# BBA! My personal fight... pictures!



## mistergreen (Dec 9, 2006)

You can spot treat with H2O2 as well. It's been working for me.


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## Captivate05 (Feb 23, 2010)

I tried spot treating with H2O2, and it barely turned a shade lighter. I had great luck spot treating staghorn algae several months ago, so it was the first thing I turned to. Maybe my h2o2 is getting old, but I'd been flirting with the idea of using Excel on this tank for a few weeks now anyway. Some of the faster growing stems starting showing co2 deficiencies pushed me into getting a bottle today. Figured as long as I was dosing the tank anyway, I may as well spot treat to begin with.

Hoping to get this tank going pressurized before too long. I asked my fiance for a regulator for Christmas, so maybe if I'm good he'll go for it! roud: I literally have everything else, but the used regulator I bought off of eBay was busted.


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## timwag2001 (Jul 3, 2009)

what works great is to do a 50 % water change. when the tank is half empty, dose the water to 5ml per 10 gallons (not how much water you have but how much the tank holds) let it sit for a few minutes and refill that tank. works everytime


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## mistergreen (Dec 9, 2006)

Captivate05 said:


> I tried spot treating with H2O2, and it barely turned a shade lighter. I had great luck spot treating staghorn algae several months ago, so it was the first thing I turned to. Maybe my h2o2 is getting old, but I'd been flirting with the idea of using Excel on this tank for a few weeks now anyway. Some of the faster growing stems starting showing co2 deficiencies pushed me into getting a bottle today. Figured as long as I was dosing the tank anyway, I may as well spot treat to begin with.
> 
> Hoping to get this tank going pressurized before too long. I asked my fiance for a regulator for Christmas, so maybe if I'm good he'll go for it! roud: I literally have everything else, but the used regulator I bought off of eBay was busted.


Do you let the H2O2 sit without current in the tank for a least 30 minutes? Mine doesn't turn any color at first, it just bubbles. Then it gradually turns red and die off over the next few days.


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## Captivate05 (Feb 23, 2010)

Yup. I turned the filters and powerheads off and let them sit for about five minutes or so, spot treated with h2o2, and left everything off for about 30-45 minutes. I did the same thing on staghorn algae (earlier this year) and it was dead in a few days. Treating at 1 ml per gallon (standard 29g).

I've been doing this daily for about a week and a half now. I'm thinking it's my h2o2. I've had the bottle for a couple years, but it worked great on the staghorn, so I thought it would still work. 

I upped it to 2 ml/gallon, but I found one of my habrosus corys dead the next day and another one acting strange. It's the only thing different about my routine, even though I have a hard time believing such a diluted amount of old h2o2 would hurt them much. After a large water change and backing off on the treatment, they bounced right back. So it was either the h2o2, or something else ended up in the water without me knowing about it. Other than that, my zebra oto's gills turned a little pink, but otherwise seemed fine, and my other otos were displaying spawning behavior. I swear they spawned somewhere in there, the female shrank overnight, but I can't seem to locate the eggs. My rainbows are indestructible as always, and didn't seem to notice. And they are the busy bodies that HAVE to see what I'm up to when I have my hands in the tank.

So far, everyone seems just peachy with the Excel treatment. I change my water on Sundays, so they were given the 5ml/10 gallon treatment. I let the water calm, spot treated all the BBA I could find, and left it alone with only one of my lights on for about 45 minutes. After that, I turned everything back on, resumed the lights on the timer (which shut them off), and went to bed. Basically the same routine as with the h2o2.

This morning, I can't discern any color changes in the BBA yet. Then again, my lights don't turn on until noon, and this was with low ambient room light. One thing I can tell you for certain is my water is a heck of a lot cleaner looking! Took out some of those ceramic rings and added some filter floss to my 2213. It's not all packed in there anymore, and the flow increase is incredible. Now I have to keep an eye on my parameters, because I'm sure I torched some bacterial colonies... I really learned my lesson about being lazy with filter maintenance. My Rapid minis are easy to take apart and play with; the Eheim... not so much. We just installed the quick connects on it yesterday, though (wow, I'm an idiot for not doing that in the first place), so it'll get taken down and rinsed out once a month now.


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## Captivate05 (Feb 23, 2010)

*Day 2 Update*

Most of the tuffs have turned fairly red in color now. A few are being more tenacious, and still bluish-black. 

The powerhead I'm using to diffuse co2 has turned the tank into a wonderland of bubbles. You can really see the flow in this tank now, no dead spots! The fish are trying to get used to it. The plants will hopefully start making their recovery soon.

I definitely took out some of my biofilter in my craziness over cleaning the filter. My tap has ammo in, which is usually taken care of over night. With a 50% water change, the tank is still at 0.25ppm (tap is 1.0ppm). Nitrate is pretty much zero, so I'm skipping the KNO3 dosing for today and testing again tomorrow. Considering it's less than 0.5 ppm, I'm assuming some of the biofilter is intact, and it'll be fine with a little time. The super light bioload in this tank really helps.


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## Captivate05 (Feb 23, 2010)

I decided to add a couple pics. This is the best I can do with my Droid's camera...

BBA tuft the day after the first treatment.









Not sure if this is really BBA or not, but it had no reaction to the h2o2, and minimal reaction to the first treatment of Excel. It's only hanging out on the driftwood "spikes".


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## darkoon (Nov 11, 2010)

excel works well for BBA. you may want to turn on your CO2 2-3 hours before your lights, it takes a while to ramp up co2 concentration in the water. fluctuation in CO2 is one of the main causes of BBA.


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## accordztech (Dec 6, 2004)

I use h202 and works very nice. Sometimes on big pieces ill go ahead and take it out and rinse it with warm water or boil it. 

