I decided not to remove the fish during treatment. I hope that wasn't the wrong decision. This stuff is supposed to get rid of parasites, not algae according to the label, but I've been told it's the only thing that will totally get rid of brush algae. I need to monitor the ammonia and nitrites as it can also kill beneficial bacteria. I posted about this treatment before and no one seemed to have any experience with it. All I have read says that higher than indicated dosages will kill fish and water changes is the only way to remove it from the water column. I'll post my progress.
I would really appreciate it if you would EXPLAIN your statements. Smart people don't just pull answers out of thin air. Smart people do research and then come up with explanations. If you want people to respect you, then use your computer and look up a half dozen or so websites where answers may be found, and use the most relevant material to support your statements. I have done a lot of research on this treatment and I am using it as directed. My snails will die because copper sulfate kills invertebrates. As long as I use the copper as directed why would this be a bad idea? Use your brain buddy. It's not that hard when you can get stuff off the Internet. Thankfully we don't have to go to libraries and find recently written material to access information anymore.
lol he probably has never heard of the duey decimal system, I have never used copper as I plan on having inverts down the road, you have already stated that you snails will possably die, so you have definately done your research and are aware of the affects - - i was looking for an specific article on copper i had and can't find it sorry, but it sounds like your doing very well with it , slow doses, monitor as closely as you can and dilution is the solution for dropping the copper levals down the road . . . .hell im not telling you anything you don't already know, lol
Yea, it's a one dose thing,and I barely had any snails anyway. I was only beginning to have a small population. I haven't heard the term "Dewy" in front of decimal system since high school. I had to take a college algebra competency exam recently because I scored a 'D' way back when I took the course. I've already taken micro and physics basic courses, but relearning that algebra was tough! Now I remember why I hated basic college and couldn't wait to get out.
Day 2 report: No ammonia, no nitrites, pH 6.6, all fish appear healthy. No observable death of brush algae at this point. If nothing happens after 1 week I will remove all fish to an alternate aquarium and quadruple the dosage of copper. I plan to treat this tank till there is no more brush algae, then I will do 95% water changes twice to bring down the copper levels, check the water chemistry and restock the fish. I will continue to do 30% water changes to for a while before attempting to introduce snails or other invertebrates.
I am very sure you have done your homework ....but on an off chance there is and you havn't thought of it - -is there a species of fresh water something that will eat this algae your having trouble with? I.E. Bubble algae is an extremly tough nasty algae in salt systems and if you don't wan't to use risky chems you can get an Emerald crab [one of only very few creatures that will eat bubble algae specificly] just wondering...I like to hear how peole attack different issues in there systems, Boss
Siamese algae eaters and another similar fish will eat it and I can't have them because my gars will eat them. I'm getting plagued with doubts about using this stuff because of it's toxicity to fish and the biological filter bed. So far even the few snails I have are still alive and copper sulfate is supposed to kill snails. Since I cleaned most of the algae a couple weeks ago there is only a little brush algae left and I can't see it spreading. I'm going to wait a week or so and decide what to do after that. Maybe a UV sterilizer would be helpful in killing spores, and by keeping the pH from getting too low I'll keep ahead of it. I think I'll take some of this algae that's on some rocks and see if I can kill it in a small controlled environment. We'll see.
very interesting - - I agree with your concern about dumping chems in the tank, over all the reading I've done I see very few posative expieriences [not that some people have great results form them, but for the most part, no - -might solve or at the very least cover the immediate issue, but down the road you start seeing questions in the post, why is my fish doing this or what happened to that? they seem to be a good start for a self consumming machine IMO - - I'm not even sold on UV sterilzers 100% - -again this is just my opinion, they may kill the spores you speak of in your case but what else are they killing - fish don't live in steral environments in the wild - - but I guess they don't live in confined spaces either - - who knows....lol ... I'm following this post, interested to see the outcome, Boss
I don't know how many Gar your keeping off hand, but do you have the convienience of reverse quarentineing them? what I meanis put the gar in another tank while the Siamese fellas do their job in safety? then maybe switch them.......HEY ...good excuse to set up another tank, lol "come on honey we can't let the lil fellers get eaten"
Spongbob suggested this. I think SAE's would just nibble the algae down and I doubt they would completely eradicate it. I have another big tank I could set up for my fish, and I'm kinda being lazy about setting it up. If the one dose of copper and keeping the pH from getting too low(this algae seems to like low pH water according to my reading) or high, which makes copper more toxic to fish, if that doesn't work I'll reverse quarentine them. So far the algae isnt growing back as far as I can tell. I just have a little left on a few things I missed when I cleaned it out before and I'm watching it closley, but there's no new algae on anything I cleaned before and none on any of my leaves.
even though you have your problem under control another thought I had after I posted was water temp....some algaes in saltwater can be killed with a drop or raise in water temp....although we don't try Algae seems to need perfect conditions to grow as well, go figure - - -
I have read a bit on the black variant of red brush algae and I haven't seen anything about temperature for eliminating this, just confusing and contradictory ideas on nutrients and that this algae is usually seen in low pH environments. My pH was low when it was growing and covering most of the leaves, gravel, and wood that didn't have java moss growing on it. Since I've been watching the pH and keeping it close to 7.0 it doesnt seem to be spreading as it was before. My tap water is a very high pH, so when I do water changes I balance the trend toward low pH with that. I also use phosphate absorbing medium in my filter.
