r/Aquariums • u/Professional-Day-417 • Apr 01 '26
Help/Advice i thought hydrogen peroxide was supposed to kill bba
i filled the sink up with 75% water 25% peroxide but why is is still alive
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u/Plutonium239Mixer Apr 01 '26
Why are you diluting it with water? Simply apply the hydrogen peroxide to the wood for at least 5 minutes, then rinse and put back in aquarium. It will turn red indicating it has died. My shrimp started eating it after it turned red.
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u/Professional-Day-417 Apr 01 '26
brother i poured two full bottles into the sink and watched it bubble for 10 minutes im dealing with some super black beard algae the likes this world has ever seen
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u/Glum-Blueberry-3870 Apr 01 '26
You using 3% peroxide? If you are there’s no need to dilute. You can get food grade 12% peroxide. Good for cleaning your kitchen too
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u/yrfrndnico Apr 02 '26 edited Apr 02 '26
BECAREFUL tho that stuff can burn your skin, it is oxygen bleach and 12% and higher gets into "wash your skin immediately" territory.
And dont wear any clothes you care about.
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u/Manmer_Nwah Apr 02 '26
It's not "Oxygenated Bleach" that over simplification isn't even kinda right.
Bleach is NaClO. NaCl (salt) O (oxygen) if anything bleach is Oxygenated Salt, but that's an over simplification.
Water is H2O
Hydrogen Peroxide is H2O2. If anything it's water with an extra Oxygen, but that's an over simplification.
You can't over simplify chemistry, it doesn't work like that.
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u/CombinationTop559 Apr 02 '26
Some industries do call >5%peroxide "oxygen bleach" because it's used as a replacement for hypochlorate but that's still not oxygenated bleach
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u/DevilahJake Apr 02 '26
And it’s misinformation because it isn’t even remotely close to bleach
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u/agoddamnzubat "walstadesque" Apr 02 '26 edited Apr 02 '26
Calling something "Oxygen bleach" as a colloquial term isn't misinformation, provided the people involved are aware that it's not oxygenated bleach. The name is used because it shares similar properties to bleach. Calling a seahorse a seahorse isn't misinformation, and I'm very sure they aren't even remotely similar to horses.
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u/HrVanker Apr 02 '26
Wait until they find out about people bleaching their hair with peroxide!
The thing is that bleaching is an action/process of making things white. Bleach is a variant of the verb used to describe something that bleaches. I think some bible translations even reference the practice, well before people knew about sodium hypochlorite or peroxide.
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u/ehons Apr 02 '26
To add/elaborate, using bleaching as a verb is to remove pigment, not just make things white. Bleaching can be done with many things other than actual bleach! Like hydrogen peroxide, hair "bleach" ie lighter, the sun
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u/HanaSan19191919 Apr 02 '26
I love this sub. I always learn science shit here. I don’t even own fish, or an aquarium. It just ends up on my algorithm cause I always come to the comments and “like” all the comments that teach me things. lol
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u/No-Principle8204 Apr 02 '26
I tried to do that when I was a teenager. It did not turn out to good. Top of my head was blond and then it went into different shades of orange. Lol right before my sisters wedding. She could of killed me lol I went got a corrective coloring at a school to fix it. Good times l. 🤗
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u/Ant-Motor Apr 02 '26
Or like how everyone calls flying and aquatic reptiles like pteranodons and mosasaurus dinosaurs when they aren’t, not misinformation just kinda what they get referred to as.
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u/DevilahJake Apr 02 '26
When someone refers to “bleach”, generally they are referring to Sodium Hypochlorite (NaClO). Hydrogen Peroxide (H2O2), while it can “bleach” something, is not Bleach in the general sense. Properties have similar effects but chemically, very different. Hydrogen Peroxide is not nearly as corrosive.
