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Re: Beard algae
Shawn <ksschafer at ucdavis_edu> wrote Wed., May 15:
..................<snipped>........................
>Help, I am at wits end here and am considering something drastic,
>chemical warfare. The plan right now is to pull all the plants (Amazon
>sword, Sag., dwarf sag. and some Java moss) dip them in bleach and farm them
>out top other smaller tanks while the 55 gal is undergoing chemical
>treatment to kill the algae. I hate to do this but unless someone out there
>suggest something that will work I feel I have no other choice. If I am
>going to carry out this plan I would like to know what kind of bleach/water
>mix I should use on the plants and for how long.
>
Mix up 5% liquid bleach (1 part bleach plus 19 parts water). Give the
swords, and Sagittarias 3 minutes in the bleach solution with agitation.
Rinse thoroughly. I am not sure the Java moss can survive 3 minutes, so
treat it 2 minutes and put it in a tank or jar by itself until you are sure
it has been freed of the beard algae. It is important that treated plants
be put very soon after treatment and rinsing in a tank that has good
growing conditions, and is, of course, free of any kind of hair algae. You
can find some discussion of the bleach treatment in the Krib:
http://www.cco.caltech.edu/~aquaria/Krib/
Good luck!
Paul Krombholz Tougaloo College, Tougaloo, MS 39174