[Dimitris_Kazakos]

Hi, I have a 5 year old 92g freshwater planted tank, with pressurized CO2 injection and 1.5watt/g lighting.
I always struggled with what seems to be some kind of brown algae growing on most of my plants' leaves, but the issue has been getting much worse lately (there have been periods when the plants would grow quite fast/healthily with pretty much the same lighting/fertilizing conditions).
I have searched millions of times all over the net and tried various stuff (nitrogen supplements, lighting time/CO2 adjustments, etc) but nothing seems to work.
Can someone please identify exactly what kind of algae this is and any possible cure?

 

[Smooch]

I have no idea what that is, but some extra info would help people figure out that is going on.

Water parameters, what does your tank maintenance routine look like, does your tank have any water flow issues, what is your photo period, ect...

 

[dcutl002]

I hope I'm wrong, but that looks like Cyanobacteria. Does it it peel off easily? Smelly water? https://pethelpful.com/fish-aquariums/Blue-Green-Algae-and-Red-Slime

If it is hard to scrub off, then it is Black Algae. http://www.aquariumprofessionals.com/article_algae.htm#.V1LX46IrLIU

We'll see what others say.
1. If it is Cyanobacteria (blue green Algae) you might have to kill it with Erythromycin.
2. If it is Black Algae, then clean everything. Scrape glass, cut infected plant parts, vacuum gravel, watch light photoperiod, don't overfeed, ...

 

[dukydaf]

It is a type of Black Beard algae. There are many species of algae that are grouped together under common names such as green water, hair algae, staghorn etc. It might the common BBA just under different growing conditions however this is unlikely.

It grows very dense does not develop the well known brush type colonies but has a rough surface. Much like BBA it is very well attached and responds well to Excel / EasyCarbo spot treatment. Manual removal of part that are affected in fast growing plants (eg. Echinodorus) is the easiest way. If you plan to start a new aquarium with these plants you might consider treating everything with a bleach solution (19:1 - water:bleach) for 1-2min. It would be better if you provide more details as mentioned above. These are only temporary solution s and unless you change something on how you keep your aquarium the algae will come back.

In my personal experience I have seen this algae type in aquariums with high organic pollution and poor husbandry. It also grew on plants where the leaf structure was damages for one reason or another.

 

[Dimitris_Kazakos]

Thank you all for your insights.

Some more info about my setup:
Light period: 8 hours for the past 6months (used to be 12, then 10)
I feed once a day (don't think I overfeed) mainly Sera Vipan + frozen bloodworms twice a week
CO2 1,5 b/s
Good waterflow (external filter + 2 power heads)
Purigen inside filter
25-30% water changes every other week
I dose Flourish weekly + Nitrogen (trying to maintain 25-30 ppm) + Potassium (last 2 on water changes)
PO4 is < 0.03ppm

I also think it is some type of black algae (no "beard" though), but it is almost impossible to scrub it off without damaging the plant leaves. I only try to remove the badly infected ones on every water change.

Any other ideas?


Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk

 

[Smooch]

I too thought it was Cyano, but usually it isn't that stuck to leaves and glass. I still have no idea what it is, but I fully agree with dukydaf.

I would cut the photo period to 6 hours. If you have a light that has a dimming option, make use of it. The tank doesn't need to completely dark, but too much light isn't helping the situation.

You need to increase your water changes to get the excess organics out of the water and I would change your filter media. Purigen is awesome and works, but you need some type of fine filter material to catch the stuff that is floating around the tank. You didn't mention how often you clean out your filter, but it should be once a month as even though the filter takes stuff out of the tank, all that gunk is still there. If you don't clean out your filter, this is contributing to all the excess organics in the water.

All the leaves that are covered should be removed. If it hasn't spread to your substrate, it will if it is cyano. If you find any on the substrate, that too needs to by surface vacuuming. People freak out at the mere mention of vacuuming a planted tank, but there is no reason to. You won't be doing a deep vac, you are simply removing the excess stuff from the surface. Amano staff vac their tanks with no harm, so there is no reason nobody else can do the same and not hurt their plants.

There are blackout methods that supposedly help, however, if you don't get to the crux of the problem this will continue to be a thorn in your side as you won't address the cause of the problem with just using the blackout method alone.

 

[dcutl002]

Thank you all for your insights.

Some more info about my setup:
Light period: 8 hours for the past 6months (used to be 12, then 10)
I feed once a day (don't think I overfeed) mainly Sera Vipan + frozen bloodworms twice a week
CO2 1,5 b/s
Good waterflow (external filter + 2 power heads)
Purigen inside filter
25-30% water changes every other week
I dose Flourish weekly + Nitrogen (trying to maintain 25-30 ppm) + Potassium (last 2 on water changes)
PO4 is < 0.03ppm

I also think it is some type of black algae (no "beard" though), but it is almost impossible to scrub it off without damaging the plant leaves. I only try to remove the badly infected ones on every water change.

Any other ideas?


Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk

Have you tried Hydrogen Peroxide (H2O2)? Read the post from 'roadmaster' on this thread: http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/23-algae/1050233-clean-out-bba-kill.html

 

[DennisSingh]

Looks like red algae. Very hard to rid of but cost good. I forgot the scientific name will update