Green dust algae and glass algae cure usign baby Bushy nose plecos

[plantbrain]

Many have struggled with Green Dust Algae for months etc. No real mechanism for inducement has been found. No real solution for control over the long term has really been found that's acceptable to many.
The few times I was able to get it to grow, I came up with a leave it be approach for 3-5 weeks, then wipe it off and clean well etc after it starts to slough off good. This worked for many, but also did NOT work for many other folks.
Some had speculated that there was an interaction between BGa and GDA, and thus used EM antibiotics to help clean/remove the GDA also. This again, worked for some, but not all.
Due to the issue of inducement and not knowing how to do this, I felt it might be best to see if you can come up with a control measure that works in worst case scenarios.
So I chose a tank I recently broke down and removed all the plants as I'm undecided what to plant with just yet. There are a few plants, but no one in their right mind would call this tank low light or heavily planted. This tank was brown and green about 7 weeks ago. Walls were covered with algae.
I've not touched the glass since then and I added 20 small 2" long bushy nose plecos. Algae was gone in 1-2 days.
I have an ATI light and have PAR readings about 130 along the sediment and about 450 in the middle at the surface. Not many will more light than this.
I took the CO2 off line for a month also. No change in the algae, but after adding the CO2 back, the few remaining plants have grown better, so I've left it on for the last few weeks. Water change once a week, dosing modified EI 2x a week.
With this much light, no CO2, no plants to speak of.......plenty of ferts, ADA AS......where is my algae?
This is pretty much a worse case scenario, but there's no algae, there's some slight Green spot algae, but you have to look closely, the Bushy nose do not remove this, but no algae eater does really. But, there's no glass algae otherwise, no GDA, not diatoms etc.
So.....I decide to add the bushy nose in mass to a client who had issues when they increased lighting with GDA, many experience this light intensity relationship.
More light= unmanageable GDA.
Less light= manageable GDA
But, you cannot use the full light power..........
So I doubled the light and added the plecos, and..waited for the call about algae. Have not came, in fact , the glass is cleaner than it was with lower light. So is the wood and rock, equipment etc. Tried it a few other folks, same result.
So what am I looking for and why am I'm posting this specifically?
To see if anyone can show that the small Bushy nose plecos at 5-6 per 20-30 Gallons of tank cannot control the GDA issue. They are cheap(less than many Amano Shrimp prices), peaceful little plecos, hardy, etc.
Better them than you.

 

[Matt Warner]

Very good read indeed! I love my bristlenose pleco in my planted tank. I never get any algae on the glass or anywhere else. He keeps the tank spotless so it saves me getting wet arms scrubbing the glass!

 

[Andy Thurston]

I have a 300l corner with green dust and 5 bushy nose of various sizes. They have reduced the problem but i found cleaning followed by a 80% water change slowed it most, but it takes a good hour to clean the bow front. Do you think adding 5-10 more will clean it? and do they have to be babies? The tank is fully stocked and i would have to rehome some fish. I could remove larger ones and add more juveniles as an experiment and post results.

 

[plantbrain]

Yes, I'd add about 20 total to your tank.
Babies are better, say 5-cm long. Do not feed them much.

 

[Ady34]

Do not feed them much.

Until they've eaten all the algae, and grown then they will need supplements you'll probably also need extra water changes and gravel vacs too to remove the extra waste.
To me this sounds like a good idea, but needs long term consideration. A plec will quickly grow and produce large amounts of wastes and need large amounts of food all adding to the bio load. Not ideal in a planted aquarium, especially smaller ones?
I'd see the plecs as a short term, quick fix solution and then they may need rehoming. Patience may be better IMO for the hobbyist?

 

[Andy Thurston]

Points well put Ady
My best option is tolerate green dust until male bristlenose is big enough to breed. Then breed them, let them clean tank then take to lfs
My tanks not heavily planted, only 2 huge anubias and an unknown plant, so extra feeding and maintenance is not a problem. 20x5cm bristlenose would cost about £70-80 round here too

 

[plantbrain]

Until they've eaten all the algae, and grown then they will need supplements you'll probably also need extra water changes and gravel vacs too to remove the extra waste.
To me this sounds like a good idea, but needs long term consideration. A plec will quickly grow and produce large amounts of wastes and need large amounts of food all adding to the bio load. Not ideal in a planted aquarium, especially smaller ones?
I'd see the plecs as a short term, quick fix solution and then they may need rehoming. Patience may be better IMO for the hobbyist?

Not anymore than loading up with Amano shrimp. As they grow, Bushy nose will breed and you can easily sell the larger adults, not like the common pleco. They also are among the cheapest plecos available also.
I feed mine about 2x a week, but shrimp also go after the algae sticks. But shrimp will do nothing for the glass algae or GDA. These guys will for months or years. Quite a few planted hobbyists end up breeding them.
In a 300 liter tank, you might start with 15 babies, and settle on 4-5 adults later that will breed after 1-2 years.

That seems like a much better solution for many of the folks having long term issues with GDA.

I can fix GDA without them, but some clients and people..............
This is an excellent alternative. This is a very effective tool.
I'm afraid patience is not something that goes over well for some folks who have had long term GDA issues.
Months, some years. I've tried to help them......but........

