# The True Cure for BBA (Black Beard Algae)



## bsherwood

I had it bad also- pulled all driftwood and hit is hard with H202.
for a couple months I also sprayed and dosed gravel with H202 when I did water changes.

95% of it is gone....now I just spot hit when needed.


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## ericwithac

bsherwood said:


> I had it bad also- pulled all driftwood and hit is hard with H202.
> for a couple months I also sprayed and dosed gravel with H202 when I did water changes.
> 
> 95% of it is gone....now I just spot hit when needed.


SIOUX YEA YEA!!!! I went to UND and I see your from NODAK as well. I don't like the idea of putting h202 in a tank where fish live, but that's just me. Flow imho is the best natural way to get rid of it!


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## bsherwood

I am also a UND grad....

never lost a fish to h202...no, no not one.... damaged a few delicate plants but nary a scale on a fish was injured in this film.


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## houseofcards

If only it was that simple as flow. 

BBA can grow in no flow to super high flow areas.


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## burr740

^especially in high flow areas


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## devilduck

I don't think flow is entirely the solution. I've seen bba grow in very high and low flow areas, sometimes right on the outflow of a filter or powerhead. Water movement is probably helping the movement of nutrients and co2 across your long tank, which in turn the helping the plants grow and out compete the bba.


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## rick dale

*Bba*

I have had it in a high flow tank. Flow makes no difference from what I saw. H202 is the answer.


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## ericwithac

So maybe this all comes down to the old adage that "fishkeeping is completely situational."


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## happi

mine grows best in high flow area, including on the diffuser, filter outlet, on power head. so no real cure here with increasing the flow.


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## MChambers

Yes, after reading the title of the thread and the first sentence, I assumed you were going to recommend low flow. In my experience, BBA likes high flow.


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## latchdan

It grows on my outflow...


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## Cheetah2

Can a fish spread BBA?
I noticed several tanks at my big box fish store where the gravel is covered in this algae. It goes ignored, but are the fish carriers of any spores or whatever this is made of?


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## sohankpatel

I always see a little bit of bba in my tank, but SAE and flagfish destroy it, careful though, flagfish are voracious and will eat other plants.


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## Diana

> are the fish carriers


No, but the water is. There is no way to get rid of every drop of store tank water from the fish before adding it to your quarantine tank, but the time and water changes in the quarantine tank ought to provide a break in its life cycle. 

Some algae spores spread through the air, or on your clothing, or your dog's fur... Even the municipal water supply may have some live algae. You are not going to keep the tank free of algae by preventing the spread of the spores.


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## bsherwood

I did a 50% water change last night on my big tank. I sprayed h202 on the back glass. It starts to smoke a bit and I am happy to watch it die.

I dosed five spots in the gravel that had BBA. it was instantly oxidized. My rummies danced through the bubbles created...my guess is they are getting a little O2 buzz on.


Yes, if you go bonkers with h202 you are going to kill stuff. I use one of those restaurant ketchup squeeze bottles....I make a very small opening in the nozzle....I get right on top of the BBA and make it be dead. It is my FAVORITE part of water changes.


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## micheljq

I had a lot of BBA for about one year, after i began co2 injection. I did read somewhere that fluctuating co2 levels is one of the cause of it. It was growing on equipment, plants. One explanation i did read was that when co2 levels fluctuate a lot, plants cannot cope with it but BBA can and that injection of co2 should begin 2 hours before the lights are on, if it is not 24 hours a day.

I was playing with the levels of co2 a lot because i did not know what i wanted exactly. Now it is better since i have found the adjustment i want and the co2 levels are the same each day. I do not play with it anymore and leave it as it is.

Also the injection of co2 begins 2 hours before the lights are on now. Before it did began at the same time as the lighting period.

BBA has disappeared a lot lately, i still see some on older leaves of my echinodorus (that will be trimmed soon), but the new leaves no longer have it.

I get rid of it by cutting infested leaves, and removing the equipment from the tank, brushing it, burning the BBA with Excel. Sometime i burn BBA spots in the tank with Excel, but i do not find this practical at all.

Michel.