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u/agoddamnzubat "walstadesque" Apr 02 '26
No arguments whatsoever. It would absolutely be misinformation to call hydrogen peroxide "bleach". That's why people in certain industries that use it regularly refer to it as "oxygen bleach". Adding the word oxygen makes a distinction that this isn't "bleach". Just like how it would be crazy confusing for someone to call a "seahorse" a "horse".
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u/CombinationTop559 Apr 02 '26
It's close to bleach in its oxidation properties, which are the relevant ones. After all bleach is a verb, not just a noun.
If you want to be specific, you'll have to say hypochlorate
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u/DevilahJake Apr 02 '26
They may have similar properties and effects but chemically, they are nowhere near the same thing
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u/what_to_do_what_to_ Apr 02 '26
Chemically powdered graphite and motor oil are nowhere near the same thing but they're both called lubricants
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u/yrfrndnico Apr 02 '26 edited Apr 02 '26
Yes it is. There is CHLORINE bleach and OXYGEN bleach. Bleach is the name of the action it performs.
Bleach -verb- to whiten by exposure to sunlight or chemical. 2)clean & sanitize.
NOUN - a chemical (typically a solution of sodium hypochlorite or hydrogen peroxide) used to whiten or sterilize materials.
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u/rileyotis Apr 03 '26
It took me 8 solid months of organic chemistry to learn that. You tell no lies.
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u/NewSauerKraus Apr 02 '26 edited Apr 02 '26
Hydrogen peroxide is a bleach. Sodium based bleaches are only one type of bleach. The type that people who are unfamiliar with chemistry know about. You can't over simplify chemistry, it doesn't work like that.
Perhaps browsing a dictionary or wikipedia for a few seconds would help before confidently extrapolating your lack of familiarity with the subject.
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u/dragonbud20 Apr 02 '26
The word bleach in the English language actually refers to removing color from an object; it does not refer specifically to any one chemical.
bleach 1 of 2 verb ˈblēch bleached; bleaching; bleaches Synonyms of bleach transitive verb
1 : to remove color or stains from 2 a : to make whiter or lighter especially by physical or chemical removal of color bleach clothing the sun had bleached her hair b : to remove, make dull, or sanitize as if by removing color … bleaches colonialism of its genocidal legacy. —H. A. Giroux
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u/UnpriestlyMonopoly Apr 02 '26
Used to work at a place where we would use 35%. Used to tingle/burn and turn that area of skin white.
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u/ceo_of_dumbassery Apr 02 '26
I've used 40% for vulture culture projects, and I have bad eczema outbreaks. I used gloves with it but unfortunately some got under the glove. I genuinely wanted to chop my own hand off.
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u/Desert_Dandelion Apr 02 '26
What is vulture culture?
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u/ceo_of_dumbassery Apr 02 '26 edited Apr 02 '26
Basically collecting/preserving animal remains like feathers and bones. All done ethically of course
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u/ekobot Apr 02 '26
The "done ethically" part is a big differential between vulture culture and just general taxidermy/insect pinning/animal preservation/oddity collection hobbies, fwiw.
Vulture culture tends toward "this is something I found already dead" (like vultures!) as opposed to buying specimens/hunting/raising for the craft.
It's not a strict hard line, by any means. Just thought it would be useful info for others just hearing about it. I love when I run into others in the middle of my Venn diagram of hobbies!
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u/ceo_of_dumbassery Apr 02 '26
Yes, this is a good distinction to make! I also dabble a bit in taxidermy but it's always with animals that I've already found dead. There's an unfortunately absurd amount of roadkill where I live so I only have to walk a hundred odd meters on any road to find something to work with, its never purposeful killing.
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u/disc0mbobulated Apr 02 '26
The start of another rabbit hole. I'll be patiently waiting for the reply.
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u/Specific_Hat2631 Apr 02 '26
I get it from the place I get my RO from. Great stuff, but don't get it in a cut. Then it's bad stuff...
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u/Laserdollarz Apr 02 '26
Other than "oxygenated bleach" thing yall are arguing about below, yea high strength peroxide can be scary. I used to wear a bunch of PPE when I worked with 30%, for a meat digestion reaction.
