CO2, ferts, and light are all balance. I mainly increase the CO2 by a bit, until the drop checker is yellow within 2 hours at the beginning of the light cycle. I have a 40g with a HOB filter and it takes a lot of CO2 to get to yellow by noon. I also do 3 40% WC per week. Using Purigen as well.


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## TexasCichlid (Jul 12, 2011)

I don't dose NO3 because my nitrates stay at 5-20ish ppm throughout the week between my aquasoil and feeding.


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## TexasCichlid (Jul 12, 2011)

Just an update. I have to trim about 10-15 leaves a day as it pops up. Also pops up on my glass. CO2 is waaaaay beyond the yellow point on my drop checker. Been dosing Excel at 5+mL per day every day before the lights come on. Been spot dosing the stuff on the glass, scraping off and siphoning when I can see it floating as a result. Getting a little frustrated.

Photoperiod is 6 hours now. Flow has slowed down so I am beginning to think that may be the culprit. CO2 is high enough now that it is overcoming my reactor and soda bubbles are showing up in the tank.


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## HD Blazingwolf (May 12, 2011)

take into account, if its still their, it can still reproduce. it can still grow on the slightest bit of unhealthy plant tissue...

water changes will help remove baby spores

organic objects that are inert are a great growing point for algae, these settle on elaves, hardwood, rocks,, etc.. even if u have a healthy leaf, if this stuff settles on a leaf for too long it can be the start of algae that eventually roots into plant tissues


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## Hoppy (Dec 24, 2005)

Plantbrain has added wet/dry filters to all of his high light tanks, because they do a great job of dissolving O2 into the water. That could be a good next step for you. With increased dissolved O2, the fish can tolerate more CO2 in the water, so you can raise the bubble rate even more.

One problem with drop checkers is their very slow response to changes in CO2 in the water. When it takes hours to get to a yellow DC, that isn't because it takes that long to raise the concentration in the water, but because it takes that long for the DC to show it. If you have a good method of diffusing CO2 into the water it shouldn't take more than an hour, if that long, to reach the desired concentration of CO2 in the water. Perhaps a pH probe would react much faster?


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## TexasCichlid (Jul 12, 2011)

Hoppy said:


> Plantbrain has added wet/dry filters to all of his high light tanks, because they do a great job of dissolving O2 into the water. That could be a good next step for you. With increased dissolved O2, the fish can tolerate more CO2 in the water, so you can raise the bubble rate even more.
> 
> One problem with drop checkers is their very slow response to changes in CO2 in the water. When it takes hours to get to a yellow DC, that isn't because it takes that long to raise the concentration in the water, but because it takes that long for the DC to show it. If you have a good method of diffusing CO2 into the water it shouldn't take more than an hour, if that long, to reach the desired concentration of CO2 in the water. Perhaps a pH probe would react much faster?


My lily pipes is 1/4 above the water line, so there is a lot of churning for O2 exchange. Wet/Dry is out of the question for this particular application. Drop checker has been yellow by noon for the past 3 weeks and I have been slowly increasing CO2 past that, daily, since then.


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## Dave-H (Jul 29, 2010)

During my battle with BBA, I had the CO2 running 24/7 on a reactor and a bright yellow drop checker. The CO2 was so high that I lost every single invertebrate in the tank and unfortunately some fish, too. 

The BBA was rocking at the end - seemingly unaffected by the high CO2.


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## etgregoire (Oct 28, 2009)

Dave-H said:


> The BBA was rocking at the end - seemingly unaffected by the high CO2.


So then what was the end? You finally got rid of the BBA? Or... the tank? Lol


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## TexasCichlid (Jul 12, 2011)

Just came home, CO2 is on an hour before lights. Drop checker is yellow when lights come on.


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## Dave-H (Jul 29, 2010)

etgregoire said:


> So then what was the end? You finally got rid of the BBA? Or... the tank? Lol


I went back to low light


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## mistergreen (Dec 9, 2006)

If you see a little BBA, squirt it with excel with the filter off for 15-30 minutes when you do a water change. The BBA will die off in a few days. It's my weekly routine now. It's no biggie.


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## tomfromstlouis (Apr 2, 2012)

Sorry to be so dense, but I am beginning this battle too and need to know exactly how the squirting works. What kind of squirter do you use? Is this directly on a leaf that is temporarily out of the water (during a change)? Or in the vicinity of a leaf while still under water? 

I can see using a squirt bottle filled with excel and holding each leaf above the water line during a change, but am not sure how underwater squirting would work if that is the answer. I do 25% water changes and some of my BBA is below that level. I'd do a bigger change if I had a bigger water aging tank, but I don't. This came on because of my more frequent water changes, which I need to do for the altums.

Damn you BBA!


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## TexasCichlid (Jul 12, 2011)

When people advise to squirt, they mean with a syringe. My BBA is on the retreat after direct application of Excel and continued trimming.


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