BBA Eruption after Vacation

[andye]

Hi Tom,

I was away for 2 weeks and my co2 stopped working. I came home to BBA all over the driftwood, filter intakes and most leaves of the plants. This is a discus tank -- 210 gallon starphire tank with ADA Amazonia II substrate tank. The tank is mostly planted with Amazon swords and some java moss in the back half and sand in the front (like Senske's tank). My lighting is 2 -150 mh pendants. I have 2 eheims (pro 3's) on the tank and will add a new awesome powerhead like the vortex for added circulation. I know that circulation and cranking the co2 are the 2 steps to ridding the tank of BBA. I might also get rid of the white sand in front and plant it for more plant growth. Will the BBA go away with these steps or do I need to replant?

Thanks,


Andy

 

[Gerryd]

Hi Andy,

Increasing the c02 and improving the circulation will help to prevent recurrences.

You still need to manually remove as much as possible....

Trim the heavily infested leaves, you can trim a lot, the growth will be back in 2-3 weeks if all is in order.

Scrub any rocks driftwood to remove as much as possible.

I understand that spraying excel directly on it (while the objects are out of the water), let sit for a minute or two(?), and then replace in the tank works well also. I know there are a couple of threads that mention this.

Hope this helps.

 

[Dusko]

I don't know how BBA reacts to Excel since I use Easy Carbo. Many advice spot treatments which I never did with Easy Carbo and still have killed the BBA many times by simply dosing the recommended dose for 7-10 days (every day).
The BBA turns purplish/reddish before completely dieing out.

Dusko