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## nilocg

ericwithac said:


> I've had two decently large freshwater tanks in the past year, a 55g and a 60g cube. Both have had run-ins with the ever annoying Black Beard Algae, and finding a cure, as most people know, is tough.
> 
> That being said, the BBA issue in the 55G got so out of hand, I disassembled the tank entirely, and pretty much bought a whole new setup for the 60G cube. Sure enough, within a few weeks I had a minute amount of BBA on my large piece of driftwood in the center of my tank. Since it was up towards the top and obviously getting alot of light, I decided to reduce the time the lights were on each day, and also cover the tank up with a blanket because the tank does sit in the light in the morning. (Stupid windows have internal blinds that are not functioning.)
> 
> Anyways, I tried racking my brain about why this was happening. I was dosing over 3x the recommended amount of Flourish Excel, covering the tank up when the lights weren't on, reducing the time my EcoTech radion was on, and guess what. STILL NO CHANGE! This was so infuriating. I couldn't believe my brand new, fancy dancy tank was being overrun by this menace!
> 
> Oddly enough, I only found the true cure for BBA after my powerhead failed.
> 
> I had a the smaller Cobalt power head (I believe model 2,500?) for a month or two, and for some reason one day it just failed. The only reason I can think of is that some plants got stuck in the fan and burnt out the powerheads motor. Anyhow, something very interested happened in the days following the powerheads failure. I noticed the BBA was coming in even stronger and growing even more.
> 
> This discovery really set off a light-bulb. Defeating BBA is all about flow over the "affected area." Sure, you can kill yourself overdosing flourish excel everyday, putting a blanket on your tank and turning off your lights sooner than normal, but again, I have done all of that to no affect.
> 
> Truly, the only solid defense (other than I suppose a true flying fox) is flow. I have a new powerhead with a rotating fan that creates great flow over the affected areas, at only 100gph, which is perfect for my discus. (The cobalt powerhead was creating farrrrrr to much flow for the discus to be happy).
> 
> In closing, I recommend the following. Get a solid powerhead with appropriate flow for your tank, and if you can, get a rotating powerhead so it will cover a large section of your tank. Second, don't worry so much about how long your lights are on for. (Obviously anything over 10 is excessive imho) Don't try to cover your tank up if it gets sunlight, and *DONT try the 1-2 punch. I've never seen the benefit of putting chemicals in your tank that are certainly not designed for fish tank use. Instead, dose 1x or 2x Flourish Excel daily*, and ensure proper flow over your BBA area.
> 
> In time, the BBA will start slowly (and yes, i mean slowly) withering away. If you have any questions on powerheads or getting rid of BBA, please let me know! I'm happy to help because I know what a menace BBA can be, and how defeating the issue is to the average aquarist.



Excel is probably as or more dangerous than H2O2, although both are relatively safe if used correctly. Also excel is a chemical.


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## isonychia

I have been battling it for 7 months and I still cant figure out how to stop it.

I had BBA and rhizoclonium. I somehow got rid of the rhizo. I think extra, deep gravel vacs got rid of it.

I am currently on the extra, deep gravel vacs and repeated canister filter cleanings and reduced photo period "plan of attack" to see if that makes a difference. (thanks to some members suggestions) Basically concentrating on reducing mulm, keeping things extra clean and reducing the photo period. So far I have not seen the BBA retreating...it really is starting to piss me off...

I even added another powerhead. Now I think I should remove it!

I have not attempted any H2O2 or excel treatments, only manual removal. I just don't see the point of those treatments since it will just come back.

iso


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## ericwithac

nilocg said:


> Excel is probably as or more dangerous than H2O2, although both are relatively safe if used correctly. Also excel is a chemical.


Thanks, its quite obvious that excel is a chemical lol. But is designed for use in a fish tank. Hydrogen Peroxide is meant for cleaning cuts and wounds, not for fish. That's my point.


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## nilocg

ericwithac said:


> Thanks, its quite obvious that excel is a chemical lol. But is designed for use in a fish tank. Hydrogen Peroxide is meant for cleaning cuts and wounds, not for fish. That's my point.



Excel is made from glutaraldehyde which is used to sterilize equipment in hospitals and various other things. Its intended use is far from fish tanks.


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## ericwithac

nilocg said:


> Excel is made from glutaraldehyde which is used to sterilize equipment in hospitals and various other things. Its intended use is far from fish tanks.


Is seachem a fish tank company? or a medical company? again, that's my point. I don't see seachem making an h202 bottle.