I do what darkoon said, My co2 turns on 30 minutes before my lights, and my lights dont come on all at once, they progressivly come on for a few hours then progressivly turn off AFTER the co2 shut down. Worked great.


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## Captivate05 (Feb 23, 2010)

Yeah, I could probably pick up another timer. Finding a spot for it is another story...

My huge ramshorn snail decided to pull his hefty weight and attacked the weird algae on one of the "spikes". There isn't very much left, so the Excel must've killed it enough to make it palatable. The rainbows were picking at the "fridge" around one of the anubias leaves I left behind. They were working away at it when I dropped a spirulina stick in, and diverted their attention. I guess spirulina is tastier than half-dead bba... So far the otos have completely ignored it, at least while I'm looking.

One thing I really noticed about treating the tank with Excel: the hydra sure as heck doesn't like it! They are next on the list for torching. Those things eat bbs and daphnia, which are two of the things I feed to my rainbows, so unfortunately they are thriving. So in a couple weeks, I'm hitting the tank with SafeGuard. I figure it's best to slam the fish with one thing at a time.

Did the second round of treatment. 3ml this time, right over the tufts, and this time after lights were out (went out to see a movie, just got back). I will report back tomorrow after lights on (noon).


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## accordztech (Dec 6, 2004)

Oh how much h202 are u using at a time? I use about 110ml for my 55 gallon. Doesnt hurt anything or fish. I make sure ALL the bba is bubbling.


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## Captivate05 (Feb 23, 2010)

I was using 1ml/g (tank has about 25 gallons of water in it, plus a gallon for the filter, so 26 mls). I tried doubling it, and it took out a cory. Didn't affect the algae too much. My corys have been just peachy without the h2o2.

Like I said, I had great success with this on staghorn algae. Just not having that same luck with BBA for whatever reason. Either way, I've already committed to Excel treatment. I choose to use it for more reasons that just BBA treatment. This tank has DIY co2 that I'm still trying to tweak at my new place. The water here is worlds different than my old place. I may have complained all the time about it, but that water was great in DIY co2 mix. I'm still trying to find a middle ground to get it working the way it should. Until then, the fluctuating co2 levels are only going to hinder me. Excel should help to stabilize that a bit until either a: I find the sweet spot, or b: I go pressurized. B is starting to get pretty likely, because if my fiance doesn't get me my regulator, I'm using my Christmas money on one :icon_mrgr

I'll just fight my uphill battle for another month!


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## Captivate05 (Feb 23, 2010)

*Day 3 update*

So here's the results of the second round of treatment:

BBA Tuft









Another tuft and an oto working on the other side of the driftwood









What I've named "The Bad Spot". Looks a lot better than it did, don't know why I didn't tank a before picture...









BBA fringe on an anubias leaf, turning purple









The driftwood spikes. Only a little fuzz left on the one (thank you snails!) and the second one the fuzz turned a pretty cool shade of magenta-purple that I had a hard time capturing...


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## accordztech (Dec 6, 2004)

I always had bba on anubis leaves, so i refuse to have them lol.

I think you should try boiling that wood, it will make it turn red pretty fast and then it will eventually die out.


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## Captivate05 (Feb 23, 2010)

*Day 4 update*

There is way too many plants and what not on that driftwood, not to mention it weighs about 45 pounds and I have nothing big enough to boil it in! roud:

The tufts are either mostly red/pink/magenta or gone at this point. I still have some targeting to do tonight, and probably over the next couple days. 3ml isn't a whole lot of juice to work with. 

Here's the anubias leaf today









When this plant grows in some more, I'll probably end up trimming the leaf.


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## accordztech (Dec 6, 2004)

sometimes I take out the wood and just hit it with some h2o2 for 20 minutes then dip it in water then put it back in the tank and it usually will jump start the process.


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## inkslinger (Dec 28, 2003)

http://www.gpodio.com/h2o2.asp


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## Captivate05 (Feb 23, 2010)

I have no reason to start treatment with hydrogen peroxide :icon_mrgr

The algae is pretty much completely gone. I started full dosing the tank as of last night. 4ml dose without spot treatment. The algae has further backed off, and is white.


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## Aioros (Nov 17, 2010)

What tool do you use to spot treat?


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## timwag2001 (Jul 3, 2009)

a syringe. most liquid test kits have one in them


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## Captivate05 (Feb 23, 2010)

Yup, I pilfered a 6cc luer slip syringe from my parent's farm (we buy them in bulk because we go through a bunch of them every spring).

Syringes are pretty easy to get just about anywhere. I've found they are cheapest at Farm supply stores (like TSC).


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## Aioros (Nov 17, 2010)

Hmm, here in Oakland, CA we do not really have Farm Supply stores nearby..wonder if I can find them in some other type of store.


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## comatoast (Mar 11, 2009)

Aioros said:


> Hmm, here in Oakland, CA we do not really have Farm Supply stores nearby..wonder if I can find them in some other type of store.


Any pharmacy should have a dosing syringe.


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## mattycakesclark (Jun 11, 2010)

I had some nasty BBA all over my driftwood and moss . . . I found out that my PPS-Pro dosing method was bottoming out my NO3, with rocket high PO4. Adjusted dosing to EI, no CO2 changes (was right below fish stressing), trimmed affected plants and spot treat it with excel - - - the next day the ramshorns were swarmed on the red-n-dead BBA, next day driftwood clear. Stayed with this for a few weeks for EI levels to build up in the tank, and now I won.
I see it coming up once and a while, it stays really really short, almost just a green stain, but if I miss a dosing or Excel on water change day it grows overnight. I shoot it with spot treatment and the next day another snail feast.
BBA was really annoying for me, almost made me quit the hobby. Then I followed Mr. Barr's advice . . . concentrate on growing good plants, and not killing algae.


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