[cplonske]

I believe this is alge. It appeared about a month ago on the output of my canister filter and had not spread to anything else until lately. Now it has small amounts growing on the driftwood and a few select plants. It is growing on the rocks in the tank and on a my rams-horn snails. Most of it is black or dark, some of it is starting to turn bright/light green. Any one know what it is and how to treat it?

 

[mistergreen]

it could be bearded algae
Aquarium Algae: Beard algae

or black beard
Aquarium Algae: Black-Beard Algae (BBA), Red-Brush Algae

if you like the look of it. keep it.

 

[frozenbarb]

wow thats what you call horrible algae looks like somethin you see in a sunken ship lol

 

[cplonske]

it may look bad, but

it isn't aproblem yet in the tank. I want to stop it before it becomes a problem. I increased my CO2 and am going to try and do 2 water changes a week for the next month and see what happens. May be try some excel and see what that does.

 

[crazy loaches]

Horrible? That algae actually looks pretty good IMO, natural like. Some algae isnt bad as long as its in control. This is bad algae: http://tristan.homelinux.net/fish/forum/algae.JPG

 

[BSS]

I've got a few sections of my driftwood that are starting to look like that as well. I keep debating whether to kill it or harvest it . I do like the look of it, but I've been trying to get small patches of it off my substrate for so long now, that I can't bring myself to just let it be.

I do like the natural look of it on the DW. I just don't like it in other places in my tank.

 

[fresh_lynny]

I believe this is alge. It appeared about a month ago on the output of my canister filter and had not spread to anything else until lately. Now it has small amounts growing on the driftwood and a few select plants. It is growing on the rocks in the tank and on a my rams-horn snails. Most of it is black or dark, some of it is starting to turn bright/light green. Any one know what it is and how to treat it?

this grows in CO2 deficiencies. You have to clean it out, do a water change and up the CO2 to about 30-35 ppm....you can spot treat hard to reach areas with some Flouish Excel in a syringe as well.

 

[cplonske]

I Increased my CO2 and did a water change after cleaning up some of the spots such as on the canister output (picture) I started to dose Excel also. We'll see how it goes. Anyone else have ideas, I'll listen.

 

[D.gilly]

roud: sweet algae

 

[kzr750r1]

I Increased my CO2 and did a water change after cleaning up some of the spots such as on the canister output (picture) I started to dose Excel also. We'll see how it goes. Anyone else have ideas, I'll listen.

Mechanical removal is the best. Plus a little bleach bath on all HW is great to keep it off for a while. Focus on the spot treatment for a better result of any new trouble areas. Over dosing Excel takes longer, your tank will get used to this crutch. So get the CO2 up from a cheaper source and keep it there, don't have your tank rely on Excel. Using a method to squirt excel at the affected area while the pump is off for a longer saturation time has been best for things that you don't want to bleach. Keep in mind not to over dose the tank volumn of this stuff. This will make the treated area turn to a reddish color than die in a few days not weeks. Keep up on WC/cleanup to keep dead organic matter from building up as you kill this stuff off. Again keep the CO2 pumping...