i might break down this tank... black hair/flagfish questions

[DeathFromNH]

I have a black hair issue and a serious one. Does it really do anything bad or is it just not pleasing to look at? I have skipped my lights for a few days here and there. It helps but it always comes back. I bought a male flagfish which he is eating it but just to much for him to get it under control. I trim plants that have it and clean it off of everything I can. But its got into my gravel now and idk what to do. I'm afraid if I vac it its just going to go everywhere and make it worse.

So I'm wondering if I pull the gravel and soak it in peroxide, will kill it I'm sure, then clean and return to the tank, but again I'm worried about setting it afloat. I'm going to yet again try and leave my lights off for three days. I'm also thinking about getting female flagfish but I'm hung up on how many to get. Ive been told that I should get one, also that I need at least two or more or the male may kill her. Ive seen many things going both ways on that issue...???... also Ive read that normally the black hair issue is related to an elevated phosphate issue. I'm not sure what's bumping my phosphates. I feed new life spectrum thera +a as my normal food and every few days I feed Frozen bloodworms, crushed up krill, or tubifex worms. is one of those foods my issue?

My tank is a 30 gal long and I'm thinking that two females to go with my male flagfish is the way to go anyones thoughts?


-DFNH

 

[Bajoc]

Clearing it away is only temporary. The underlying issue is an imbalance in your aquarium. I suggest changing lighting schedule, then feeding less, dosing less ferts, adding more co2. Not all at once though, one at a time.

Also, you should try dosing hydrogen peroxide, it really kills beard and hair algae.

 

[DeathFromNH]

could you please explain the dosing process of hydrogen peroxide dosing? just want to make sure my finned friends don't die

 

[Ohiotank]

I agree with Bajoc you need to find your imbalance. Can you tell us about your tank, do you have co2, do you dose fertz. Bba is usually to fluctuating co2 in high tech tanks. It really isn't that hard to get rid of if you find the imbalance causing it. I had it for a short time while I was learning my co2 system, once I raised it above 30ppm it died off. If cutting your lights helps then after your 3 day blackout I would raise them off the tank and reduce the time they are on each day.

 

[Jupiter Jack]

I'm not an expert on removing bba, but I would manually remove any that you see and and siphon it out. I don't think doing that will spread it any more then the current in your tank would. Try to remove as much as you can, then maybe turn your lights off and work on figuring out the cause of it in the first place.

Is it possible that your filter is kind of culturing it and then spreading it around the tank? You would think that any bba the filter has sucked up could possibly be thriving from the nutrients that the filter retains?

 

[Ohiotank]

I'm not an expert on removing bba, but I would manually remove any that you see and and siphon it out. I don't think doing that will spread it any more then the current in your tank would. Try to remove as much as you can, then maybe turn your lights off and work on figuring out the cause of it in the first place.

Is it possible that your filter is kind of culturing it and then spreading it around the tank? You would think that any bba the filter has sucked up could possibly be thriving from the nutrients that the filter retains?

You cannot really manually remove it, without trimming off the affected leaves.

 

[pugletfan]

My tank was overrun with BBA a few years ago. Cutting off affected leaves, vacuuming the gravel well, cutting back on hours of light, and adding fast growing plants all helped. It's finally gone! Hang in there! I'm sure other experts can give you advice too.

 

[Bajoc]

basically dosing with h2o2...

1) get h2o2(3%) its common at any drugstore. you might even have some already
2)turn off filters and air stones.
3)using a syringe or spray bottle treat affected areas, (use only 2mL per 10 gallons of water total)
4)wait 30 minutes, bubbling will occur, but no worries that is just the H2O2 Disassociating into h20 and o2.
5) turn filter back on
6) repeat every day until bba is under control.

(the bba should turn red or grey after treatment, this will most likely be eaten by fish as it is tastier that black bba)


Bajoc

 

[Ohiotank]

Bajoc is exactly right, you can use the same method with flourish excel but you must find the root cause or it will just come right back.