hair algae

[masterfishes]

anyone know how to get rid of it....its some what under coltrol as its only on the tops of two plants and most of one....mostly around the center of the the tank as that where the light is the strongest....i pull most of it out every other week or so but it always come back......would it be safe to put the plants in boiling how water(they r plastic) or would it melt the plants.....i dont want to use any chemicles or anything....i have ottos but they rn't eating it and i dont have room for more fish

 

[Sky042]

I was going to suggest a flying fox but seeing as you don't have room. you can either use a toothbrush to contiue removing it.

Or if you really want you can dip your plastic plants in a mild bleach solution. Just make sure you rinse well then dip into a solution of water with plenty of dechlorinator.

 

[masterfishes]

ok thanks for the tip...as far as the flying fox i dont even know if my lfs carries them anyway.....i think ill just manually remove it just to be on the safe side cuzz i really dont want to stress my por fish as i had a very bad case of ich a month ago

 

[Sky042]

If you're doing it by hand just go to the store and get the cheapest toothbrush you can. you just grab the hair algae in the bristles and start twirling. If you do it right it'll make a satisfying pop when you rip the base off the leaf.

 

[rdd1952]

The toothbrush thing works pretty well but won't solve the problem. I am having a bought with hair algae too. The toothbrush removes it but it comes back. You will have to find the source of the problem (which I haven't been able to do yet) to really get rid of it.