# Will oto's eat BBA?



## PRESTON4479 (Mar 22, 2007)

I was wandering if oto's will eat BBA and if not what algae eater is good at controlling BBA?

I currently have a couple of plecos but they don't seem interested in the BBA.

Thanks---Brian


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## yoink (Apr 21, 2005)

I've never found anything, including otos, that will eat it while it is living. Kill it with excel and most algae eaters will pick at it. SAE's are supposed to eat it, but there are mixed results with those.


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## zackish (Jun 12, 2007)

What exactly is BBA, brown algae?


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## PRESTON4479 (Mar 22, 2007)

Will turning up the co2 also kill it?

Thanks for your input

Brian


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## PRESTON4479 (Mar 22, 2007)

zackish said:


> What exactly is BBA, brown algae?


Black Brush Algae

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

Brian


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## zackish (Jun 12, 2007)

OMG, that is exactly what ison the leaves of some of my plants. I thought it was like diatoms this whole time.
Anyways, how do I get rid of it, last week I actually had too much Co2 in my tank as some of my fish died. However, the BBA didn't dissapear. 
I have a 29 g tank with 65 watts of lighting. 
It's just DIY Co2, don't ask me how I got to much either because it is rather embarassing but true.


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## PRESTON4479 (Mar 22, 2007)

zackish said:


> OMG, that is exactly what ison the leaves of some of my plants. I thought it was like diatoms this whole time.
> Anyways, how do I get rid of it, last week I actually had too much Co2 in my tank as some of my fish died. However, the BBA didn't dissapear.
> I have a 29 g tank with 65 watts of lighting.
> It's just DIY Co2, don't ask me how I got to much either because it is rather embarassing but true.


I'm not real sure on how to get rid of it. I am still experimenting with that myself. Alot of people say excel works but I am starting to think that if it is caused by low or unstable co2 levels I should be able to just turn the co2 up to kill it. 

Brian


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## Digsy (Mar 4, 2006)

Turning up the CO2 has always worked for me and I've battled BBA many times. I find that if I crank up my CO2 and add Excel to kill off existing BBA, it always disappears within a week or two and keeping the CO2 at that level will keep it away. My Otos do pick at it occasionally but seem to prefer diatoms more than anything.


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## mrkookm (Apr 4, 2007)

I can tell you what worked for me when I had it a few months back. None of my 10 Oto's didn't touch it, my SAE's did actually eat it maybe if I had 15 they would actually have done some damage but 2 wasn't enough to make a difference and upping co2 'a little too late' it didn't kill it but it did slow down its growth. Maybe I should have waited a little longer but after being infected with this crap for a few weeks and seeing no results after a week of high co2 levels or should I say correct co2 levels, I got fed up and I dosed 4 cap fulls a day on a 90g for 3days and 3caps for 7 more days. After the 3nd day the BBA started turning red and slowly began to disappear and after 10days I was algae free. My problem was not enough co2 and I got rid of my inline reactor as it wasn't working well with my sump filtration setup due to the higher demand on co2 and I upgraded to a Rhinox 2000. I saw positive results from my plants as well as no re-occurring BBA so a few months later got the 5k. I've been maintaining correct co2 ppm via misting co2 with Rhinox with my still existing sump filtration ever since I got rid of the BBA about a 7m ago it has never reappeared.


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## mcd19 (Apr 30, 2007)

I had a rash of BBA growing on the driftwood in my tank. I pumped up the CO2 and then during water changes, when the driftwood was exposed, I spot treated the areas with Excel. Within two weeks all the BBA was gone. Like Yoink posted Otto's in my experience won't eat BBA when it is alive but ate it like a champ when the Excel killed it off.


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## cjking (Aug 25, 2004)

I have a 10G which used to have problems with BBA, I started doing weekly water changes and using Flourish Excel and it has been completely algae-free for about a year. 

I didn't deliberately overdose Excel, but as a maintenance dose is only 1ml, I'm sure I accidentally did. My Ludwigia was adversely affected but other plants didn't mind.


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## zackish (Jun 12, 2007)

Do you guys with Co2 run oxygen into your tank as well?
A problem I recently had was too much Co2 in my tank because I wasn't running any oxygen, I lost 3 H.rasboras and if I didn't check the tank I would have lost the rest of all my fish overnight.


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## Nbot (Apr 15, 2007)

BBA: remember, Excel will KILL your shrimp, possibly other scale-less fish? not sure but shrimp for sure, so be careful with the over-dose technique. What I've been doing, and seems to work, is I turn off the filter (no water movement), and spot treat excel with a plastic 3ml syringe. Daily dose is 1ml per 10 gallons, mine is 29g, I've been doing every 1.5 days or so (not every 24 hours so as not to create a CO2 spike and cause 'other' algae problems), and just apply right to the BBA. It does appear to be working, and mind you this is on my low-tech 29g (see sig) with no CO2, I don't see why it wouldn't help w/ hi-tech tanks too. Just don't forget to plug the filter back in 10-15 minutes later....

