On Sun, 14 Nov 2004 07:25:21 GMT, js1 wrote:

On 2004-11-10, Matt C. wrote:
I am having a real tough time with some GBA. I have four oto's and they
don't touch it. I can not locate a local source for real SAE's either. It is
really starting to take over some of my small Echinodorus Tennellus (pygmy
chain swords).Its on my Ludwigia also. I am worried about whether or not
this plant can cause harm to my chain swords. It has fully engulfed several
leaves and even some runners. will my sword still get enough light through
the algae? Is there a way to kill it? I would possibly even consider a
chemical if necessary.
thanx!

SAE's will help if you're not feeding them anything else. If you have
other fish, you really have no choice but to feed the tank. And, the
SAE's will go for the easy food before working on the algae.

The slower, less toxic way to go is try using some barley straws. The
decaying barley straw is suppose to release some acid that prevents the
growth of new algae. When I did this, the brush algae seemed not to
have stuck to surfaces as tightly as before. There's a bunch of
websites that talk about the barley straw theory. It's mainly used to
control algae in ponds.


My SAE didn't help with my brush algae when I had it.

My Rosy barbs and black molly's eat it much better than my SAE, otto's
and amano shrimps I have it the tank.
I gave up and pulls ALL plants and did a 4 minutes bleech treatment
in very dilute bleech. It solved my problems and now I don't have any
problems. I think the fish are now able to keep up with any algae,
plus I doubled the plants in my tank in hope that they out compete
algae for food.

Steverd