# [Wet Thumb Forum]-is this BGA?



## imported_russell (Sep 14, 2004)

just wandering if this is BGA? notice what plant it's on :O how can algae grow on riccia???


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## Pete City (Sep 18, 2004)

From pics of other people with this problem, I would say yes, knock on wood this is one algae I don't have problems with.
I see you are growing Riccia, I love the way it looks, let me know how you do trimming it, I have to pull it all out and re-attach it to my stones when it gets to big, every time I try to give it a haircut it looks very uneven and funny looking, almost like a bad kids hair cut.


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## imported_russell (Sep 14, 2004)

i will let you know how it looks later on. this is my first try at growing riccia (other than just floating it) and i'm kinda bummed at the algae.

Roger!!!! i need help!!!!


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## imported_russell (Sep 14, 2004)

ok, i am almost positive that it is BGA now. i was told that you could add 200mg erythromycin for every 10 gallons. is this a good figure? also, where is a good source of this drug.


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## imported_shalu (Feb 13, 2004)

Does not look like BGA to me. BGA is a dark green slimy sheet. Yours look like some mass of hair/thread algae. Could be the picture/lighting.


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## sarahbobarah (Sep 5, 2005)

Looks like pieces of java fern caught between riccia. 

And BGA *is* slimy, like shalu sez. Erythromycin - you'd have to be really careful with that sutff


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## imported_russell (Sep 14, 2004)

it is definately a mass of green slime. if you look at the space between the rocks, that is what i am talking about. if it looks like string, it's just the picture. it is a thich sludge.


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## Roger Miller (Jun 19, 2004)

It isn't BGA -- at least not the kind we normally deal with. I think I've seen this kind of algae before. It is a very fine, soft filament algae and feels a little slimy to the touch.

In my tanks algae like that wasn't much of a problem. I combed it out for a while. The plants grew up and the algae stopped being a problem.

Russell, you might want to go back to floating riccia for a while -- clean off those disks and maybe try using something else as a weight. Those things look like they block a lot of light.


Roger Miller


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## imported_russell (Sep 14, 2004)

they do block a lot of light. i am thinking of attaching plant weights to the bottoms of the plastic discs.

the algae in the picture is the only algae i have problems with. it seems to be constant in my tank.


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## imported_russell (Sep 14, 2004)

ok, i ridid the riccia with plant weights. now it should get all the light it needs. i also planted it thicker between the pads.


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## Kyle V (May 8, 2005)

I just had this crazy BGA outbreak in my tank. In two days it covered my glosso and most of the substrate. I tried to pick it out with tweasers (yea right), but finally decided that I needed to either medicate or blackout. The stuff is nasty by the way. It's stinky, wicked slimy, and spreads like crazy. So, I went the 3-day blackout route. Did a 50% water change on wed, fed the fish, dosed KNO3, shut off the lights and CO2, and covered up with black garbage bags. Uncovered everything this afternoon, and the BGA is completely gone. I had GW too, and now the water is crystal clear. I'm pumped. Moral of the story, if you do have/get BGA, do the blackout. It honestly works...and, the plants and fish are all fine. I did a water change this afternoon, fed the fish, and dosed. Now I just gotta get better at keeping the algae away...

Good luck with it Russell, what ever it is you've got there...


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## imported_russell (Sep 14, 2004)

well, as roger asked, i replanted the riccia with plant weights on the bottom of the pads. it seems to be gone, but you never know


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