Help identifying this algae

[Matuva]

Hody all,

I'm facing a problem with this algae:

This thing is like black cotton, invades every part of the tank.

I was thinking Black Beard Algae, but this thing doesn't stick at all on leaves substrat or any thing on which it grows.

So, by hand you can easelly remove it, though, it comes back almost easy then.

Anybody can identify it? So I can know which path to go to get rid of it?

Thanks,

[jayc]

Why is your photo so ... Blue !??

I think it is black beard algae as well. 

BBA grows due to nutrient deficiency I think. Not because there is too much light. 

Or your plants are not healthy. BBA tends to invade the unhealthy leaves.

Are your lights blue? That could be it. Too much blue light, that your plants don't utilise. 

Blue & white lights are good for marine tanks, not freshwater planted tanks.

[Matuva]

Yup, I was myself surprised my device did shot such a blue photo. May be it focuses on the blue spectrum. At eye sight, the light is close to sunlight...

I will try H²O² on a sample of this thing, see if it turns red, that should confirm it belongs to BBA.

At the moment, what confuses me is that, this "black cotton" doesn't stick at all on where it settles, it just covers, and very easely comes off by hand...

[Matuva]

Update:

• H²O² did nothing
• Bleach instantly makes it turning green, then white

So, everything has been taken out from the tank, soak in bleach, rinsed. Hope that's enough to cure and get rid of this mess.

[jayc]

? Fingers crossed.

Do you have any water flow in the tank?

Maybe you need more water flow?

[Matuva]

This tank was for shrimps, so it only has a foam filter "powered" by air, so, not so many waterflow.

Though, I found some of that mess in another tank with good waterflow. Was bleached too yesterday ?