BBA on Windelov

compressed Co2 may get rid of it eventually, but
I would bleach dip, rinse well, and replant them.
the BBA will dissolve completely away in a few
weeks, and the ferns will survive the dip well.

the interesting thing is, that this BBA occurs only in the middle of my tank. everywhere else is BBA free. the tip of windelov happens to be right in front of my CO2 inline reactor output. does this algae love current? i have this BBA before at my filters output.

oh and recently about a week ago i add more bioload with 10 more harlequin rasboras making tha total 16 fish, 6 clithons, and about 20 shrimps in my tank. are these factor make the BBA to appear also?

you could try spot treating it with excel or h2o2.
Both of these in conjunction with high co2 levels killed my BBA in 3 days.
I also didn't let it get that bad.

i might try hydrogen peroxide as flourish excel is not available in my country. i did a little search and i'm gonna try the dip method in H2O2 but the question is how much concentration of H2O2 that i need? 3% is common in drug stores here.

FWIW, I've used 2 ML per gallon of standard store bought H202 for spot treatments. You might have to do it a few times, but it'll turn red, then grey, and then go.


IME BBA loves current, I seem to get it mostly on the plants in front of my spray bars.

Ya, a spot treat with Excel should help

ikuzo said:

the interesting thing is, that this BBA occurs only in the middle of my tank. everywhere else is BBA free. the tip of windelov happens to be right in front of my CO2 inline reactor output. does this algae love current? i have this BBA before at my filters output.

oh and recently about a week ago i add more bioload with 10 more harlequin rasboras making tha total 16 fish, 6 clithons, and about 20 shrimps in my tank. are these factor make the BBA to appear also?

Click to expand...

How big is the tank they are in?
That many more fish will produce a significant change in the ammonia and nitrogen levels of a small (10 g) tank. The timing and positioning of the outbreak seem to suggest the change in bioload (along with the lack of co2) are the main causes of the problem.
It takes about a week for ammonia from fish waste to be converted into nitrates which algae love. The higher the current in an area, the more water and dissolved nutrients that pass by an area.

Your tank should get back on track with high CO2 and water changes, once the bioload balances out. H2O2 may have adverse affects on the tanks inhabitants so I would suggest upping CO2, changing water, and closely regulating how much you feed your fish for a few days. If that doesn't help then try the H2O2.

that's a lot of explanation, thanks. i did think h2o2 as the last resort, but as i'm re-setting my tank i replaced the windelov with a new one. i'll know what to do when i get BBA next time.