Oxygen: Yes, I put a air pump/airstone on a timer, comes on at midnight...goes off 10am or so..I have a drop checker, and my pressurized CO2 on my 55g is at 30ppm CO2, but still seems the fish like the airpump. Remember plants breath 'out' oxygen during the day, there 'should' be enough O2 during the day...its the night time when plants breath out Co2 that might cause problems, and remember that Co2 and O2 are not directly/inversely related, you can have high Co2 and high O2 (well, for us an airpump is 'only' O2 but...)


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## jaidexl (Sep 18, 2006)

zackish said:


> What exactly is BBA, brown algae?


Black Brush Algae, it's actually a form of red algae.


Otos won't touch it, they're super for brown diatoms, though. I have an SAE that eats BBA like corn on the cob, but as soon as I move him to another tank, it comes back. The only thing that kills it for me is cranking CO2 (although I have tanks it grows well in that have >30ppm CO2) and Excel spot treatment. NOT Excel overdose anymore, too wasteful and less effective than 1mm spot treatment. I tried a Flagfish for BBA and thread algae but he preferred stargrass and is now back in his natural environment. 

Don't try to use fish to fight the issue, but if you have the space for an SAE away from delicate long finned fish, then it could be a good help at keeping it from getting out of control, just get a very young, thin one, the older and fatter the less likely they'll help. Just be prepared for the extra responsibility if it turns out to not do what you bought it for.


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## g8wayg8r (Dec 24, 2003)

I'm pushing the border of the grow zone in most kH-pH CO2 charts and I make one dose of excel at the water change in addtion to dosing ferts by the EI method. I never see BBA, ever.

In by no tech tanks, I just use EI. No BBA either.


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## PRESTON4479 (Mar 22, 2007)

Where can you buy SAE's? Anybody in my area know a LFS that sells them?

Brian


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## mrkookm (Apr 4, 2007)

The Petsmart by Christiana Mall had about 6 of them in stock as of last weekend. They have them label as Siamese Flying Fox for $1.99each, not a fast seller so you should be lucky!

If they do not have then you would have to make a trip the ThatPetPlace ThatFishPlace in Lancaster, not exactly local but they always have em in stock. You can always call ahead too to verify too.


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## PRESTON4479 (Mar 22, 2007)

mrkookm said:


> The Petsmart by Christiana Mall had about 6 of them in stock as of last weekend. They have them label as Siamese Flying Fox for $1.99each, not a fast seller so you should be lucky!
> 
> If they do not have then you would have to make a trip the ThatPetPlace ThatFishPlace in Lancaster, not exactly local but they always have em in stock. You can always call ahead too to verify too.


Thanks mrkookm. 

You do mean Petsmart and not Petco by the mall. Petsmart across from christiana hospital?

Also isn't a siamese flying fox commonly mistaken for a SAE. Is this a case of Petsmart labeling them wrong?

Thanks---Brian


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## mrkookm (Apr 4, 2007)

PRESTON4479 said:


> Thanks mrkookm.
> 
> You do mean Petsmart and not Petco by the mall. Petsmart across from christiana hospital?


I always get them mixed up but I was referring to Petco. The Petsmart do not carry SAE's or the FlyingFox.




> Also isn't a siamese flying fox commonly mistaken for a SAE. Is this a case of Petsmart labeling them wrong?


What they have in store is indeed *true* SAE's and not the Flying Fox even though they have label them as such. Jump on them :thumbsup:


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## PRESTON4479 (Mar 22, 2007)

Ok, Thanks for the tip mrkookm. I'll go check it out.

Also, how big do they get?

Brian


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## mrkookm (Apr 4, 2007)

I think they will get up to 6+ inches, a few months back I had 2 that got up to around 3½+" when I sold em. My biggest ones right now are approaching 3" and I bought them at 1.25". Their environment will determine their growth rate/size too so I would say max around 4ish" for your tank size.


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## PRESTON4479 (Mar 22, 2007)

I lucked out mrkookm. I went to Petco today and they had 3 of them so I picked up a pair of them. Although the guy working the fish department had no idea which ones they were in the tank.:icon_roll I had to point them out to him.

Anyway thanks for the advice. I would have never found them because I don't ever go to that store anymore.

Brian


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## mrkookm (Apr 4, 2007)

Sweet!

Every now an then i'll go there because i've gotten lucky a few times. Like the last time I went there they happened to have cherry shrimp in stock :icon_eek: I picked up all 12 of them for 50cents each becuase they had no label up with their description or pricing so they gave it to me for the ghost shrimp price.


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## PRESTON4479 (Mar 22, 2007)

Sometimes it really pays off when they have no idea what they are doing. 

Brian


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