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[APD] Re: Aquatic-Plants Digest, Vol 3, Issue 39



Tom,

I am not so sure the CO2-BBA correlation is entirely true. I have had my first BBA outbreaks in two
tanks in the past six months. One tank, my 55g, has been set up for years without problems until
this summer when it suddenly had a bloom of BBA. It was also the first time I started using
pressurized CO2 in that tank (and reraised the lighting intensity to 3.75 w/g). The plants did very
well, but so did the algae. And this tank was full of great indicator species of poor conditions -- Tonina fluviatilis, Eriocaulon setaceum, Eusteralis stellata, Ammania gracilis, Micranthemum umbrosum, etc.
Manual removal did not help. I kept adjusting the CO2 level upward (after I decided the pH test kit
must be wrong, since the pH was perfect... 6.6-6.8 for a KH of 4). I ended up killing several of my
fat old cardinal tetras.
In my 20g long in Chicago, which is only a couple months old, the BBA was even worse. The tips of my branchy driftwood had such long filaments that it looked like a flowing mane in the current.
I took out all the wood, scrubbed it down, put it in boiling hot water in a bucket, and let it sit
in total darkness for a week. I then took the tank, removed 80% of the plants... basically anything
that even showed signs of being infected. Then I did a seven day blackout. I ordered many
new, fast growing plants (Limnophila sessiliflora, Ludwigia repens, Rotala indica, etc) to restart
the tank. I religiously tested pH (6.8), KH (10), GH (13), PO4 (0.2-0.4 ppm), and NO3 (5-10 ppm) up
to twice a week... at least once. Still, I am seeing the BBA start to creep in again. This
BBA came from a trade from someone who was having an outbreak of it at the
time. This tank has a sizable algae control population, unlike the 55g (4 cherry red shrimp, 12 amano
shrimp, 3 olve nerite snails, and 4 ottos).


Just my experiences... don't even get me started on my dealings with cladophora :),

Carlos


PO4? NO3?, fish load? The CO2 gets everyone, myself included. BBA is classic poor CO2 issue, check the probe, the KH measurement etc and then add more CO2 than you trhink you need/measure and see what happens.



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