Elaine T wrote:
Nikki Casali wrote:

OK, so moving on to plan B. I am finding the control of BBA extremely
time consuming. It's the most tenacious algae. Hell, I don't even get
green spot algae anymore. BBA grows very slowly, but it still bugs me
as it excludes me from keeping very slow growing plants.

I have a spare 110 litre aquarium I wish to move all my fish into from
the 330 litre, temporarily. Given that the main tank will have no fish
in it, how far can I push a treatment to guarantee a kill of BBA and
still give the plants a fighting chance? For example, how many days of
blackout would be required, 3, 7, 14 days?? I presume I'd stop all CO2
for that period.

Plan C is to strip the tank.

Nikki

I missed plan A so apologies if someone already suggested this. Is
there some reason you cannot find or keep Crossocheilus siamensis
(Siamese algae eaters or SAE)? They really, truly do eat BBA and will
keep it under control.

http://www.aquatic-gardeners.org/cyprinid.html describes the fish. The
article is 10 years old, and now there is a demand for the true SAE so
they are not difficult to find in LFS.


Oooh, it's complicated!

I have 1 Ruby Shark (4 years), 1 Redtail Shark (4 years) and 1 Harlequin
Shark (4 months). They are all mortal enemies. No one told me about the
sheer pathological aggression of the Harlequin when I got him. They just
said he was the best algae eater around. My 2 older sharks just about
tolerated each other. One became nocturnal.

When I introduced the Harlequin everything was fine until 2 weeks later
when all hell broke loose. One morning I found the Redtail shivering in
one corner, absolutely terrified! Mr Harlequin had gained enough
confidence within 2 weeks to begin savagely attacking it. I had finally
found a fish more aggressive than a Redtail! The nocturnal Ruby Shark
wasn't stupid and decided to hibernate in one tight corner for most of
24 hours. One day I even came across the Harlequin with its sucker mouth
clasped against one of my Angelfish. What?!

I removed the Harlequin and Redtail Sharks to the quarantine tank, with
a divider, permanently. I am now left with the less aggressive Ruby
Shark in the main tank.

Would the Ruby Shark tolerate a Crossocheilus siamensis? I'm running out
of quarantine tanks though!

Nikki