[jschlosser]

My moss came in and before I put it in the tank, I want to make double darn sure that nothing else is coming along for the ride. How do I disinfect this stuff? Tank is pristine right now and fish are healthy and I want to keep it that way. Thanks.

 

[NursePlaty]

Dip in 1 part bleach 20 parts water for 3 mins.

 

[jschlosser]

Thanks. I actually found that on another site. Just finished tying it on its new home in the tank. Already looks good.

 

[NursePlaty]

Yea that plant is wonderful. I bleached my driftwood to kill all the staghorn and BBA and bleached the javamoss along with it. (Was planning to just kill it too because it was also infested). It was in like 50/50 bleach/water for 30 mins and amazingly bits a parts of it was still alive and regrew back in my tank. The stuff is impossible to kill

 

[jschlosser]

Well, so much for THAT plan. Soaked it in 1:20 bleach/water for 10 minutes and I still got BBA. Off to the big fish shop in the next county for SAEs. Rush hour, in the dark and the rain.

Already changed half the water, which of course is cutting my CO2 in half. Cutting the lighting down to 8 hours for now until I can get the new clean up crew through quarantine and into the tank. I knew this planted tank stuff was too easy.

 

[jschlosser]

Well, the SAEs are in day 3 of quarantine and after the water change and decrease in lighting, it looks like the BBA has slowed down. It's everywhere but not growing as quickly as it was. Come on Monday so I can move the new cleanup crew into place!

Oh, when they say SAEs are touchy when they are moved, boy are they right. I lost the first one in the first hour. The other 5 are looking really good, though.

 

[NursePlaty]

The BBA should be gone if you bleached it. All my BBA and Staghorn turned white after bleaching. And about 2 days later it all slowly withered and disappeared. SAEs dont help. I had 4. Had to give them all way because they were not efficient enough. Try to solve the BBA problem rather then using fish to fix it cause I guaruntee you they wont solve your problem . Maybe something is unbalanced in your tank/water chemistry that is causing the BBA break out. I have no more BBA in my tank and I noticed that after i introduced pressurized CO2 they never reappeared.

 

[jschlosser]

Well, I did bleach it for longer than recommended, my CO2 is at 24ppm and my nitrates are between 4 and 7 ppm at any one time. If they don't do it, the fish are being moved out and I am doing the black bag thing. This is nuts.

 

[jschlosser]

Just released the 4 surviving SAEs (1 of the 6 didn't even make it home!) and they are going to town in the tank. The gourami is very interested. Had to tell him to mind his own business (yes, I scold my fish). I didn't realize how much algae my gourami was eating. Sitting here watching the new babies, he was going to town on a fuzzy branch. One of the SAEs thinks he is a zebra danio, swimming along with him quite a bit. Reminds me of the eyeglass commercial where the lady calls in a raccoon thinking it is her cat.

 

[gearhead65]

Pardon my ignorance, but what is BBA and SAE???

 

[gearhead65]

Pardon my ignorance, but what is BBA and SAE???

I'm guessing BBA is some kind of algae and SAE is a kind of algae eater?

 

[NursePlaty]

I'm guessing BBA is some kind of algae and SAE is a kind of algae eater?

Black Bearded Algae and Saimese Algae Eater. My SAEs barely eats algae. I fix the algae problems myself rather than doing it with fish.

 

[beaslbob]

Well, so much for THAT plan. Soaked it in 1:20 bleach/water for 10 minutes and I still got BBA. Off to the big fish shop in the next county for SAEs. Rush hour, in the dark and the rain.

Already changed half the water, which of course is cutting my CO2 in half. Cutting the lighting down to 8 hours for now until I can get the new clean up crew through quarantine and into the tank. I knew this planted tank stuff was too easy.

Don't make it too hard.

First kill the lights untill the bba dies off completly.

then adjust lighting so it doesn't come back.

Locals here report that it was the co2 that finally got bba under control

my .02

 

[NursePlaty]

Oh yes CO2 does hinder BBA growth. I increased mine and never saw any new growth. Old growth was still however there. I think I kept it at 30ppm CO2 to stop the growth.