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Well a couple of months ago I located an article on the net about using Hydrogen peroxide to kill BBA. I was leary and posted hear to see what you guys thought, and after listening to what you had to say I decided to give it a shot. So I would just like to share my experiments.

First tank
10 gallon Live plants, one Amazon sword some red ludwigia and Anubias Nana, No fish.

dosed at 2 ml per gallon after a week after treatment the algae had turned a reddish color and had begun to die. Very slowly. So not to much algae death with the 2 ml per gallon. No reaction with the plants.

So after seeing the results in the ten I decided to try it in the 55, but only one section of the tank. Section one was completed about 4 days ago.

No change to stocking or feeding levels, fish include Clown Loaches, Cories, Rainbows, gouramis, and a Plec.

Dosed using 1 ml per gallon using an Oral medicine syringe I sprayed the BBA in the selected location which at the time of dosing was just a sheet of the BBA. 30 minutes later did a 15% WC, 24 hours later the BBA had begun turning red, Where it had changed color I noticed the Pleco had begun eating it 4 days later about 75% of the algae in that Location is gone. So for now Hydrogen Peroxide does work as a short term fix for BBA. I will keep everyone posted as I continue with this tactic.

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This is amazing, more info please



The Amazon Nut...

Wow indeed. I would love more info too, especially where you first heard about this method...

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I was surfing the web and stumbled across this article.

http://www.aquarticles.com/articles/plants/Podio_Algae_Hydrogen_Peroxide.html

As I continue the treatment I will continualy update this thread and fill you guys in. I think this time I will use before and after pics, as tomorrow is the next day for a section to be treated.

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Sounds good to me Jim,

I have a whap of that BBA to get rid of and any tips are good

The Amazon Nut...

I don't know if I'll plan to use it to eliminate existing algae, but I'm thinking I'll try de-algaeing some plants in a bucket of H2O2 solution before I put them in my tanks...

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Well the second dose is complete. within twenty minutes the BBA had turned red it has been 2 days and it is starting to disappear already.
Well thats this update.


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Glad to hear it's helping, I checked that link you posted as well and had a good read.

Definately going to experiment a bit with this, thanks

The Amazon Nut...

Not a problem DA. Glad you had a good read. I do recommend experimenting in a tank with no fish.

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At the moment my mopani cave, fake cave, filter intake, pre-filter sponge, and a couple rocks are soaking in a 5g bucket with at least 10ml per gal dose of hydrogen peroxide. I'll let that soak for half an hour to an hour, then a quick rinse, then back in the tank it goes !

*crosses fingers*

The Amazon Nut...

Well I have had my first mistake with this. However its not that bad. I had some Anubias that was seriously covered with BBA so I removed it from the tanks and placed it in a half gallon tank, with water. I didn't measure the dose but I used way too much, about 3/4 of a bottle. Anubias survived but not too many leaves did. Only the very new growth leaves made it. And the Plants were not in there for more than 20 minutes.


Oh well sometimes experiments go wrong. Although it did kill the algae....

So no more than 10 ml per gallon or 1 ml per gallon in an active aquarium........

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Sorry to hear you ran into a prob, I'm glad it was a plant, as opposed to fish at least ?

With anubias, crypts, or rhizome based plants, you can chop the leaves off, then let the rhizome float or replant it. It'll sprout new leaves. The sellers in Asia ship em like that. This leaves me hope that my C undulata 'copper' will regenerate as it melted a couple weeks ago.

I used the dropper that came with my test kit at first,
then said 'pfft', pulled an 'FKJ' and tipped about a 10th of the bottle in lol.

My bba is a reddish brown now, definately not lookin happy. I'm taking it as a good sign, thanks for posting this great tip. I've had the bba curse since getting someone's tiger val ages ago and nothing else has helped. I could be a step closer to a nicer looking tank



The Amazon Nut...

Your welcome once again Have you placed the stuff back in a tank with Algae eaters in it? If so you should notice that the AE will now eat the BBA. I have a theory from seeing this in my own tanks that Algae eaters equate certain colors with being edible. Not sure yet but I think its an interesting theory.

Yea I did leave the Anubias in the tank after I removed the dead leaves. Interesting note is that the Anubias Nanna was the most affected. The Anubias Barteri didnt so much as flinch from this treatment.

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"Have you placed the stuff back in a tank with Algae eaters in it?"

EDIT - just caught the bn and platy nibbling algae off the filter intake lol. Eat it up ! Hopefully the sae will join em.

"I have a theory from seeing this in my own tanks that Algae eaters equate certain colors with being edible. Not sure yet but I think its an interesting theory."

It makes sense. I've also read it. Algae eaters and plant eaters in general can determine when their target is weak and perhaps a little easier to eat as a result Snails know it too, hence the recent hard time with a couple mosses left too long in their baggies lol.

"the Anubias Nanna was the most affected. The Anubias Barteri didnt so much as flinch from this treatment."
The Barteri is a larger species then nana, made of thicker and stronger fibre. Wondering if that made it more resistant to damage ? Both are fairly tough plants though.

The Amazon Nut...

Its a possibility on the Anubias. Thats what I was thinking when I noticed the damage to the Nanna, and Nanna petite. I am watching all of it to see what happens.

I find it funny that algae eaters Ignore BBA normally but it turns even the littlest bit of red and the are all over it.

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Each time I look now there's a bit less bba, some is losing it's hold on the wood/cave or being picked off by the fish. I'm seeing loose bits all over the gravel, going to pick that stuff out tonight.

The Amazon Nut...

Glad to here its working. Its surprising that some like this is effective, and somewhat safe to aquariums. Small doses at any rate.

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Today I bought an oral medication dispenser (basically a plastic syringe) from the pharmacy for $2.00. Measures in ml up to 10ml. (doing stuff many times in a 1ml dropper sucks !) Measuring hydrogen peroxide in that from now on for plant baths (outside the tank) I'm going to try it on najas grass with green algae next

The Amazon Nut...