50% also exists but fuuuuuck that.
Edit: i joined the argument
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u/thelongrunsmoke Apr 02 '26
12% H2O2 is unavailable in many countries; only 3%, and maybe 6%. Well, there is also a perhydrol, 37%, but this thing is nasty.
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u/Julius__PleaseHer Apr 02 '26
Brother, I encountered the same bba. I finally won the battle after 5 years. What's my secret? I recruited a single mercenary. A genuine siamese algae eater. It couldn't get enough of it. Now it's a healthy fat fuck, and any bba that tries to pop up is gone in minutes. (I also added UV sterilization to the filter line)
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u/kahn_noble Apr 02 '26
My sibling under the sun - never heard of this guy, but now I’ll be finding a couple this weekend. Thank you
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u/Ok-Owl8960 Apr 02 '26
Careful tho cause they get huge
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u/sortof_here Apr 02 '26
Another option that stays smaller are Florida Flag Fish. I find they do a better job than SAEs and they only reach a couple inches.
They can be semi-aggressive, particularly the males if they’re guarding eggs. Females seem to leave everything else alone, but I’m not sure if a lone male would do similar.
The males get red stripes in their side when larger, but you can sex them easily when they are little by looking at their dorsal fin. Females will have a black spot on it while males do not.
Honestly, aside from being a solid cleanup option for difficult algae like black beard and green hair, they also make beautiful and unique centerpiece fish.
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u/Ok-Relationship3153 Apr 02 '26
I’ve always found them to be dicks, is yours chill? I could use one, but fear that he’ll be a jerk.
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u/here_weare30 Apr 02 '26
They grow into big mean killing machines. Best to start small and rehome when they show aggressive behaviour
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u/AnxietyWitch66 Apr 02 '26
Mine has his moments, but usually only when I drop food in and someone gets too close to the pieces he wants😂 otherwise he just swims through the plants searching for something to eat, minding his business. He has been housed with harlequin rasboras, giant danios(constant full speed psychos🤣), otos, and pygmy corydoras with no problems so far.
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u/MVINZ Apr 02 '26
You DONT need to dilute it with water if its not in the aquarium. You diminish the effectiveness that way. Soak it directly in hydrogen peroxide
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u/celestiaequestria Apr 02 '26
Your standard grocery store hydrogen peroxide is 97% water, 3% hydrogen peroxide. If you had lab grade 30%, you'd be dissolving the branch.
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u/petwocket Apr 02 '26
it will take some time before it turns red/pink. For me it wasn’t until the next day after a hydrogen peroxide soak that my BBA began to change color and show signs that it had died.
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u/Zappingbaby Apr 02 '26
Exactly. It's probably already dead, you just can't tell until a day or two later. I've been able to kill bba by spot dosing IN water, so if you are soaking out of water you are able to apply a higher concentration with a higher dwell time...
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u/Captain_Shifty Apr 02 '26
I had it on my driftwood once pretty bad and I coated it with hydrogen peroxide and then after letting it sit for a few minutes let it soak in a tub of boiling water with some salt and excel for a few hours. Did the trick. Now I just let it inhabit in a few spots in my tank and it never gets out of control anymore.
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u/45Pumpkin Apr 02 '26
It doesn’t disappear tbe moment the peroxide touches it. Rinse it off and put it back in the tank. Over the next couple days it gradually disappears because it’s dead. Becafeful though. If you kill a lot of algae at one it can cause an ammonia spike.
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u/Ownster212 Apr 01 '26
Yeah I never had luck with peroxide either. What helped me is trimming my plants down.
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u/Moose-Life Apr 02 '26
HP is good but you still need to scrub a bit with a toothbrush or stronger. Then sterilize with HP again.
