Black Brush Algae

What would be the better choice in a 10 gallon planted tank??? There are swamp darters and banded killifish in the tank now. I've read the SAE( Siamese Algae Eater) my be to big for the tank and would rather have there own species as tank mates.Also the flag fish might eat more plants than I'd want. But this is a tank filled will java moss, fern and some tape grass. The Java fern attached to so bog wood is growing the craziest. Any and all opinions are welcome.

What would be the better choice in a 10 gallon planted tank??? There are swamp darters and banded killifish in the tank now. I've read the SAE( Siamese Algae Eater) my be to big for the tank and would rather have there own species as tank mates.Also the flag fish might eat more plants than I'd want. But this is a tank filled will java moss, fern and some tape grass. The Java fern attached to so bog wood is growing the craziest. Any and all opinions are welcome.

I would go with the natives American Flag Fish. They leave all my plants alone.

Tom

I currently have an outbreak of bba almost handleable in my planted tank and have found no fish work. SAEs were the only fish that nibble on it but not enough to do any damage.
Here's what I did -
Two months ago I put a bag of barley straw in my tank. As it decays peroxide is released and it significantly reduced the amount of bba I had, and all algae for that matter. Next I removed all infected leaves and cleaned infected equipment. Now I'm filling an old eppy pen syringe with hydrogen peroxide and slowly squirting little bits out directly onto the remaining infected areas in the aquarium. I turn the filter off about 10 minutes beforehand so the water is still to increase the exposure time. It will start to bubble and fizz and after the second application it will be gone completely from the treated areas. I don't know how much is safe but I do a 25% water change after two 8 ml treatments in a 50 gallon with no problems yet. It takes awhile but it seems to work.

I currently have an outbreak of bba almost handleable in my planted tank and have found no fish work. SAEs were the only fish that nibble on it but not enough to do any damage.
Here's what I did -
Two months ago I put a bag of barley straw in my tank. As it decays peroxide is released and it significantly reduced the amount of bba I had, and all algae for that matter. Next I removed all infected leaves and cleaned infected equipment. Now I'm filling an old eppy pen syringe with hydrogen peroxide and slowly squirting little bits out directly onto the remaining infected areas in the aquarium. I turn the filter off about 10 minutes beforehand so the water is still to increase the exposure time. It will start to bubble and fizz and after the second application it will be gone completely from the treated areas. I don't know how much is safe but I do a 25% water change after two 8 ml treatments in a 50 gallon with no problems yet. It takes awhile but it seems to work.

Great advice, my biggest problem I ever had was tons of the blue green slime algae, NOTHING ate it.

Golden shiners sometimes work. I have them do well on duckweed, the worse scourge. They do pick at brush algae, but I kind of like how it looks. They actually cleaned up some bluegreen in a tank I moved my small school to. You need goldens to be atleast three inches to do a good job.

If you really want to clear up the brush algae, get a small carp. I know, I know, blasphemous, but what can you do? Gotta go with what works. In that small of a tank, I don't know if a suitable sized carp would work. I have used six inch plus ones in thirty and larger tanks, alone mostly while the residents of those tanks are on vacation in the ponds.

Back to goldens. I think they may be underated not usually showing much in "pretty" color. However, they are tough, interesting, and have a nice look to them. They also can be kept with sunfish that are not large enough to make a lunch out of them.

Plus if you get sick of them, they make great feeders!

BBA is a terrible thing to deal with. My FFF will nibble on it, but in no way control it. The only way to get rid of it is to remove its nutrient supply. Unfortunately the tank I have it in is a planted tank with Fluorite. I'd have to tear it down and remove the fluorite to completely get rid of the BBA. I've managed to limit its growth but it still smothers my plants.

Hey! As it turns out, I have a pond and it is completely covered with duckweed. And the GS are very available from any bait shop. I may throw in a couple of dozen to see if they can do anything to clear it off.

I would go with the natives American Flag Fish. They leave all my plants alone.

Tom

And I've got flag fish that have eaten quite a few of my plants! I think it's because it's a new tank without any algae growth to munch on so they turn to the plants. They took out a good supply of Amazon frogbit faster than the koi did.

I have found peroxide to work against both black brush algae and cyanobacteria (the bluegreen slimy algae), as well as string, staghorn, and others.

I have successfully used it at a rate of 1 oz per 10 gallons of water. So, for a 55-gallon tank, I use just shy of 5 oz (figuring that the gravel takes up some of the space). It is best used in a syringe, aimed at the problem, but also works if just dumped in. I have found that no water changes were neccessary afterwards, and that I can repeat the dosage once daily. I've also never had a problem with ammonia spikes during use, but I have a soils substrate under gravel.