Hair Algae

[dazsmith69]

Ive noticed some long black hair algae on some of my plants and its very unsightly, this kind of algae destroyed my old tank, all the bogwood and plants as i couldnt get rid of it


is there any way of getting rid of it this time before it gets too bad? this is the wrst thing that could happen as im trying to in intergrate more plants into my setup and theyre just going to get covered in this horrible algae

thanks Darren

 

[piranha_tim]

What are you feeding your fish and at one frequency?

There are UV based water cleaners which might help with this.

 

[maximinimus]

Black Brush (or Red Algae) is caused by elevated phosphate levels, normally through overfeeding or not doing regular water changes.

IMO a UV steriliser wont work for this kind of algae but siamese algae eaters or amano shrimp would deal with it.

 

[Mikaila31]

A True Siamese algae eater. Saved my tank from algae.

 

[dazsmith69]

Thanks for the replies

im feeding once, sometimes twice a day flakes catfish pellets and frozen bloodworm

20% water changes once every two weeks, Rena xp3 filter in a 55 gallon Rena tank

do armano shrimp eat hair algae? i had a batch of these two month ago but sadly died when i was away on holiday

water stats are fine 0 ammonia, under 5 nitrate, 0 nitrite

i have been adding plant food in to help the growth of my plants, could this be causing it?

may have to get some more shrimp

 

[maximinimus]

Unless you have enough light and CO2 for your plants to make use of the extra fertilisers, you will get algae

 

[Dave Spencer]

Do you have any pics? It is hard to make an assessment without knowing the type of algae.

Dave.

 

[PlatinumAngel]

I had the same problem. I bought two flying foxes (the siamese alge eaters) and they cleared it up in one day. It's long and stringy black stuff? was on my slow growing plants.

 

[dazsmith69]

I had the same problem. I bought two flying foxes (the siamese alge eaters) and they cleared it up in one day. It's long and stringy black stuff? was on my slow growing plants.

yep its the long stringy black stuff! ill have to get a couple to sort it out thanks for your help guys

 

[jennybugs]

You might want to cut down the feeding a bit Daz. I had that problem in onw of my tanks and cut down the feeding and the lighting for a while and it resolved it.

I also got some moss balls which compete for nutrients that the algea lives on. Got them in all my tanks now and hardly any algae problems apart fromt eh normal healthy algae which my amanos eat super fast.

They may not be a complete answer but they work for me

 

[dazsmith69]

thanks, im not going to turn the light on for a few days and see what happens, just ordered some excel flourish aswell so hopefully they might work! there arnt too many aquatic places that sell true SAE's just flying foxes etc so fingers crossed this will work, going to get some more amano shrimp aswell and try and raise the pH of my tank more using crushed corel

few of the smails i have in there (came on plants) have eroded shells which tells me that the water is too soft and the pH is lower than it should be. water change tnyt me thinks

 

[dazsmith69]

bought some flourish excel from aqua essentials, highly recommended, hair algae is dying off and turning red, great news!

 

[jourdy288]

Turning red? It may not be dying of, it may simply be absorbing the iron.

 

[dazsmith69]

its reducing in size and clearing from my plants aswell as gng red

 

[Sunny_Bee]

This is interesting, I'm battling hair algae as well. Hopefully flourish gives me the same results