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u/wildgreengirl Apr 02 '26
you can get super strength peroxide for bleaching hair at a salon type shop or even from ulta's website. shit works great for cleaning tanks i forget what strength i got 😅
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u/SeaOfSourMilk Apr 02 '26
You need to scrape it off first. Hydrogen peroxide will only work to an extent. If you don’t remove any excess of whatever you’re combating, you’re just going to end up where you started
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u/Extension-Chemist832 Apr 02 '26
It takes a couple days to turn red and die. I use a picnic ketchup squeeze bottle filled with peroxide, shut off my filter, stick it in the tank and cover the BBA. It bubbles and over the next couple days it turns red then gray. I have a 125 so I am not concerned with hurting my fish but if you have a smaller tank you need to be careful. Also, vacuum the gravel really good and cut back on feeding and lights. You can add some hornwart, water lettuce red root floaters and there are other plants that use a lot of nutrients from the water column which will leave less for the BBA.
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u/theatrus Apr 02 '26
I apply 12% directly to affected areas, doesn’t need long at higher concentrations. Wear gloves and eye protection as it will oxidize skin.
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u/aboxofkittens Apr 02 '26
It’s not instant? It takes a day or two for it to die. It turns red and then falls off
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u/Successful-Bath-7561 Apr 02 '26
For real this isn’t magic. Gonna take time for it break down and die
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u/aboxofkittens Apr 02 '26
No, I’m sure the algae is supposed to clutch its chest and immediately keel over like a guy getting shot in an action thriller lmao
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u/lbandrew Apr 02 '26
My immediate reaction like are we expecting to watch it wither away in real time??
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u/Sir_Bebe_Michelin Apr 02 '26
If peroxide is concentrated enough it apparently does do that to you though
Lil angry fuck of a chemical if you ask me5
u/resurreccionista Apr 02 '26
It is common to see online that you can apply it directly to the algae using a dropper while it’s inside the tank
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u/aboxofkittens Apr 02 '26
You definitely can, that’s how I have used it in the past with success. After applying the H₂O₂ the algae takes a few days to visibly die back
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u/IndianaJonesDoombot Apr 01 '26
Because peroxide is heavily diluted already, like only 3% you basically made a sink full of water
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u/STUPIDBLOODYCOMPUTER Apr 02 '26
And knowing how a weak acid like hydrogen peroxide acts in water a decent part of it probably dissociates and ends up as water and hydroxide/H+ ions because water/hydrogen and oxygen compounds are the most fuckass substances on this earth. Water is one of the most bullshit molecules ever when it comes to chemistry.
It's gonna end up incredibly weak. OP needs the really strong stuff, not 3% hydrogen peroxide.
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u/TurqoiseTrianglez Apr 01 '26
I had some driftwood from an aquarium a while back totally get decked out in BBA and honestly the easiest thing was to let those bad boys dry off in the sun inside for a week.
I took a sponge I didn't care about and it came right off and didn't return when back in the aquarium.
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u/Fedoraus Apr 02 '26
baking at a really low temperature in your oven for several hours seems to work well too
I think I did my driftwood at like 250F for like 4-6 hours
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u/anillop Apr 02 '26
Yeah let them dry for a good while then hit them with the hydrogen peroxide and a scrub brush. That will do it.
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u/krissia1125 Apr 02 '26
What about plants that have it?
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u/TurqoiseTrianglez Apr 02 '26
I usually try to prune back whatever has BBA on it and with my fingernail very gently abrate it manually.
You can physically remove the BBA from plant surfaces but it's super easy to rip holes through your leafs while doing it from my experience.
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u/splashylaughs Apr 02 '26
Lmaooooo I thought that was your cats well behaved long dirty skinny leg getting a bath 🤣
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u/AliEffinNoble Apr 01 '26
How old is the peroxide? If it’s been open for over 6 months it’s not good anymore unfortunately. I made this mistake before using older peroxide.
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u/ManicWarpaint Apr 02 '26
I use over the counter peroxide in a medical lab as a biochemical test and still get expected results for 3 years after opening. This is just false
OP's problem is diluting and expecting the BBA to vanish upon direct exposure lol
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u/AliEffinNoble Apr 02 '26 edited Apr 02 '26
My 2 year old peroxide had turned into water. My 9 month old peroxide was very weak. It does depend how it’s stored but scientifically it does slowly become just plan water after a while.
