low tech algae

You probably have green dust algae (GDA). That is a unique form of algae that has free swimming spores. When you wipe it off the glass, some of the spores just swim around, then recolonize the glass as soon as you turn your back. One method for getting rid of it is to leave it alone, don't wipe it off, for about 2 1/2 to 3 weeks, at which time It should become darker, have some bubbles in it, and start to fall off the glass. It will be near or at the end of its life cycle then. Only then wipe it off thoroughly, change 50% of the water in the tank, and cross your fingers. With good luck you will have seen the last of it.

If your tank has pond snails in it, they will multiply like rabbits during the 2+ weeks, and begin removing it from the glass, so by the end of the 3 weeks they will have removed most if not all of it for you. When my 10 gallon tank ran into GDA a few weeks ago, that happened. I wiped off what little was left, and it hasn't come back at all.

 

My GDA did look like green turf when I looked down in the tank at it, but from outside, of course, it was just heavy green haze on the glass. I do kind of remember seeing the "threads" once, again when looking down in the tank. I'm not convinced yet that GDA is one unique species of algae, but is more likely a category with more than one species involved. That could explain the varied results we get when trying to get rid of it. One thing seems universal with GDA, and that is it generates a cloud of dust in the tank when wiped off under water when fairly new. It is also always easy to wipe off.

 

BBA always returns for me if I let the tank get overgrown, and I like to do that, because that inhibits the water circulation too much. So, I find if I make the big clean up effort, remove all of the stuff I can, clean up hardscape with bleach solution, prune well, make sure I have good CO2 and good circulation, the BBA stays away......until I let the tank get overgrown again. Unfortunately I am happiest with my tank when it is really full of plants, so I keep repeating my mistakes.

Today I started a new form of aquascape - a mopani type wood "sculpture" in the middle, with plants around it, but with only very low growing plants out from there. And, I added a Hydor Koralia pump above a small internal filter acting as a CO2 reactor, to fill the tank with CO2 mist. Early next week I plan to do a more thorough clean up of existing BBA on hardscape. I'm hoping this will make my BBA problem get much smaller.

 

I know exactly what you're talking about with the little threads on the algae. I have that stuff too, but it never seems to get to the point where I have to scrape it. I do have three oto's which presumably help keep it to a decent level. One other thing that may help when it comes to algae on the glass, is if you can redirect or angle your reflector so that the light is going directly straight down into the tank as much as possible, in other words, prevent light from striking the glass directly. Since I put in my aluminum foil reflectors (very high tech I might add, one piece of aluminum foil folded over and stuck behind my bulb), my green spot algae virtually went away on my front glass, where I used to have small bits here and there.

Having been burned too many times with algae, my philosophy is, kill it with a vengeance before it gets out of hand. I just got finished bleaching my filter tube which was the last real stronghold of bba in my tank (my anubias, java ferns, ludwigia and crypt got bleached yesterday). Next to hit the bleach will be my driftwood. My oto's won't touch that stuff, unfortunately.

 

Carissa,

Have you tried using Seachem Excel on BBA spots with a syringe? After one or two dosages of it directly on my driftwood, the BBA has started turning white in spots and red in other spots. I also turn my filters off during squirts.

I don't overdose on Excel, I just use the recommended daily and squirt as much Excel on as many BBA areas directly with a syringe. I do this everyday until the BBA is gone.

So far it seems to be working.

 

I can't get Excel...so I have to rely on less high-tech ways of dealing with it (i.e. bleach). I'm hoping to get my hands on a true SAE one of these days....I hear that's the only fish that will eat bba and if that's true it's worth it's weight in gold to me.