# ??? BBA and Co2 question



## flashbang009 (Aug 6, 2009)

I have BBA on many of the older leaves of java fern and all over my equipment too. It's caused by unstable CO2 levels, but i have pressurized CO2 on 24/7 at the same intensity. I have an airstone run at night however, so would this count as "fluctuating CO2 levels"? It turns off 1 hour before lights come on though. 

I also have some algae similar to BBA growing on Blyxa leaves, along with some other thing that looks like spider webs between leaves...


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## svenhipsta (Dec 16, 2009)

Honestly a more likely cause is excess nutrients in the water column. I tried increasing CO2, Flourish Excel, and Erythromycin. The ONLY thing that licked it was adding extra plants to suck up the nutrients. Water Lettuce or Duckweed or Naja Grass took off to the races. Suppose the extra shade helped some too. But have culled it back as other plants grew in and no BBA (touch wood).


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## flashbang009 (Aug 6, 2009)

Yeah ok. I stopped ferts because i'm switching to mci fertilizing, and now i'm spraying it with h2o2, and it seems to be helping.


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## niko (Jan 28, 2004)

BBA is not caused by CO2 fluctuations. It's caused by organics. Once BBA shows up it's very difficult to get rid of it even if we manage to remove all organics from the water.

Best practice:

- Hit with Excel
- Frequent water changes
- Manual removal
- Good CO2 (just in case, but it doesn't really matter)
- Feed the fish less
- Remove all debries (dead leaves etc.)

--Nikolay


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## freshyleif (Jan 9, 2008)

Check your nitrate levels right before you do a water change.I finally got he BBA to really stop growing when I got the nitrates to stay below the 40ppm range at the end of the week. That was my nutrient imbalance that really seemed to keep the BBA alive despite every other algae attack.


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## Zapins (Jul 28, 2004)

I agree with Niko. There are two kinds of BBA. The short dark bushy type is definitely not caused by CO2 problems. I also suspect that it is caused by organics. I found spot dosing flourish excel to be the only thing that completely killed it off. You can do 2x initial dose, and then up to 3x daily dose. Make sure to use a syringe to spot dose the stuff or it will take a lot longer to get rid of. Once it is in recession it tends to stay away for months. But definitely make sure to keep up with water changes and siphon out the mulm.


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## Newt (Apr 1, 2004)

My experience has shown that you need at least 2 parameters out of whack for BBA to show up. High iron, nitrates high or low, low CO2, etc.


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## houseofcards (Feb 16, 2005)

niko said:


> BBA is not caused by CO2 fluctuations. It's caused by organics. Once BBA shows up it's very difficult to get rid of it even if we manage to remove all organics from the water.
> 
> Best practice:
> 
> ...


Wow, couldn't agree more!!!

Most folks always look at the dosing side for a cure, but in the end it's really an organic issue IMO. Most people feed their fish to much, don't clean their filters enough and don't keep up with water changes in the long run. It might sound great that Eheim states you don't have to clean your filter for 6 months, but in reality your just pumping organics all around the tank.

As you go up in light, have less plants, more fish, etc. the situation get's worse.


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## flashbang009 (Aug 6, 2009)

Yeah i see what you guys mean. I think i keep up with the filter fairly well, clean the pads every 3 weeks with tank water, dump the water out too, water changes might be doing it, but i don't have a ton of organics in the tank. I gravel vac often too. My plants always got the short BBA after a leaf died or something like that. I'll try the steps and techniques stated above. I hit it with h2o2, and it helped a lot.


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