[johnny313]

I started to get some BGA on my moss. I think its BGA because it looks like its smothering my moss. its ONLY happening in one place - its only on the higher parts of the wood (closest to the lights) I do dose EI dry ferts and keep my lights on about 8 hours a day. I also have CO2 pumping in my tank. I do about 60 - 80 gallons a week. its a 120G tank. I want to nip this in the butt before it becomes severe.

 

[eser21]

BGA is a pain in the ass, when I had it, it was due to low oxygen and low flow. Unlikely to be anything to do with EI if you dose correctly. If it smells its BGA if your unsure. After finding the cause there are a number of methods to get rid, most are hit and miss. Enthromycin is the only sure fire way to get rid but normally only works once.

 

[HD Blazingwolf]

Well moss prefers low light anyways, so if its happeneing on the higher portions, id say the moss is reacting negatively to higher light levels. Just a guess

 

[johnny313]

Well moss prefers low light anyways, so if its happeneing on the higher portions, id say the moss is reacting negatively to higher light levels. Just a guess

the moss is growing pretty good. I started dosing flourish excel and it seems to be disappearing. I did smell it and it smells like ..... um... dirt/cut grass? its not bad at all. The only negative side to flourish excel is that some plants are turning clear.

 

[johnny313]

would a 50 gallon water change a day help?

 

[Chlorophile]

would a 50 gallon water change a day help?

Not likely.
Your best bet is to turn off the filter and fill a syringe with hydrogen peroxide and blast away at it.
Many people feel Hydrogen peroxide can kill fish, and there was one incident when a fish died after a h2o2 dosing, but I'm not convinced it was related.
I've poured probably a half cup of it or more into a 20 gallon tank with tiger barbs and no ill effects were seen.
It breaks down into oxygen pretty quickly once you turn the filters on, and if the filters are off then it wont really be in contact with any animals.

Anyway, turn the filter off and attack the BGA with h2o2 several times a day for a few days, it should start to die back.
You can follow it off with a maracyn regimen afterwards if you want to be sure its gone.
But its possible it was introduced via tap water so I don't know that it would matter, it might just come back.

 

[eser21]

the moss is growing pretty good. I started dosing flourish excel and it seems to be disappearing. I did smell it and it smells like ..... um... dirt/cut grass? its not bad at all. The only negative side to flourish excel is that some plants are turning clear.

normally cynobacteria smells like a stagnent pond, not cut grass. Does it pull off in sheets, like pealing sunburn...?

I found that H2O2 just makes it detatch and float around to find a new home... not kills it.... but thats just me.

If dosing excel to the water column is dealing with it i would be suspisious of it being BGA.

 

[sajata]

Picture?

Sent from my DROIDX

 

[EntoCraig]

Not likely.
Your best bet is to turn off the filter and fill a syringe with hydrogen peroxide and blast away at it.

This is the only effective method I have found to kill BGA/Clado... Never had an ill effect on fish, other plants, shrimp, or snails.

I spot treated heavily for 1 month before it started to die.

 

[Chlorophile]

normally cynobacteria smells like a stagnent pond, not cut grass. Does it pull off in sheets, like pealing sunburn...?

I found that H2O2 just makes it detatch and float around to find a new home... not kills it.... but thats just me.

If dosing excel to the water column is dealing with it i would be suspisious of it being BGA.

h2o2 never made it detach for me.
I alternated dosing to the water column in high doses multiple times a day to spot treating. One day I would spot treat one day I would dose the water column.
It took a couple of weeks to eliminate it in my 20gallon but it only cost me like 3 bucks, I used three of the large bottles of h2o2...

I agree if excel is dealing with it its probably not BGA. I've spot treated bga heavily with excel and nothing happened.

 

[Chlorophile]

Another thing I can suggest to the OP if its just on a piece of wood is to drain the water level until the BGA is above the water line, and then fill a spray bottle with hydrogen peroxide and spray the BGA a lot, every couple of minutes for 15-20 minutes... This should kill it, but it may kill the moss too, I'm not sure as I've never sprayed moss with h2o2.

 

[EntoCraig]

Another thing I can suggest to the OP if its just on a piece of wood is to drain the water level until the BGA is above the water line, and then fill a spray bottle with hydrogen peroxide and spray the BGA a lot, every couple of minutes for 15-20 minutes... This should kill it, but it may kill the moss too, I'm not sure as I've never sprayed moss with h2o2.

I was dosing to kill the clado that was growing within my Christmas moss. the moss didn't die, but the clado did. the moss however didnt grow during this period. After the clado was gone, the moss continued to grow.

 

[johnny313]

you can see it on the wood. its not horrible because i dosed with excel.

 

[plantbrain]

Wipe it off, clean the tank good, dose, water change etc.........clean filters......

Trim the moss back, fear not, if the CO2 and dosing is fine, you'll have no issues growing the snot out of moss, moss does poorly when the CO2 is also poor.

 

[johnny313]

Wipe it off, clean the tank good, dose, water change etc.........clean filters......

Trim the moss back, fear not, if the CO2 and dosing is fine, you'll have no issues growing the snot out of moss, moss does poorly when the CO2 is also poor.

I just cleaned the prefilters in the overflow. the main filter in the sump. trimmed the moss.

I have about an inch of sediment in the sump.... should I suck that out as well?

 

[[email protected]]

BGA in -your- tank is the direct result of that thing you did to your sibling when you were, Ummm, ten. Yeah, ten.

Oh, alright. After you kill it with a carbon overdose, you'll need to pull the wood and use a wire toothbrush to scrub the dead bits off the wood. Harbor Freight sells them.

 

[Chlorophile]

you can see it on the wood. its not horrible because i dosed with excel.

Thats definitely BGA, all other suggestions included, you should scrape off what you can and then spray the rest with hydrogen peroxide while its above the water line. A clean filter is great, a water change is great - both add oxygen, if you have a power head lying around add that.

Wipe it off, clean the tank good, dose, water change etc.........clean filters......

Trim the moss back, fear not, if the CO2 and dosing is fine, you'll have no issues growing the snot out of moss, moss does poorly when the CO2 is also poor.

Don't think his concern was about not being able to grow the moss well enough.
Good co2 has never gotten rid of BGA in my experience.

 

[HD Blazingwolf]

Thats definitely BGA, all other suggestions included, you should scrape off what you can and then spray the rest with hydrogen peroxide while its above the water line. A clean filter is great, a water change is great - both add oxygen, if you have a power head lying around add that.



Don't think his concern was about not being able to grow the moss well enough.
Good co2 has never gotten rid of BGA in my experience.

Toms'! Point is that a healthy tank will take care of itself for the most part

 

[johnny313]

I do not clean the gravel when I do water changes because there are too many plants. is not cleaning the gravel a bad thing? the BGA only grows in that one spot.

 

[plantbrain]

Thats definitely BGA, all other suggestions included, you should scrape off what you can and then spray the rest with hydrogen peroxide while its above the water line. A clean filter is great, a water change is great - both add oxygen, if you have a power head lying around add that.



Don't think his concern was about not being able to grow the moss well enough.
Good co2 has never gotten rid of BGA in my experience.

And does this pic look like BGA to you?

Hard to tell, the issue is poor growth, not the indirect consequence of BGA. BGA is very easy to control and get rid of if you have decent growth, eg I never get it in my tank except under the gravel against the glass in the ADA AS.

It never infest the moss etc.

In other words, the goal for plant hobbyists is to grow plants, not kill algae.
You master that, then algae is rarely much of an issue. Otherwise you often chase your tail after the algae....and never get to the gardening you wanted to do to begin with(the real goal).

My Fissidens is growing quite well: