Hair Algae

[jackobean]

Hi,


I have annoying hair algae in my tropical fish tank and i have got rid of all the plants in my tank with the hair alage on it and still it comes back i have had it for about a month why is this happening and how do u get rid of it + how do u get rid of it!!!!

 

[teaker1s]

thin black lines? I know someone who found brealing up the period your light is on stops it growing in 12 hours have a couple of 2 hour off periods

 

[timmystood]

Could you maybe get an algae eating fish?
How much lighting does your tank get?
Where abouts in the room is it? (I.E. Next to a window?)
What fish do you have in the tank already?

 

[jackobean]

apparently there is no fish tht will eat hair algae it is black algae and it looks like short strands of hair,
the tank lights up for 10 hours a day continuous and it is not by a window and the only proper light getting to the tank is the light from the tank lights,
the fish in the tank are 3x clown loach, 3x pictus catfish, 1x angel fish, 2x gurami.
And over the past 8 weeks i have been losing a fish every 2 weeks is this just bad luck because there is no visable symptoms to y they are dying.

 

[timmystood]

Do you know the water stats...

Ammonia, NitrIte, NitrAte, pH etc.?

 

[teaker1s]

try the light idea

 

[timmystood]

It won't really work.. because plants and algae don't respond to light being off or on for less than 4 hours. Also, there's obviously something more serious than the lighting if fish are dying aswell.

But, try it and see what happens...

 

[jackobean]

unfortunatly not i have thought about getting a test kit but i have never got round to actually getting one but if i did get one would this be goodbye to the hair algae? thanks



jack.

 

[timmystood]

Depends on the problem... you really should be testing your tank water once a week to look for any early signs of a problem... try and get a test kit for Ammonia, Nitrate, Nitrite and pH ASAP - It will cost a bit but it's vital.

For now... do a 35% water change to help the fish... also is there any chance a chemical of some sort has got in the tank when you've been cleaning by it etc?

 

[Jules H-T]

Drop the lighting to 8 hours, and do 25% water changes every 2 days for a week, then weekly thereafter.

How big is your tank? If it's not 50G+ you're going to be fighting a constant losing battle against nitrite. if it's not that sort of sixe you need to be doing bi-weekly water changes and looking at restocking or upgrading.

 

[timmystood]

Drop the lighting to 8 hours, and do 25% water changes every 2 days for a week, then weekly thereafter.

How big is your tank? If it's not 50G+ you're going to be fighting a constant losing battle against nitrite. if it's not that sort of sixe you need to be doing bi-weekly water changes and looking at restocking or upgrading.

You shouldn't be fighting a battle against NitrIte in a 50G+ tank, if you are then it means your under-filtered or not fully cycled.

 

[Jules H-T]

If it's not 50G+ you're going to be fighting a constant losing battle against nitrite

You shouldn't be fighting a battle against NitrIte in a 50G+ tank

I said if it's NOT 50G+.....

 

[timmystood]

Even so... Both of my tanks are <50G and neither of them have a NitrIte problem.

 

[Jules H-T]

Even so... Both of my tanks are <50G and neither of them have a NitrIte problem.

My comments were made in the context of the stock of the particular tank. I should have been clearer obviously!

Looking back through Jackobean's posts, we could be talking a 30G tank. Also, to put the thread in perspective, Jackobean has recently moved to tropicals from cold.

Good to see another Cardiff lad on here Jack, that's where I'm from originally

Take about a quarter of the water out of the tank tonight. If you have dechlorinator then replace it with new water straight away. If you don't have dechlorinator let the new water sit in a bucket for a day before pouring it back into the tank (it won't matter if the tank isn't totally full so long as it's not inch deep). Do this every 3 days for 3 weeks and I bet you the algae clears up (and I advise you to move your lights to 8 hours on, 16 off).

 

[balon]

I had this hair algae problem once and shut off the lights for 2 days. Problem solved...

barry