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## nilocg

ericwithac said:


> Is seachem a fish tank company? or a medical company? again, that's my point. I don't see seachem making an h202 bottle.



Doesnt make it any more or less safe, but fair enough.


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## jr125

I was able to greatly reduce BBA in my tank by reducing light period and intensity and using Excel. The Excel alone was not as effective until I got the lights down to a level where I am seeing very little to no new BBA. Plant growth has slowed but I'll gladly take that trade-off. I was also getting GSA. I started dosing a small amount of PO4 in the form of KH2PO4 and that with the reduced lighting has all but eliminated that also.


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## happi

maybe you guys should read this:

What exactly causes BBA? Part 2 - Bacterial imbalance | UK Aquatic Plant Society


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## burr740

ericwithac said:


> Thanks, its quite obvious that excel is a chemical lol. But is designed for use in a fish tank. Hydrogen Peroxide is meant for cleaning cuts and wounds, not for fish. That's my point.


Excel is glutaraldehyde, this stuff - Amazon.com : Metrex Metricide Gallon 14 Day - Model 182337 - Each : Health And Personal Care : Beauty


Just because Seachem slapped a fancy label on it doesnt mean what's inside the bottle is "made for fish tanks." It's packaged to be sold for fish tanks, that's all. 

If peroxide wasnt on every drug store shelf for 59 cents they'd probably have a name for that too.

Saying this as a big fan of Excel and Metricide, having used a ton of both. The latter is exponentially cheaper.

Just making a point.


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## isonychia

happi said:


> maybe you guys should read this:
> 
> What exactly causes BBA? Part 2 - Bacterial imbalance | UK Aquatic Plant Society


Thank for the link. I have gotten through a few pages so far.


iso


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## nilocg

burr740 said:


> Excel is glutaraldehyde, this stuff - Amazon.com : Metrex Metricide Gallon 14 Day - Model 182337 - Each : Health And Personal Care : Beauty
> 
> 
> Just because Seachem slapped a fancy label on it doesnt mean what's inside the bottle is "made for fish tanks." It's packaged to be sold for fish tanks, that's all.
> 
> If peroxide wasnt on every drug store shelf for 59 cents they'd probably have a name for that too.
> 
> Saying this as a big fan of Excel and Metricide, having used a ton of both. The latter is exponentially cheaper.
> 
> Just making a point.


I concur.


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## houseofcards

ericwithac said:


> Is seachem a fish tank company? or a medical company? again, that's my point. I don't see seachem making an h202 bottle.


All companies do that to make the consumer more comfortable using the product within a certain space. 

A better one is Seachem Flourish Glue!


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## nilocg

houseofcards said:


> All companies do that to make the consumer more comfortable using the product within a certain space.
> 
> A better one is Seachem Flourish Glue!


It probably sells very well too.


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## brightRGB

Your tank is getting dirty. Try 25% water change every two days for a month and see the result.


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## ericwithac

brightRGB said:


> Your tank is getting dirty. Try 25% water change every two days for a month and see the result.


I don't doubt it, but this is a theory I have not yet heard.


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## thegoodkingnado

In my experience, BBA LOVES FLOW!!! Almost looks nice, swaying in the current, even [emoji1]!
Only cure I have found is tearing the tank down, bleaching it, and starting fresh. If you don't completely eradicate the stuff, it's gonna come back.
If you catch it before it gets out of hand, dimmer light and amano shrimp can keep it down, but still won't eradicate it. Otos, flagfish, or sae can also keep it under control- all these fish and shrimp would surely be even better! 


Sent from my LG-H831 using Tapatalk


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## DennisSingh

True natural way to combat bba

get rid of all organics, decomposing matter, mulm, fish poo, detritus, debris, and keep water clean, from dust, particles, and such.


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## doylecolmdoyle

Agreed that high flow itself doesnt really make any difference, as others have said I have had BBA grow in the highest flow areas of my tank, reducing light and making sure co2 is high (30ppm) is the best method for me, along with spot dosing h2o2 or even doing the 1-2 punch if needed.


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## jeffkrol

ericwithac said:


> I don't doubt it, but this is a theory I have not yet heard.


