How to Fight Black Beard Algae - 5 Easy Ways

[@GirlTalksFish]

*Still need help fighting algae? Check out my other algae tutorials here: **kzbin.info/aero/PLlBBJ7xBuquYN1TkIpb62os9kyqB_mvKr*

[@NamVu-lv3mj]

You used 3 ml of Excel each day?

[@KraljHD]

This is the EXACT same way it showed up for me, barely anyone talked on the internet about this! I swear you are the only channel that fits my fish tank philosophy.

[@EricLabelleUX]

The internet needs more Irene!!!! Thanks for the update! Starting to deal with that same Problem this week!

[@cyndicombs1419]

I would like to share what I did for BBA that worked... I had it along the edges of my sword plants and anubias. I took the plants out of the tank and applied Flourish Excel with a Q tip directly to the BBA then put the plants back in the tank. After 24 hours the BBA turned red. You can easily see if you missed any areas at this point. I noticed my ramshorn snails and guppies started eating it for the first time, probably because it was now soft enough to eat. The plants did not yellow or die back. It has been one month now and I am BBA free so far. Now, I'm not sure how it would work on crypts since they don't like to be uprooted or disturbed after established and my crypts weren't affected by the BBA. So I would use caution if you tried it. Anyway, I hope this might help someone out. If you have a question, just reply and I will try to help! Thanks! 😊🌱

[@Spacemangann]

Great idea, I can't wait to try this

[@mikef3300]

I’ve noticed that bba first forms on anubias or val species of plants. Since anubias are not planted I remove them and place them in a glass vase adding a couple drops of seachem excel changing the water completely every 3 days. If it’s on the val I cut off every affected leaf and remove them while doing a large water change twice a week and cutting the light down to 6 hours a day from 8. Seems to work if caught early enough. If let go to long or gets out of control I tear down the tank and dispose of all affected plants. After having to do this once I keep a better eye on my tanks and also bought a net and piece of hose for each tank in order to keep cross contamination to a minimum. Black beard algae is probably the cause for a lot of people giving up on the hobby. It’s the one algae that gets me upset when it appears.

[@FrederickDunn]

You did an excellent job with this video. I'm catching up on freshwater shrimp and appreciated all of the information you've shared here. Thanks so much and thumbs UP!

[@StaceyHerewegrowagain]

Girl! I've been fighting this for months now. Nothing gets it off and forget scraping it off the plant leaves.. it damages everything. Thank you so much! You have no idea how much I appreciate this video and information. My gosh, this black hairy algae is ridiculously tough to battle. Thankfully I got it under control but it always comes back with a vengeance. Have a great day. I appreciate this so much!

[@andrewgoldfish]

Three years later… thanks for the great video. I’m having some bb algae issues and this helped.

[@janmargelowskyakacrittermo1101]

I had a 10 gallon covered in this stuff too. What worked for me was the addition of 10 Nerite snails. Within a week they had it completely cleaned up.

[@JB-ew1mu]

Same! I had a bba infestation in mine from an infected java fern, nerites worked for me too!

[@giannagropp6059]

Where’d you get your nerite snails? I want some but don’t know where to get them

[@icebrakes1]

Yes, Amano shrimp does work very well I had a very aggressive blackbeard algae take over in my 250 gallon tank. I think this was because my CO2 bottle ran out and I didn't realize it for 2 weeks so the water changed very quickly. So I went out and bought 25 of them to start. within 2 weeks my tank was clearing up rapidly. Although this was a very expensive fix, but worked quickly.

[@larkfpv5342]

the hard/soft water makes sense. Cory is always saying how he uses the hydro method and it works for him, also always talks about how soft his water is. Very interesting.

[@FrankiesUploads]

Great video as always! You can never have to many tips to tackle the dreaded algae!

[@GirlTalksFish]

Thanks for dropping by and watching the premiere! Too bad you can't get this stuff easily in the UK; thanks for the heads up. :P

[@ninavanway]

Thank you! I'm jumping straight to the 4th method. Just ordered from your link. ❤

[@MridulSinghMusic]

I agree, balancing nutrients and light is hard, but important to make sure that your treatments for algae removal are able to keep up with the growth of it.

[@razorreef6552]

Thank you for making this video. I have been fighting BBA for years in my 180 gal and I have 7 SAE and 12 hillstream loaches. Neither of them totally eradicates BBA.

[@GirlTalksFish]

Wow, that's an awesome army of algae eaters! Yeah, once I weakened the BBA with liquid carbon spot treatment and the algae started turning yellow, the hillstream loaches completely ate it all. Pretty impressive; hope it works for you as well!

[@GrugaCraftiano]

I had this problem as well, and in my case was because i was over fertilizing. I stoped fertilizing for a few weeks and the black algae dissapeard over time

[@tusk2852]

This is exactly what caused it in my tank. I’m new to planted tanks and over fertilized thinking I needed to give the plants a boost. Hard lesson to learn but glad to know this going forward

[@Evil_Genius_888]

Nice video. One note is that while treating a tank I found that doing good water changes helps a lot. I’ve also done 2 wc per week on a stubborn tank while treating the plants.

[@deemasters2312]

Thanks very much finally a solution that worked after a year of battling it in our tropical fish tank the carbon has sorted it out. Thank you.

[@GSAquatix]

Liquid carbon spot treatment combined with having my tank on a blackout lighting schedule was very effective for me!

[@nataliex909]

Thank you for this video! My tank has recently started growing this type of algae and I didn’t know what the name was or how to treat it Thank you for the thorough detail! Your videos are awesome!

[@amilutawan8805]

I gotta sub to you!! You document everything i love the visual aids on your process!

[@britt7141]

This was so helpful! I couldn’t tell what was on my leaves because its also hard and dusty looking. I’ll give hydrogen peroxide first since it hasn’t spread much yet. Thank you!!

[@DankDaHerbalist]

Floating plants and flag fish did it for me. Much Love Irene!!!

[@kravistelly]

Very interesting! I’ll keep this in mind if I ever have an outbreak that my ramshorn and pond snails 🐌 don’t take care of. I’m one of those people that love snails and, so far in my tanks, these guys have cleaned up that flat surface BBA you talk about. I always love your videos, Irene. Thanks for making such fun, interesting, and educational content.

[@GirlTalksFish]

I'm so glad you enjoyed it! Yes, I should've mentioned that I was fighting BBA in snail-free tanks. Glad to hear they'll eat the stuff. :)

[@hendriyahya7995]

Back to nature..I used siamese algae eater to eat BBA..it worked great!!

[@peter-pg5yc]

ok my tank was a black mess..added new plants lighting and it killed my wisteria.. covered everything filter clogged every 7 days.. The cure, clean the items you can with peroxide out of tank soak them... then just turn the lighting off for 5 days... Clean the filter mine was green, just rinse in a cup.. Every other day...I have zero black beard algae... yes i soaked some of my gravel in peroxide not all for bacteria.(weekly it was just a mess).I swooshed it in a clean container and you would be amazed at the black algae on the gravel( i swooshed in clean water 5 times or so to remove the black algae still had some)...Threw out the really bad stuff... added new gravel ....all the black beard died..gone poof...back to a super clean tank now for 5 months or so... my tank was soo bad i scooped gravel out and it was black and hairy.. filter clogged... now zero black algae.. my accessories' stay white my filter goes a month or more and no clogging.. the key turn the tank lighting off, and clean the really bad algae with hydrogen peroxide... rinse really well... Never put peroxide on filter media just the canister.. So now yearly or so i am gonna turn the lighting off for a few days... added doubled over computer paper to adjust lighting taped to glass lid... Added lifelike fake plants.. really nice ones.. cut down and it looks real... one happy betta in a clean gorgeious tank.... I hate black beard algae.... It beat me down to wanting to stop my tank.. It took hours to clean weekly( my tank was 20 times worse then hers).. Now it takes 30 minutes done.. water changes and rearranging items only.. love my tank again..

[@Anom_Ali]

My girl!!! Needed THIS!!

[@Brisanity22]

The easy carbon worked for black beard algae, thank you 👍

[@cherrypoutines6269]

I will try your method with excel. My BBA is also completely flat, no "beard" at all. I was starting to think it was not BBA, just some weird black spot algae. Tried hydrogen peroxide, tried bleach, tried excel soak. All it did was weakening the plants. Thankfully my tank is very very low tech and im pretty lazy with the ferts, so the bba is very slow, but it still managed to spread onto most slow growing plants. Im determined to stop being lazy this year and conquer it. Thanks for giving hope!

[@gwelfy]

I can recommend Silver Flying Fox (Crossocheilus Reticulatus) if you got a big tank with big sturdy fish or for a smaller tank Florida flagfish (Jordanella floridae) both work wonders and no chemicals.

[@celiademellomachado7636]

Your videos are so helpful and enjoyable to watch. I’ve learned soooo much from them! A huge thank you!

[@TarasTankFriends]

Great video! Hydrogen peroxide hasn't worked for me either and I didn't know why until watching. 8.0ph here, too. Thanks for the algacide tip!

[@beegee22ify]

Flourish excel method worked for me!! Beautifully.

[@sarayparay]

I’m going to try these in order. My 20 gallon seems to be flourishing with this algae. =\ Thank you for the video!

[@GirlTalksFish]

My pleasure! Let me know if which method ends up working.

[@ClassicRed2159]

Nerite snails did some damage on the alge bloom I had. Wavy green version but also the bushing black version too. That stuff would stick to the anubius. Noticed that after the tank settled for a few months and the addition of amano shrimp plus a small bristlenose pleco things cleared up slowly. Out of all the methods, including bleaching, the nerite snail seemed to do the most damage. Bleach method would work on the BBA but if the balance is off it comes back. I also did have some fish die off during this period but since then most of my livestock have been healthy. FYI this was for a 30 gallon with CO2 injection. Heavily planted from the start but with fresh filter and UNS substrate.

[@giannagropp6059]

Where’d you get your nerite snails? I’ve been wanting/needing some but don’t know where to get em

[@_forever_wild]

I used Seachem Excel effectively to control BBA. I have a 15 gallon tank and I did overdose with 2-3 caps of excel, without harming the fishes or shrimps (I have a very heavily planted tank). I repeated it two to three times a week. The BBA turned brown and melted away next week. But, they tend to come back now and then. Also, please be careful while spot treatment with liquid carbon. In my experience, the mosses don't respond well (some of it actually got burnt)

[@pleaseleavesarayualone]

Hi irene!!! You're just AMAZING!I wish I could join your membership sooooo much but I can't 😔. Awesome video!

[@GirlTalksFish]

No problem! Thanks for showing up at the premiere. Always great to see you in the comments. :)

[@pleaseleavesarayualone]

@@GirlTalksFishAwwwwww thank youu

[@lordmario5631]

same with me! the point is, keep your aquarium balance.

[@Orchids.and.Endlers]

Can’t wait for the video! Struggling with algae in a 20 I setup for my future Rummynose display tank :( Hopefully this’ll help! Love the channel Irene

[@GirlTalksFish]

Thank you so much! I hope these tips help; lemme know which one ends up working for you.

[@Sabriel3632]

The final solution is also how I got rid of stubborn staghorn algae too! The vallisneria I had did die, but it's growing back

[@GirlTalksFish]

AHHH, thank you so much for becoming my first member (who made a comment that I can see)!!! I'm so glad that your vallisneria ended up recovering too. Such a beautiful plant from the aquascapes I've seen.

[@WesL5031]

Hydrogen peroxide dip and tank treatments controls and or eradicated most algae in my problem aquarium.

[@filluponlife496]

Great video. Very informative. Did a great job covering all the bases and teaching everyone about the different processes you can go through to get rid of dreaded algae. My hat off to you

[@garrenb8462]

I am excited to see the video....definitely need the tip as I think I have some forming in my tank now.

[@GirlTalksFish]

Ooo, it's good that you spot it now. Tackle it early on for faster success. I took me _months_ to finally get rid of this stuff because I had so much of it.

[@savannamm]

I didn't realize that's what that type of algae was, I thought it was hair algae. I only get it on the tips of some plants and I just scrape it off

[@AuraKingSoCool]

Hi Irene! any recommendations for floating plants for Red Cherry Shrimp??

[@GirlTalksFish]

Amazon frogbit is great because of its long fuzzy roots :)

[@WesL5031]

Crystalwort and pearlweed are good for floating as well. Lots of surface area for shrimps.

[@RiskyR1CH]

Hydrogen peroxide didn't work for me either, going to try spot dosing excel. Plecos did a fantastic job in cleaning up BBA , cheers

[@Anom_Ali]

I had some success with 2 min leaf soaks in H2O2. I also sprayed it on my decor out of water. However, I missed a tiny bit of this stuff on my tank and got another huge bloom.

[@glenn4140]

Not gonna lie. Love the effort and diligence you put in for this video. See the self care you’ve been doing as well. Happy for you. Thanks for the informative information. 👌🏿🔥

[@aquariumanalytic754]

I can’t wait for this vid as my tanks are overrun with this stuff!!!

[@GirlTalksFish]

Oh man, it's a beast. Hope one of these methods work for you!

[@erichaley88]

Thank you for all this information! You just got a new subscriber!

[@macsarcule]

I fought this stuff on and off over the years, and it’s so robust. There weren’t good products like the ones you shared back then, and I have the same hard water / high ph water situation you do. Eventually, my only resort was pulling every plant to replace new, razor blading every inch of glass, and boiling the hardscape (big rocks and driftwood). How’d the boiling work? After boiling hardscape for as long as 30 minutes, I was certain I’d be able to just scrub it off with a vegetable brush. That was not the case AT ALL. I was able to scrub the rocks clean with a wire brush, but the driftwood was too tender for that and I couldn’t get that all scrubbed off. Black hair algae held on like iron, even after being boiled! I assumed it was dead after being boiled though… was it? The result was it never returned at the same levels, but the boiled driftwood only released where my pleco found areas of driftwood softened from boiling - removing the driftwood layer removed the algae. Firmer areas of driftwood… THE BLACK HAIR ALGAE RETURNED. Did it grow back from its “roots”? Did it just reestablish where it had favorably grown before? No idea. But it’s a perfect Hallowe’en topic, because black hair algae is the monster that won’t die!

[@Pewchb]

My Amano shrimps have been doing well at getting rid of BBA. You can see it inside them as they eat it.

[@kimberbites]

Ugh. Always seems to appear after getting a sword plant or Java fern. I hated dealing w that stuff in my brother's 100 gal I was in charge of. That's pretty genius doing the spot treatment.

[@rogerhuggettjr.7675]

My problem is blackbeard algae on pothos roots and anubius plants. I don't trust chemicals and it's in a 75-gallon room temperature goldfish tank ruling out flag fish (too cold) and shrimp (snack). I've put a bristlenose in and he is too shy to leave the shelter of my sword plants to go where the bad algae is. I've cut back on light from 12 to 6 hours and added floaters faster than the goldfish can eat them as well as anacharis and hornwort to bring nitrates down. Goldfish are always hungry so it's a battle when they stare me down every time I enter my bedroom.

[@takoink4400]

Thank you for this video. I will be pulling my plastic plants...lol...I know and dosing them with liquid carbon product you used

[@HalfManHalfCichlid]

all my plants are attached to driftwood or in small bond baskets. I remove them to a large plastic tray and place a fan over them for 5 minutes to dry the leaves and roots off. I then spray the plants and roots with liquid carbon and leave it on for one (1) minute and then risnse promptly. Any longer than the minute and I found the liquid carbon destroys the fine, feeder root hairs on the anubias and causes their growth to be held back. Does the job, but on balance I know there are bigger issues at play like too much phosphorus, too much light and perhaps not enought CO2 which is where I am now experiementing.....

[@misspanda2129]

I have a weird white algae (I guess) and I can't get rid of it. It kinda look like melted marshmallows. I scrap it off everyday and it keep coming back. Don't know what to do. I read it can come from overfeeding so I reduced the food I give to my fish and I have a lot of bottom feeder to eat the leftover yet the algae is still here

[@EpicFallDown]

spot treatment worked great against BBA

[@MadCowOnFire]

A coral feeder is also a good direct applicator. I find they have many usages.

[@寿司食べたいな]

spot treatment (seachem excel) worked. I had a BBA from the buce I bought from a store and had to isolate it. Soaked it in Excel for 5 minutes and I don't see any of them anymore now.

[@noelbrucker135]

I have lots of rhizome plants (mainly anubias and Java fern) and small rocks with BBA that are easily removable for a while to treat out of water. Not having great luck spot treatment of H2O2 (if I leave it on long enough to kill the algae some of my leaves don’t survive) but I’m think I’m going to retry my Excel after watching this. If you’re treating with Excel out of water how long would you suggest letting it sit before putting it back in the tank? Sorry to miss you live! I was all set to watch and chat when my out of town guests awoke so I had to use my KZbin manners 😄

[@jacksmith6460]

Hi could you do a video on mycobacterium? I think it's an important topic in the Hoby that nobody ever talks about Thanks!!

[@texasfish8382]

It probably wasn't BBA. That would be why it didn't look like BBA and the typical treatments didn't work.

[@deankaprolet3994]

I took plants out, soaked in h202 for a couple min and it worked. But who wants to keep removing plants to soak em. Ok once, but very annoying if needed multiple times

[@urbanballer1]

I have a floating plant thats roots are super coated in BB algae. Does applying liquid carbon directly to the roots cause any harm to the plant?

[@CantonmentBoy]

Good stuff. Always good content.

[@shrimpboi4718]

Nuuu I woke up too late! Even though I don’t have algae problems I still watch it lol.

[@spencer5082]

I'm fighting the exact same BBA right now. I've found that a dry "magic eraser" takes it off easily. It's not a fix of course but you can wipe it off your leaves very easily. It's crazy how well it works. But you still have to fix the actual cause.

[@bhagyamaithripala6642]

Thank You for The Awesome Information

[@Stephen-jw8ci]

i’ve got 2 60 gallon tanks that are each covered in black beard algae, but it looks like dark grey grass covering everything so i don’t mind it. some plants like my jungle val and amazon sword can keep up with it, but anubias always gets covered and dies, as well as most stem plants

[@motorhead16]

And this is why it's said that aquarists have a lot of patience😂

[@luster5497]

I notice you didn't try soaking plants directly in "liquid carbon" bath. My 55g is a Black Bear Algae tank now, I gave up fighting it because there was a lot of cherry shrimp in there. Now that I gave a lot female shrimp away, the female left must of died off, so I only have male slowly dying off now. I'm thinking about re-tanking the shrimp for a few months and go to battle with the BBA. Have you try soaking BBA coverage into a Liquid Carbon bath for a few short minutes???

[@davidsamsell2031]

Thanks Irene. Great video. 👍📺😎

[@beansproutnow]

I have exactly the same type of BBA that you had - a fine black dusting....'the process' begins tomorrow... 😮

[@spencer5082]

IMO something you can do for that spot treatment is pour your full "daily dose" of Excel or liquid carbon in a cup. Then use that full dose is a pipette to treat as many leaves or areas as you can for that dose. Then wait however long and repeat to a different area. It's no different than what you were doing when you were dosing the water column every other day.

[@andycarter4581]

Great video again!

[@day_dreamer08]

Can you tell me how to set up live plants in a fish tank

[@flamingbridges1649]

My dragon stone and anubias are all covered in black beard algae

[@lem0nade_899]

Do you have any ways to get rid of green spot algae?

[@whyluigi]

dial in your tank, balance nutrients(ferts and co2) and shorter photoperiod is a must! cheers and hope you get rid of it it can be done a clean flush tank :D

[@alh5470]

interesting, i may try and use a hudson sprayer

[@e-85gee27]

Hi Irene, I'm really into rooted plants especially crypts you can almost say I have a addiction, nah just kidding, but can you do a video or an update on all your plants, i really want to see your crypt pink flamingo,, your vids are awesome super helpful, keep up the grwat work.

[@elizabethG633]

My Panda Garras will not touch the BBA that has been treated. I finally cut off all the leaves that had been infected but turned red after the peroxide treatment, the plants are growing back but like I said, the Panda Garras did not touch the stuff.

[@tub8088]

Perfect timing

[@Jennifer-nz2ss]

Not much has helped here in TX. So If i see it, i immediately pull it all out and trash it. I know but it did get rid of it and I just got some new plants. Check them carefully before bringing them to your tanks! Good luck.

[@whyluigi]

I got rid off my algae by reducing the photoperiod from 8 to 7 hrs a day also took the brightness down 25%, didn't chance dosing or CO2 period and the thank is clean again. have to mention due to some terrariums in the back of my tank I added extra light for them, dumb me not realizing it would affect the tank, so had algae bloom to make me realize the major mistake too much light, so had work on the source of the issue. cheers and I hope you planted tank goes back to healthy-looking plants soon :D

[@GirlTalksFish]

Thank you for sharing your experience! Yes, my problem was too much light and lack of certain nutrients. I'm getting some more potassium in the mail today, so looking forward to no more pinholes.

[@whyluigi]

@@GirlTalksFish Hey Irene, have you tried phosguard? maybe you want to give it a try, it has made a difference for me since I started using it. I hope you the best hoping you show us a flush planted tank like you had before , and to make a note by the looks of the Bolbitis indeed you have too much light for those plants, other wise you will need to supplement CO2 to help the plants be much healthier thus inhibiting the algae. cheers! let us know how it goes be more than glad to help out :D

[@victoriafox-bratcher6109]

I cleaned out..scrubbed our tank. Removed all gravel. Removed all fish and placed very warm chlorinated water in it for ten min…killed all algae :) then I dechlorinated …suctioned all the dead algae. Haven’t had an issue since

[@Jessica_Crease87]

Aquarium coop doesn't sell this anymore. Any other recommendations?

[@mister8765]

Love your videos!

[@purplebunny7728]

My black beard algae was flag in the wind style. Not a short film. Flags all over my tank, on the glass, on the equipment and on the plants. Very very beautiful fuzzy soft black furry flags on everything. Boiling my gravel worked AFTER 4 hours or so of simmering. Bleach worked on my plastic plants. But it took about a week of 10% . I didn't know about the "aldehyde's". In the end I moved my fish to a small tank and blasted the plants with algaecides. A year later is seems to be gone. Scary tough stuff.

[@shawnscallan941]

I just added 2 nerite snails to my tank which is overrun with BBA. In the last 3 days they've removed far more of the stuff than my panda garra has in 2 years. but most of what theyve eaten is the flat layer, like in your video, rather than the hairy/fluffy stuff

[@human47134]

My snails, shrimp, mollies, and otocinclus ignore my BBA :(

[@stevecooper6653]

I had this on one of my 4 foot tanks witch has slate fixed on 3 sides..I had 5 big pieces of bog wood 🪵 also.I call it purple beard 🧔‍♂️ algae myself lol it’s was everywhere…what I did was take out the bog wood 🪵 placed it in my shower 🚿 and brushed with a wire brush lol (this worked) 🤷 scrubbed the slate while in the tank and let the external filter pick it up..I did 2-3 large water changes each week for 6 weeks.2 months later the bog wood 🪵 is lovely and clean still and the same gos for my 3 sides that are covered in slate.the purple algae eventually disappeared from my plants.I do a 30% water change each week and this seems to be helping…I think 🤔 my problem came from the bog wood being large pieces and was covered in the purple pest..it was growing to well on there….it’s funny how a tank can change just like that sometimes 🤷Steve 🇬🇧