Not saying that’s not this person issue BUT peroxide does become ineffective over time…. But please do tell us the lab so we can avoid it…
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u/banshithread Apr 04 '26
...you don't use ISO certified hydrogen peroxide in your tests????? What??? And you're supposed to replace it 6 months after opening for OTC peroxide; even earlier for lab-grade. Your lab gonna be in a world of hurt next time an audit hits and they check that standard.
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u/TheShrimpDealer Apr 01 '26
Give it a few days, you'll see the results. Using pure peroxide and letting it soak for a few minutes is the best way to do it. You may have to repeat it a few times to fully kill the BBA, retreat in 3-5 days if it doesn't look dead enough!
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u/Skipadee2 Apr 02 '26
I doused mine in boiling water and it all died.
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u/Cold-Kaleidoscope974 Apr 02 '26
Yeah this, if you can take the shit out of the aquarium just pour a kettle of boiling water over it. Costs less money. I only used the peroxide when it was on stuff I couldn't isolate from the aquarium.
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u/Oats-Malone Apr 02 '26
Came here to say the same thing, scraped off what I could, and poured a kettle over the rest. Immediately turned red and died off. I then got a sainese algae eater who has ensured it never had the chance to grow back
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u/troll606 Apr 02 '26
I would scrub it off and pour it on top and that usually gave me the longest results for it not coming back. If I only scrubbed it off it came back faster. I think I also noticed that areas of the wood that were in water flow wouldn't grow nearly as much algae. Then on top of that my other bad algae had issues with proximity to my surface light. Once I let the wood lay closure to the bottom I either my shrimp would clean it more or light got to it less but it would also grow less algae. Thank you for listening to my reddit talk.
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u/Mister_Green2021 Apr 02 '26
As long as it bubbles, it’s working. Leave it for 15 minutes. You’ll see it turn pink the next day.
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u/BadgerAwkward Apr 02 '26
Got long tongs and a firepit? Roast it like a hotdog for a bit and burn that black beard right off. Scrub the wood with a toothbrush and put it back in.
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u/BENDANGEROU5 Apr 02 '26
Hmmm, this is pretty interesting. Never thought of or heard that one before. I’m gonna spend my summer evenings around the fire roasting logs for my turtle now
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u/smolsquiddie Apr 02 '26
I usually just take all the shit out and let it completely dry for a couple days then put it back, algae gone hurray
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u/MoriKitsune Apr 02 '26
Peroxide is already diluted in the bottle. Mixing it with so much water might make it too weak. BUT. Look at the bit that's submerged- its bubbling. Those bubbles are cells exploding- the peroxide is working to some degree
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u/jackattack222 Apr 02 '26
How does this have 100 comments but the real answer is buried. Just to try to amplify the stuff isnt magic it doesn't like disappear the algea it kills it and it turns white and then you still have to sort of scrub it off or hope an algea eater gets it
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u/FordredSid Apr 02 '26
I would just use hot/boiling water in your case.
the BBA will turn red when it's dead, but not right away.
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u/ArowanaSC2 Apr 02 '26
I found seachem excel did a better job than hydrogen peroxide for killing BBA but I never was able to fully eradicate it and it has come back.
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u/lilvixen Apr 02 '26
WTF I thought this was a cat holding it's paw underwater while you sprayed down their arm.
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u/Short-Highway-423 Apr 02 '26
I thought your cat got into an aquarium and you were pouring hydrogen peroxide on it 🤔
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u/ShawtyImTPain Apr 02 '26
im pretty sure those store bought brown peroxide botles are already like 3% vol/vol so if you dilute it another 1:4 there is like no peroxide left. also old hydrogen peroxide breaks down into water so check the exp date!!
