# Very stubborn BBA



## PlantsForHire (Sep 28, 2017)

Through much trial and error, I began to narrow down on why I had such an outbreak of BBA. Too much ferts, too strong of a light, too long of a photo period, not enough flow to disperse Excel/liquid ferts, using floaters a means of absorbing extra nutrients. Also sterilizing plants brought online before adding to the tank (i used to not do this, might have had BBA introduced this way) 

I seem to be finding the right balance for my low tech tank, as stem plants I previously killed are starting to grow once again. (I save a couple stems in my other tank).

However I have some driftwood/ornaments that have been treated for BBA twice....with hydrogen peroxide. Most of the tufts have fizzled away - pleco made quick work of the dead algae. But geez do I see some stubborn tufts that fail to turn red. I'm afraid to keep treating the ornaments/driftwood as I have buce/ferns attached to both. I only leave the peroxide fizzling for about 30-45 seconds and quickly put it in my tank. The plants take a beating, but they eventually bounce back. I feel I can't keep doing this as the plants do not look happy right now. My buces look like swiss cheese.

How can i get rid of the last tufts? And is there a friendly critter that will eat BBA? My last resort is to rip all the plants from the driftwood/ornaments and treat the plants in a weak bleach solution, while using boiling water, peroxide, and leaving BBA to air dry and die. I really don't want to do that though. Thoughts?


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## natemcnutty (May 26, 2016)

How often do you clean the filter and vac the substrate? Also, do you ever flush stuff off your driftwood in a regular basis? For example, each morning when I dose my ferts, I use a turkey baster to blast water at my driftwood to blow all the crap off it (do the same to my moss and buce as well).

Basically, BBA thrives off organics. The hard part is driftwood is full of fuel for BBA. You'll have to spot treat and then use a rough brush or something to clean the rest off that spot. After that, keeping the water clean of organics is the only way I've been able to keep BBA at bay. Struggled a ton with BBA when I first started injecting CO2, and this was the only way I could solve it - and it was repeatable.


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## PlantsForHire (Sep 28, 2017)

natemcnutty said:


> How often do you clean the filter and vac the substrate? Also, do you ever flush stuff off your driftwood in a regular basis? For example, each morning when I dose my ferts, I use a turkey baster to blast water at my driftwood to blow all the crap off it (do the same to my moss and buce as well).
> 
> Basically, BBA thrives off organics. The hard part is driftwood is full of fuel for BBA. You'll have to spot treat and then use a rough brush or something to clean the rest off that spot. After that, keeping the water clean of organics is the only way I've been able to keep BBA at bay. Struggled a ton with BBA when I first started injecting CO2, and this was the only way I could solve it - and it was repeatable.


The filter I clean every week or two. I use filter floss, so that stuff becomes a nitrate factory if you don't replace it soon. I have sand in my tank, so i try to hover around and swirl debris with the vacuum every week when I do water changes. I'm starting to think I'll just rip the plants off my driftwood, let the BBA air dry and die. Ill dip the plants in a weak bleach solution. The buce seems to do great with stock fluval flex lights, so ill rehome them in my new 15G. Hopefully they survive the dip.

I have never turkey basted my driftwood, but I may begin to do that if I need to. I do have driftwood in my flex that looks "dusty, but no BBA in that tank. I have never once cleaned it. Only thing I have to worry about in that tank is green hair algae, which is far easier to deal with than BBA. For the most part my bristle nose takes care of rasping away at the driftwood. Plus the driftwood gets some flow from my circulation pump. 

It was so bad I had BBA grow on my glass.


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## Amy9 (Jul 4, 2012)

Three words....Siamese Algae Eater. Be sure to get TRUE Siamese algae eaters. You only need one, but get it from a reputable source. Chinese algae eaters are NOT the same, and so many pet shops do not know the difference. I keep low light planted tanks, and I inevitably see it surface at some point despite my best efforts. These fish will absolutely eradicate it from your tank, and they’re a cool addition. I’ve been doing this planted thing for years. They work. Here’s one of my guys keeping it real. 

I need to specify...I do not add this fish to replace tank husbandry. I do 80% weekly water changes to my tank, yet I’d still see BBA rear it’s ugly head on occasion. I do not ever recommend remedies in place of good maintenance. 