My 40B is constantly dirty.. BBA was not a problem for years..then one day it was..
not saying it's not "recommended" to clean tanks, just not sure it is a KEY..

did I reach a "tipping point".. well maybe..


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## burr740

Dirty conditions/high organic waste is the main trigger for bba, along with unhappy plants


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## houseofcards

Every tank will have a different threshold based on light, plant mass (uptake), organic waste. Your not going to beat back BBA with flow or high co2. I've seen tuffs of BBA growing right on the co2 disc and on the filter return.


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## sdwindansea

Exactly, I've had BBA on the holes of the spray bar where CO2 is being released. I don't think there is a simple answer...


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## BamaTony

Stabilize the Co2 in the tank. I used a simple API Co2 booster as directed and in about 60 to 90 days it was totally gone. All my plants and inverts still seem ahppy and healthy...


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## The Dude1

How do you guys suggest dosing H202 and excel to eliminate BBA? I had a good amount of BBA choking out my bolbitus. I had 2 large bunches. Each bunch got a 5-8 second dip in 3% H202. Unfortunately one group was left on the counter for a few minutes after the dose while I got the second batch. That batch lost every single leaf. I'm hoping rhizomes recover. If I were to drop the water level what concentration of H202 should I spray? How long should it remain before it's washed off? What about dosing underwater? The last time I did that I inadvertently added a full tank dose of H202.


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## houseofcards

I would cut off any affected leaves and make changes to the tank to prevent new leaves from getting BBA.


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## Jeff5614

The Dude1 said:


> How do you guys suggest dosing H202 and excel to eliminate BBA? I had a good amount of BBA choking out my bolbitus. I had 2 large bunches. Each bunch got a 5-8 second dip in 3% H202. Unfortunately one group was left on the counter for a few minutes after the dose while I got the second batch. That batch lost every single leaf. I'm hoping rhizomes recover. If I were to drop the water level what concentration of H202 should I spray? How long should it remain before it's washed off? What about dosing underwater? The last time I did that I inadvertently added a full tank dose of H202.


Are you talking about spraying the plants? I had some BBA in Christmas moss that I sprayed with a 50% solution of 3% H2O2 and let it sit while the tank refilled, probably something like ten minutes. This killed the algae and the moss looked fine. I'm sure different plants would react differently. My tank is 85 gallons and I used around 3 mls of H2O2 with 3 ml's of water and sprayed maybe half of that on the moss.

If you're talking about spot treating underwater I'm not sure what the maximum amount of H2O2 would be. I would think you should be treating and correcting things before it got to that point. That being said, I wouldn't do more than a very small section at a time. If you're going to use Excel I probably wouldn't exceed the manufacturers recommendation for a standard dose based on your tank size.


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## ipkiss

houseofcards said:


> I would cut off any affected leaves and make changes to the tank to prevent new leaves from getting BBA.


Much easier said than done!  But definitely this is what you ultimately want to be able to do.



Jeff5614 said:


> Are you talking about spraying the plants? I had some BBA in Christmas moss that I sprayed with a 50% solution of 3% H2O2 and let it sit while the tank refilled, probably something like ten minutes. This killed the algae and the moss looked fine. I'm sure different plants would react differently. My tank is 85 gallons and I used around 3 mls of H2O2 with 3 ml's of water and sprayed maybe half of that on the moss.
> 
> If you're talking about spot treating underwater I'm not sure what the maximum amount of H2O2 would be. I would think you should be treating and correcting things before it got to that point. That being said, I wouldn't do more than a very small section at a time. If you're going to use Excel I probably wouldn't exceed the manufacturers recommendation for a standard dose based on your tank size.


This is what I did. For a long while until I figured things out, I would do this if only to get my satisfying hit of red, dying BBA. But I do stress that you do need to figure things out, otherwise this will be a permanent part of your water change and it's no fun after a while. And the other issue is while true that the H2O2 should dissipate, for the time that it hasn't dissipated, it's pretty much killing all sorts of live things in its path. The plants survive because they have a tougher protection mechanism, but as you have discovered, even that can be overwhelmed and they succumb. So it's always a sort of experiment of how much dose you can get away with .. like I said. No fun. 

