Black Beard Algae contagious?

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BassetsForBrown

Plecostomus
MFK Member
Dec 2, 2012
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Boston
I have a very large piece of driftwood - looks like lion king's pride rock - with two large Anubias thoroughly rooted into it. Over the course of several months I've seen a small amount of BB algae on a couple leaves turn into an ugly infestation of fully encompassing both plants. If I take the wood from the tank and rinse/scrub all the BBA I can see from it all, under Chlorine water, is it likely that a minute piece ill inevitably miss will respawn the whole problem again?

Thank you

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BTW im only willing to use an algaecide to treat the removed pwants/wood. Will not consider adding directly to the aquarium.

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I've never used it but some sites suggest bleach to remove algae. http://www.instantreef.com/aquarium...al-algae-cleaning-bleach-bleaching-video.aspx If your patient I imagine using the bleach can be safely done by making sure the ornaments/wood is definitely dry before adding it back to the tank. I had a black beard algae outbreak in my tank due to some personal problems causing me to get depressed and slack off on tank maintenance. I personally cooked the ornaments in the stove to kill the algae and then used scrubbies to clean it off afterwards.

As far as stopping a repeat infestation of specifically black beard algae a stronger light source will help prevent it but you'll still get green algae. Best suggestion to prevent algae is putting the tank on a timer, decreasing the amount of food/feedings, keeping it out of direct sunlight and doing more frequent water changes. This will help remove the algae's food source and make it harder for it to take hold in your aquarium.

Other methods include using household plants in a HOB filter to out compete the algae or creating a algae filter which also works on the same principle. You create a better environment in a bucket or some other DIY filter under the tank so the algae grows there instead of in the tank. Best part is the algae in the filter will act as a filter media helping to keep the tank clean. More info on both can be searched here on MFK.
 
It's safer to use peroxide to clean the drift wood than chlorine, because residual peroxide is non toxic to fish. You can also leave the drift wood out for a few days to dry out the algae and then rub it off, which will cost nothing.
 
I have used peroxide and it seemed to kill off the bb . I used a dropper and put it directly on the effected area . Let it sit for about 15 mins and then did a 30 percent water change with primer . The anubia survived along with the java ferns and moss . I did see some pearling . I also had some type of onion plant that looked like a corkscrew that unfortunately did not survive. Although it took a few times of doing this procedure it did work. Im no expert so I would research to get exact amounts according to your tank size.
 
Flourish excel by Seachem will kill BBA. I'm not sure how it does it but it does. I used it a few times. I would not use it with scale less fish in the tank. Mine didn't like it the first time I used it. I saw a reaction with them. All other fish didn't seem to mind at all. I'd remove any scale less fish before dosing the flourish excel. The algae will turn red and then white when its dead. I double dosed it and it killed the algae with a few days. Otherwise it may take a week or more. The problem with BBA is once you see it growing in the tank its all over the place. I've spot treated at first and had it appear in other places a week later. There are few explanations on how flourish excel kill bba on the web.
 
Heyguy74 said:
Flourish excel by Seachem will kill BBA. I'm not sure how it does it but it does. I used it a few times. I would not use it with scale less fish in the tank. Mine didn't like it the first time I used it. I saw a reaction with them. All other fish didn't seem to mind at all. I'd remove any scale less fish before dosing the flourish excel. The algae will turn red and then white when its dead. I double dosed it and it killed the algae with a few days. Otherwise it may take a week or more. The problem with BBA is once you see it growing in the tank its all over the place. I've spot treated at first and had it appear in other places a week later. There are few explanations on how flourish excel kill bba on the web.
Click to expand...

This^^^ Done this a few times. I add twice the recommended amount on the bottle and it does the trick. Make sure your pH isn't too low to begin with because it will drive it down some.
 
Algal "spores" are not simply on the wood, on plants or on the rock.
There will be invisible spores in any surface in the tank, including filters and as plankton.
 
I used a bleach and hydrogen peroxide mix. Left rock, driftwood soaking for 5 minutes. Rinsed thoroughly. Then let the sit in regaulr water for 10 minutes. Rinsed again. Put into tank and no problems since. That was 4 months ago. Do you have high phosphates?


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