pamela

In the discussion about the blue lights and algae, Issabella wrote:

In my 10 gallon tank, I have a light that is slightly bluish and there is 0 nitrate at all times. Guess what? I have tons of blue-green algae in that tank. In my 30 gallon tank, I have a natural light (looks like daylight) and nitrate around 5-10 ... and NO ALGAE in there. However, this may be due to the algae eater that I have in there. He will eat all algae EXCEPT the black brush algae. And I do have some black brush algae in the 30 gallon tank.

I too have an algae eater in my 50 gallon that does nothing for all the black brush algae. How do I kill/prevent it?
Pamela

Isabella

What algae eater do you have in there? If it is a Sucking Loach (a.k.a. Chinese Sucking Loach), it won't eat black brush algae. I don't know if Otos eat black brush algae, but the true Siamese Flying Fox definitely DOES. Its scientific name is Crossocheilus Siamensis, so if you decide to get it, make sure that this is its scientific name, as they're confused with other algae eaters that don't eat black brush algae. The one that I have, is the Chinese Sucking Loach (which is a false Siamese Flying Fox), and its scientific name is Gyrinocheilus Aymonieri.

Black brush algae are very hard to remove, and I think the best solution to them is the Siamese Flying Fox (if you have enough space for it in your tank; I think at least 30 gallons would be best for this algae eater). This type of algae cannot be just "scraped off". I have to pluck this algae with tweezers from my driftwood and rocks, and still can't remove all of it, and even if I do, it comes back very fast.

Gunnie

Black mollies are also know to eat black brush algae, but only if you don't feed them anything else. If you have any other fish in your tank besides the algae eater, they probably will only eat fish food.