My question still stands, is there anyone out there who has GDA....that they cannot get rid of, that has tried this and not been able to get rid of the GDA afterwards?
I've done what I can to favor glass algae by testing on my own tank, but need to see where others have not succeed.

 

[plantbrain]

Points well put Ady
My best option is tolerate green dust until male bristlenose is big enough to breed. Then breed them, let them clean tank then take to lfs
My tanks not heavily planted, only 2 huge anubias and an unknown plant, so extra feeding and maintenance is not a problem. 20x5cm bristlenose would cost about £70-80 round here too

Well, try 10 instead.
They should breed for you, so then you make the money back, or just wait if you want.
Once you breed them, there will be plenty. Larger bamboo cut into 1/2 work real well for breeding caves.

The Ken's spirulina sticks work great for food/breeding.

 

[plantbrain]

3 for 10 pounds:
http://www.aquarist-classifieds.co.uk/php/detail51_326782.php
Might get a better deal on 6 or more also.
Just a tad more money than Amano shrimp.

 

[Ady34]

I can fix GDA without them, but some clients and people.............. This is an excellent alternative. This is a very effective tool. I'm afraid patience is not something that goes over well for some folks who have had long term GDA issues. Months, some years. I've tried to help them......but........ My question still stands, is there anyone out there who has GDA....that they cannot get rid of, that has tried this and not been able to get rid of the GDA afterwards? I've done what I can to favor glass algae by testing on my own tank, but need to see where others have not succeed.

appreciated Tom, months or even years of a persistant algae problem is enough to try anyones patience
and cleaning up after plecs would be a godsend in comparison.....at least you would be able to see them eating the algae wafers I just wanted to highlight some of the possible drawbacks of introducing large numbers of fish to a system, which is fine if you understand the implications
Your question of course still needs some answers and im guessing this is to quantify your findings. Gotta love the bristlenose
Cheerio,
Ady.

 

[plantbrain]

I agree with those comments Ady, but a large tank with little funding/care is never a good thing, best to have a smaller but well done tank IME.
But ...I do understand. Been there and done it myself. I had a very good deal on 240 Gallon aquarium for peanuts, but.........then I needed to make a hood, build a stand and did this myself because I did not have the $ for the equipment.
Let alone the plants.

Bushy nose are more for folks who have a long term persistent issue with GDA, and have not been able to tweak things to get rid of it, there are quite a few folks who have had GDA for 6-12 months or more.
They claim to have tried every possible cure.

I might be able to get rid of it without too much trouble, but not everyone will have those results as myself. So for those with few alternatives, the bushy nose seems like a pretty good option.
They are quite cheap here in the states, but........that can be said for many things, including quality

I've just not seen anyone using them like Amano shrimp in mass, over stocking? Most tanks I've seen in the planted hobby are woefully understocked.
I think the mess poo they have might be a detraction. But if you live in close proximity to other hobbyists, you can share the horde also, same for shrimps.

Or if you have MTS(multiple tank syndrome).
I keep 4-5 tanks and that's it.
I have the bushy nose in 1 tank, as far as cost? I get them wholesale, so they are 1$ each, so that's US $1 = £ 0.6368.
3-4 each is what the going rate seems to be there.
But they are easy to breed and you'll be able to sell the fry.

So livestock, plants, shrimp sales etc.......you are running a small farm.

 

[sciencefiction]

I never had issues with GDA in my fish tanks but it's probably an interesting annecdotal experience that I recently had with two glass bowls on the window.
I placed floating plants in them(salvinia minima). I regularly dosed one with all nutritients I had-micros and macros and I left the other one alone, just with the regular tank water.
The one with nutritients(which were largely overdosed by the way so I have no idea how much of each I put) developed green dust algae and the entire glass bowl was covered in it looking like a little swamp. My partner was giving out I destroyed the salad bowl . The other one didn't get one bit of algae but the floaters didn't look as good in it, paler and smaller.

Then I got lazy and stopped dosing either, just topped up with tank water(from low tech tanks) and the green dust algae eventually literally fell of the glass of the affected bowl. The sides of the bowl are clear as if I scraped them myself, and the entire lot of dead algae is rotting at the bottom instead.

This is not to say don't fertilize your tank as the plants in the fertilzed bowl were looking way better no doubt but it was just interesting what happened to the two different enviroments with same water, same light, but different nutritient levels and no substrate at the bottom.

 

[plantbrain]

SF, yes, I suggested a similar method for GDA for folks, just leave it be for 3-4 weeks ......then clean it off, and it went away for quite a few folks, but others? They did not have such luck, I'm not sure if they simply got impatient etc.
By allowing it to do it's full life cycle that pesters us, we can avoid the onslaught.

But many will NOT do this method or tweak and try and fix it, many simply use too much light etc also.
So having a wider array of tools to work with, seems good. Weed control works best when we have many "little hammers" to beat back the weeds.
Not a single large one. Biocontrol is also highly desired. Most biocontrol agents in my own experience have never been this effective however.

My 70 gallon has had every type of abuse tossed at it for weeks and weeks.