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## PlantsForHire (Sep 28, 2017)

I was looking for SAE's, but the LFS employee doesn't even know if they are true SAE's or flying foxes. Admittedly I have a hard time telling them apart as well. I was considering Nerites or Panda garras for BBA algae control. I heard ramshorn snails can also graze on BBA?


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## natemcnutty (May 26, 2016)

PlantsForHire said:


> I was looking for SAE's, but the LFS employee doesn't even know if they are true SAE's or flying foxes. Admittedly I have a hard time telling them apart as well. I was considering Nerites or Panda garras for BBA algae control. I heard ramshorn snails can also graze on BBA?


Sadly that's a big fat no on any of the Nerites or ramshorns I've had. They will certainly eat it if it's dead, but I've never seen them eat it alive. I hate BBA too. Seems like every time I go on vacation or have a long break from the tank, I get a little smattering of it in random places that take a few weeks to clean back up


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## PlantsForHire (Sep 28, 2017)

natemcnutty said:


> Sadly that's a big fat no on any of the Nerites or ramshorns I've had. They will certainly eat it if it's dead, but I've never seen them eat it alive. I hate BBA too. Seems like every time I go on vacation or have a long break from the tank, I get a little smattering of it in random places that take a few weeks to clean back up


Ah, no magic bullet with snails then. I'll see if I pick up a panda garra when I can. I just need to take small steps till I find something that works for me and my plants, and where I can keep BBA at bay. 

As for my BBA on driftwood and ornaments, I'm going to do what I wish I didn't have to. I think its the only sure way I know to combat the issue.


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## natemcnutty (May 26, 2016)

PlantsForHire said:


> As for my BBA on driftwood and ornaments, I'm going to do what I wish I didn't have to. I think its the only sure way I know to combat the issue.


I love my driftwood, so I just deal with the occasional spots that need cleaning from time to time. It never ends up on plants, so I just live with it. I have found that using a turkey baster each morning to "blow" water on the wood to clean it off helps a lot. 

I've even added a Koralia Nano 240 thinking it could be flow not doing a good job of mechanical cleanup, but even with that putting me over 400 gph in a 29 gallon tank, it still is an issue and seemed to get worse in other areas. I think BBA just loves organics and high flow...


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## varanidguy (Sep 8, 2017)

For what it's worth, my local Petsmart sells "Siamese Flying Foxes" that are true SAE. YMMV and if you buy from big box, definitely QT.


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## TacitBlues (Aug 4, 2016)

Have you tried hitting it directly with the excel? I've had that work in the past, I turned off the filters for a couple minutes to stop the flow, and used a syringe to directly hit the algae. You could do that with the H2O2 as well, and not disturb the plants quite as much.


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## Greggz (May 19, 2008)

natemcnutty said:


> I think BBA just loves organics and high flow...


+1.

And I would add too much light and too few ferts.....BBA loves unhappy dying plants.


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## PlantsForHire (Sep 28, 2017)

Now that I picked apart my driftwoods buce, I see now the organic accumulation. the minute they dropped into my bin all this brown dusty muck came off. No wonder they kept getting BBA. I now see the point of the turkey baster. I'm going to power wash all my hardscape, and spritz it with peroxde, let it air dry.

So far what I've done to change (and i hope it will be a working regimen) is in my 37G i dose 5ml of excel every other day, and use 2 pumps of aquarium co-op ferts for the week. I got UNS ferts when i run out of the other. The UNS fert seems to be based of the EI index. Of course I won't apply the full strength. I will do the minimum amount, see how the plants react. If i need to up it I will, or split the the dose between the week.

i also do about a 50% water change weekly. Get loose debris from the sand.


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## Sfirat (Feb 26, 2017)

I would get panda garras. 1 per 5-6 gallons. I have had algae outbreaks with them but never bba.


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## varanidguy (Sep 8, 2017)

PlantsForHire said:


> Now that I picked apart my driftwoods buce, I see now the organic accumulation. the minute they dropped into my bin all this brown dusty muck came off. No wonder they kept getting BBA. I now see the point of the turkey baster. I'm going to power wash all my hardscape, and spritz it with peroxde, let it air dry.
> 
> 
> 
> ...




FWIW I’ve seen reports of people using EI very successfully in low tech tanks so long as they keep up with water changes.


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## Kubla (Jan 5, 2014)

Here's a link for the differences between SAE's and the flying fox. 
https://www.thekrib.com/Fish/Algae-Eaters/


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