Algae overrun

[alexinmadison]

Thanks to everyone who provided advice previously about my brown algae bloom. Sadly, it’s gotten worse and now there’s black algae in the substrate.

Has anyone successfully used a Flourish Excel overdose in an opa’ula tank? I’m really at my wit’s end and need a more aggressive solution than a horned Nerite and reduced light.

[skrimpster]

I'd advise being careful with overdosing Excel since it's a proprietary form of metricide. I've had no ill effects with Crystal Red Shrimp (they're breeding like crazy in there), but I stick to the dosage in the Seachem bottle and use it infrequently. You will need larger doses to kill algae.

You could also look into hydrogen peroxide for eradicating Black Beard algae. As far as I know, as long as the concentration is low, it will be safe for shrimp. Here's an article detailing the process better, but you can find a lot of videos explaining the process of using it in aquariums. Both saltwater and freshwater aquarium keepers use it for that.

[alexinmadison]

Thanks @skrimpster. I did a hydrogen peroxide bomb on my freshwater tank and had success but others in the forum here advised against using that tactic with opa’ula in brackish water. I’m really at a loss.

[skrimpster]

Thanks @skrimpster. I did a hydrogen peroxide bomb on my freshwater tank and had success but others in the forum here advised against using that tactic with opa’ula in brackish water. I’m really at a loss.

Even in freshwater, H2O2 can kill everything if it's too concentrated. It can also mess with the water chemistry. Any algae treatment may have unintended side effects when it's a chemical treatment.

You could try spot-dosing the excel with a syringe,and just have backup plan if the experiment goes wrong.

Can you quarantine or take the shrimp and snail out while you treat the tank? Do you have enough brackish water to do an emergency water change?

[Vorteil]

Why not do a weekly water change until it gets back to normal.

[Mustafa]

i would absolutely advise against using any kind of "chemicals" that are potentially toxic in a closed environment like a Supershrimp tank. The best way to deal with this is to just stop feeding, buy something like macroalgae to compete with the other algae and suck up nutrients, and then just try to remove as much as the other algae by hand as possible. The brackish water snails here do a good job at controlling (*not* eliminating) surface algae too. And if you scrape off any surface algae, then the snails and shrimp will eat all the pieces on the substrate. The rest is just patience. All "quick" solutions tend to end up quickly killing most or all inhabitants.