Overdosing however can harm your fish, and kill all your more sensitive plants. To remove black beard algae from your tank with Flourish Excel, you will need to overdose. It will help plans to consume nutrients from the water more efficiently.ĭosing Flourish Excel to your tank, will help get rid of most algae types, but not from BBA. You will need Flourish Excel ( buy it from Amazon) and a small brush for this.įlourish Excel is basically liquid carbon, which is a relative good alternative to CO2 injection.
What? How to brush off the BBA from an Anubias plant? Well, the method is peaty simple. There is an easier and cheaper way to remove BBA from Anubias plants.īrowsing the internet and some fish-keeping related forums, I came through a very good method, which I had to try out: “Brush off the black brush algae method” Setting up a CO2 system is also a bit complicated. Once you stop dosing CO2 to your tank, BBA will come back. BBA will start dying off and eventually will disappear totally from your tank. With CO2 and proper nutrients, your live plants will start growing faster and will outcompete algae. This is probably the easiest option, but it is very brutal and will probably kill your Anubias plant. Most people will recommend you to cut off all the leaves from your plants that are infected with black beard algae. How to Remove Black Beard Algae from Anubias Plants?
I’ve managed to remove / scrape BBA from Anubias and other slow growing plant leaves with the ADA Pro Picker, but it took me a lot of time and effort. It sticks so strongly to plants and decoration, that with bare hands it is almost impossible to remove.įrom decoration it might come off with heavy scrubbing and hot water or bleach, but from leaves it will not come off easily. Can You Remove BBA by Hand?Īs mentioned before, black beard algae is one of the toughest algae type. So this might not be a good option to get rid of BBA. The problem with Amano shrimp is that they will only consume black beard algae if there is no other type of algae or food available in the tank. They will grow up to 2 inches (5 cm) in size, so it might suit a small aquarium. In fact, I only know one fish and a type of shrimp that will consume BBA.Īmano shrimp are also great algae eaters and they also consume BBA. There are not too many fish that will eat black brush algae. It will slowly kill your plant, by blocking the lights off and making photo-sensitization impossible for the plant. If neglected, BBA will take over your whole Anubias plant. Black brush algae will start growing on the tip of the slow growing plant leaves and will spread overtime to the whole leave. Plants, however can suffer from BBA if it is not treated in time. Is Black Beard Algae Harmful to Your Fish or Plants?īBA is not harmful to your fish at all. In this case algae eating fish and shrimp will not even touch it. In water, where the concentration of calcium is above average, the calcium will build into the tissue of the algae.
The lack of CO2 or its fluctuation can also cause the appearance of BBA.īlack beard algae is also a sign of inefficient filtration system, because BBA grows in the presents of high nitrites.Įxcess nutrients in the water can also cause black beard algae. Research shows, that black beard algae is caused by excess of vitamin B12 in the water column.įrom my fish-keeper experience, black beard alga is common in aquariums with strong lights. Spores can swim around for weeks or months in your aquarium, and when the conditions are right, the BBA will start growing and spreading.Īnd there are not many things that can stop it from overtaking whole aquascapes and aquariums. These can be introduced into an aquarium via plants, fish, or fresh water. Just like any other algae, black beard algae are reproducing through spores. In this article I will show the causes of black beard algae and ways to if from your anubias plants, or other slow growing plants without cutting the leaves.īut first, let’s see what is causing BBA to grow and why is so common on Anubias plants and other aquarium decorations? How Does Black Beard Algae Get Into Aquariums? If you have an Anubias plant in your fish tank, sooner or later you will most likely have black beard algae. It is easy to identify: it is black, reddish, grayish color and has grows in a beard or brush shape on the leaves of slow growing plants, rocks or other aquarium decoration.
And it is very hard to kill, and there are very few fish, which will consume it. It is one of the hardiest algae types out there.
Black beard algae, also known as black brush algae (BBA) is a very common algae type, which is present in most of planted aquariums.