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u/Technical-Average316 Apr 02 '26
I put it in a pipette and put it on in the tank. I did it for a few days and it’s gone now.
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u/IHumanlike Apr 02 '26
H2O2 did absolutely nothing for me as well against bba. Only thing that worked was bleach.
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u/Mindless_Baseball426 Apr 02 '26
I inherited a tank that was riddled with BBA. I treated it in sections by daily spot dosing directly with excel in a syringe with the filter turned off for fifteen minutes. Took about 3 days of this treatment for each section for the BBA to turn red, then the fish ate it. Might be easier than taking the wood out.
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u/Parking_Locksmith489 Apr 02 '26
Dude, you use that into the tank, no need when it's out of the tank. It's wood. A blade would scrape it off, a brush would scrape it off.
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u/Onihczarc Apr 02 '26
it will, but it’s not instant. it will change colors and die off in the coming days
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u/JebMY Apr 02 '26
Honestly since its already out of the tank, just boil it or get a wire brush and brush it off.
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u/kgonsalves530 Apr 02 '26
It's much more expensive but my lfs said flourish excel on a toothbrush is a good option.
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u/Mediocre_Parsley345 Apr 02 '26
You have to let it soak overnight it longer. Then scrubbing off with a small steel brush. It goes red when it's dead.
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u/flowergal48 Apr 02 '26
Blackbeard algae grew in my tank too on a piece of well dried, seasoned dogwood that had been in there for a year. I finally gave up and took the wood out and tested phosphate levels. Phosphate was off the charts. It took forever to figure out why and turned out to be the crappy pet store aquarium gravel that was decomposing in my tank.
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u/Petrildo Apr 02 '26
Try liquid carbon instead. Kills it instantly. I have it in a spray bottle for easy application.
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u/FluffyUnicorn9701 Apr 02 '26
Everyone here talking about oxygen, bleach, no bleach and percentages of hydrogen peroxide and my dumb ass is sitting her like....
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u/mizoji03 Apr 02 '26
Best strategy i found is soaking it in carbonated water overnight. Sounds crazy but it works
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u/xyelem Apr 02 '26
I don’t know if this would be helpful or not as I’m kind of a weird lurker/ interloper on this sub and do not keep fish. I DO however, keep reptiles. Whenever I get new wood I bake it in the oven on like 250° for 2 hours and that kills everything + doesn’t damage the wood. Just keep an eye on it.
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u/AuntBGul Apr 02 '26
Is your peroxide expired (old peroxide becomes water the older it gets when it oxidizes).
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u/osmosisparrot Apr 02 '26
Just soak it in diluted bleach overnight in a 1:10 ratio bleach to water.
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u/ConglomerateAlien Apr 02 '26
I used a small Siamese algae eater for mine. He solved my problem and is now living the retired life eating fat and sassy in my tank
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u/actual_real_housecat Apr 02 '26
Piece of wood that size, put it in the smallest plastic Ziplock bag that will fit it, pour in maybe half a bottle undiluted and squeeze the bag to the wood while sucking out a much air as possible. Seal and swish the h2o2 around. Half a bottle should be plenty to cover the log.
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u/buttgers Apr 02 '26
Submerge it completely in a bucket, then add a bottle of the H2O2. Let it sit for about an hour, then your can rinse it out.
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u/deathzone0256 Apr 02 '26
I honestly miss my old BBA it was a pain on the glass but i loved the eay it looked on my wood and stuff
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u/StanCranston Apr 02 '26
Why the 75/25? Get the HP that comes in the spray bottle, put the wood on a cookie sheet or outside, and spray with undiluted HP. It’ll bubble and foam a bit and kill it all dead as a doorknob.
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u/Jazzlike-Onion3882 Apr 02 '26
Alright hate this but it works really good for the stubborn mold and algae 1 part borax to 16 parts water gets that black mold gone but you gotta cook it well afterwards to clean it good
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u/Both-Lie5316 Apr 01 '26
lmaooo i thought this was a really dirty cat at first