[@ziggy1600]

Are you able to put 5 or 6 Albino Corydora Catfish in a 20 gallon tall and them still be comfortable or is that too smushed. And with introducing a betta fish to a tank should you first buy the betta fish and then his tank mates (which will just be the Cory catfish) or should the mates then the betta fish? They would all be in a 20 gallon planted tank.

[@OneEyedOneHornedGian]

CO2 and Siamese algae eaters did wonders for my tank. Unfortunately the timer on my CO2 got some of it's pins pushed leading to CO2 running over night killing a bunch of fish and it ended up coming back... I got a plug with an app timer now and I'm trying hillstream loaches. I really like their appearance and they are voracious eaters, but they don't worry about detail cleaning. Unfortunately my blind cave fish hunts snails to extinction cause that sounds tempting. (I have otocinclus as well and while they seem to enjoy the green hair algae, they are not so interested in the BBA.)

[@tylerjohnson0003]

I've been losing plants that just established myself won't lie broke my heart bc my tank was starting to look great had pearling happening and everything was great!!! Then the dreaded black death swooped in and now everytime I make an attempt it seems to come back 3 times worse.

[@edyoung6573]

Great Video!!!! Thank you!!!!!!!!!!

[@mayronsting5627]

Flourish Excel worked wonderfully for me

[@jonathanrichardson7969]

I bought three siamese flying foxes, not sucking loaches or flying foxes. After just three days I could see the difference. Now after six months I have no algae problems at all.

[@eurafaelluz]

I have snails and shrimp in my aquarium…would that affect them?

[@soogymoogi]

I just kind of accepted this as part of the aesthetic of my tank, but now that I'm beginning to add live plants, I'm thinking of trying to at least keep it at a lower level (look, I really like the mossy look it gives some of my stone decor, so I'd rather just spot treat it as it grows elsewhere... yeah I'm weird)

[@UserError7861]

Thanks for the video. I have been fighting with staghorn algae myself. And much of what I had found on the internet was inconsistent results, such as with the peroxide as carbon dosing the full tank. One method that seemed to have more consistent results was doing cycle times with the lighting (such as 5hrs on, 4hrs off, 5hrs on). This is supposed to work well due to the plants recovering from the dark cycle faster than algae, so they get to use more nutrients than the algae. I have been trying this method and have seen progress with some of the staghorn turning white. Though I might try doing some spot treating with carbon to help.

[@VyvienneEaux]

I don't know about Easy Carbon, but Seachem Flourish Excel is actually polycycloglutaracetal, which is an acetal-linked polymer of gltaraldehyde's cyclic form. I assume it's significantly less toxic because of its increased molecular weight preventing diffusion across impermeable biological membranes (such as those in animals) and because the acetal bond is relatively stable at physiological pH, meaning it has to be broken down intracellularly to exert its effects as glutaraldehyde. It should be okay to get this chemical on your hands.

[@VyvienneEaux]

I hypothesize that polycycloglutaracetal gets macropinocytosed by algae and certain aquatic plants, entering the endocytic pathway, where it encounters a decreased pH, catalyzing the reversal of the acetal to its aldehyde form. Some organisms are equipped to sequester and eliminate toxic byproducts from their cells while other organisms are unable to do this effectively. Many plants have a specialized lysosome called a vacuole where they can sequester and store toxic byproducts and nutrients. Thus, the algae, lacking such sequestration machinery, gets poisoned when it breaks down the polycycloglutaracetal. I sure wish Seachem would release their rational for Flourish Excel. It's still an enigma to me, and this is all hypothetical (I am a biochemist).