Need help

[fishington26]

I have a black algae slowly growing all over everything in my tank. It started with the microswords and spread to the anubias (it grows around the edges of the leaves), and the watersprite. Is there anything I can do to get rid of this. It is a heavily planted aquarium with fish as well. I apologize for the quality of the pics, but was hoping someone could help me out. Cheers

[Damon]

There are a few different ideas on ridding your tank of bba.

http://www.aquaticplantcentral.com/f...;highlight=bba
This thread discusses the problems and cell structur of bba. In it, you will find plantbrain's posts very informative as well as Andrew Cribb's.

[drosera]

Hi,

I have had very good success so far using the 19 parts water, 1 part bleach solution to remove different forms of algae from plants and decorations. Mix up the solution in an empty jar or something, and place the plants or decorations in the jar until they are completely submersed. Keep them in there for 2 minutes exactly (not a second more). Remove them, and rinse, rinse, rinse! Though some say it isn't necessary, I prefer to then place the treated plants or objects in a bucket of clean tap water overnight, to be completely sure that as much of the bleach is gone as possible. It is then safe to reintroduce them into the tank.

This of course is not a cure for the whole tank, as spores or shreds of algae may still be floating around in there, but if you are vigilant, and maintain the tank properly, the problem can sometimes be resolved.

Very weak and dying leaves should be removed whether or not algae is present, as they seem to be a perfect breeding ground for certain types of algae such as yours.

**Extremely** weak or sensitive plants can be harmed by the process, so it is best to try it on one specimen of each species you have at a time. Any damage can usually be seen in about 3 days or so. In tougher plants, sometimes a leaf or 2 will die from the treatment, but that's OK. It's because the leaf was old or very weak itself, not the whole plant. I haven't yet had any losses myself by doing this treatment.

I have also found the treatment to be a good preventative against introducing most obnoxious species of algae.

As to why it works against the algae while leaving regular plants more or less unharmed, I have heard that it might be that algae do not have the same kind of strong cell walls as real plants, which allows the bleach to penetrate and react with the inner cell structures.

Hope that helps.

Take care!

Chris