Annoying Little Problem

[Chaos553]

I'm getting sick of this annoying algae in my tank. It's not the normal "pleco-eating algae," it's this ridiculous "sticks to about anything unless you razor blade it off" kind of algae. I'm posting a few pictures on here to show you guys what it looks like so I can get some help with getting rid of it fast and without harming my tank and also what type it is. Any ideas?


It's on part of the Anubias and lots on the orange rock to the left.



Red rock to the left, the stuff spreads everywhere!

[trashion]

BBA. i'm pretty sure. it's a real pain to get rid of. i think siamese algae eaters will munch on it if you have room for 'em, or you can spot-treat with hydrogen peroxide. cut off the affected leaves.

[Chaos553]

alright ill do my best. thanks!

[vang12]

I've had that a few times, I just washed really hard under hot running water, don't know if it actually works though

[neilfishguy]

I would pm damon. he is the algea god

[JustOneMore20]

It's BBA (black beard/brush algae).

Do you have any CO2 running on your tank? Its usually caused by inconsistent co2 levels and alot of times can come with DIY CO2....but you don't have to inject co2 to the tank to get this stuff.

If you don't inject CO2, what is your water changing schedule? Tap water can have a good bit of co2 in it (higher than your tank..) and when you do water changes, that can cause inconsistent co2 levels, especially if you are doing large water changes.

BBA tends to grow on slow growing plants, so I suggest you add in some fast growers like Anacharis and Hornwort to the tank to help outcompete the algae.

Cut off the leaves of the plants that have BBA all over them and scrape off what you can from the rocks. If you are doing large water changes weekly (like 40%+), try doing smaller water changes twice weekly to see if that makes a difference. If you are injecting diy co2, I'd suggest stopping it, as its causing more harm than good IMO.