Personally, the mulm game is pretty strong in my tank and every rescape clouds up the water insanely, so while I loathe to say excessive organics won't cause BBA, all I'm saying is if you're running a visibly super clean tank and you're still getting BBA, I feel you. I think it just has so many different triggers is why there's so much discussion on this particular algae. Central to preventing it is still really.. healthy plants. So, I had to improve the health of my plants. What ultimately worked for me was .. enough steady, stable, thoroughly saturated CO2 in the tank for the light. I almost swear by this mantra. Heck, it's my signature quote. Flow may have something to do with it, but I think it's more saturation that works. This probably even gets into examining how your water flows, if there are high flow vs dead spots, etc. Shoot, at one point, I had BBA only on the outflow. It would not survive on the plants. I don't think it likes healthy leaves. It's the saturation that leads to happy plants. You don't know how gratifying it is to be able to say, yea.. it's growing on the outflows, who cares. It totally goes against the crowd who needs to tear down their tank, sanitize, and restart just because there's a bit of algae. You can't kill it all! Learn how to minimize its survival profile and live with it. Maybe it helped that there was a real SAE helping, but I doubt he'd finish it all if the BBA was happily growing.

Who can guarantee that they have that proper, thorough, saturated CO2 with ease? So if you can't guarantee the proper delivery of CO2, you must lower the light to meet what you might be delivering. That's much easier to do. There's so much to be gained by lowering your light -- especially if you're not trying to grow some sort of carpet or trick plant that needs high light. Whether you lower intensity, duration, or both, as long as your plants won't die off, this will buy you a much needed breather to control this vile beast of an algae. It reduces pressure on practically all the triggers for BBA. With less light, your plants have a better chance of working with whatever "shortage" you have .. be it nutrients or CO2. I always argue CO2 because lacking that is more likely. Now that you've no longer got the shortage or if its less pronounced, the plants will grow healthier and would be less susceptible to BBA attachment or triggering. With less light, even the BBA will grow slower so that you have less you have to kill with H2O2 later. If it was your high organics, it gives you time to do the water changes. Point is, you can hardly go wrong with less light. Then, when you beat back that BBA, then you can sit back and think of how to increase it back.


Best of luck, @The Dude1 !


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## Jeff5614

ipkiss said:


> ... I don't think it likes healthy leaves...
> 
> Whether you lower intensity, duration, or both, as long as your plants won't die off, this will buy you a much needed breather to control this vile beast of an algae. It reduces pressure on practically all the triggers for BBA. With less light, your plants have a better chance of working with whatever "shortage" you have .. be it nutrients or CO2. I always argue CO2 because lacking that is more likely. Now that you've no longer got the shortage or if its less pronounced, the plants will grow healthier and would be less susceptible to BBA attachment or triggering. With less light, even the BBA will grow slower so that you have less you have to kill with H2O2 later. If it was your high organics, it gives you time to do the water changes. Point is, you can hardly go wrong with less light. Then, when you beat back that BBA, then you can sit back and think of how to increase it back.
> 
> 
> Best of luck, @The Dude1 !


IME, healthy plants don't get BBA or much of any algae for that matter. Whether conditions that grow healthy plants prevent algae or healthy plants themselves repel it, I don't know, but I've never had BBA on a healthy leaf, only on an injured or dying one.

Your point about lower light is spot on.


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## Surf

> Can a fish spread BBA?
> I noticed several tanks at my big box fish store where the gravel is covered in this algae. It goes ignored, but are the fish carriers of any spores or whatever this is made of?





> the current, even !
> Only cure I have found is tearing the tank down, bleaching it, and starting fresh. If you don't completely eradicate the stuff, it's gonna come back.


Algae is a single cell organism like bacteria. You can only see it with a microscope. However algae cells do stick together forming what you see. If any single cell from the algae breaks off and lands somewhere in the tank it will grow if conditions are right. It grows in pond and mud puddles all over the planet. And when those dry up. the algae cells which are dormant when dry. But the wind lift it up in the air. where it can stay for days or weeks before landing in your tank. 

You cannot eradicate it permanently. It will always come back. The only thing we know for sure is that when plants do well algae does not. If tearing down the tank works I suspect the new substrate has nutrients which makes the plants happy. However when those nutrients are gone algae will appear. 

I suspect BBA algae is sensitive to the O2 / CO2 ratio in the water. Specifically I think it prefers high CO2 and low oxygen. When you change the flow you change the ratio and it may take off of die off.


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