Hair/thread Algae Attack!

[jtnova13]

this tank has been mature for over a year now. anyway, a few days ago i had an outbreak of hair and thread algae all over my plants. i currently have 4 18w tubes on a 60 gallon tank so its just over 1 W/gal. i have 1 DIY co2 diffuser running about 10 ppm of co2 in the tank. What would be the best way to get rid of the algae?

i do 25% water changes every week.
I have an aquaclear 110 filter.
tank stats are:
nitrate 15, nitrite 0, pH 6.8, ammonia 0, kH and gH i dunno hard haha.

currently stocked with:
10 neon tetra, 5 dwarf gourami, 1 rainbow shark, a pair of bolivian rams, 6 albino SAE.

plants include:
anacharis, red ludwigia, amazon sword, 3 other plants i dont know what they are called, driftwood etc.

i have another nutrafin bubble ladder i could hook up 2 co2 systems?

or

could i put in an algaecide? if i do this will it prevent 100% algae? i dont want it to cuz i ned to feed my SAE.

i do have very hard water where i live, i read that thread algae is from an excess of iron? how do i get rid of iron?

 

[nry]

Getting rid of it is different than curing the cause. However, nerite snails keep my tank spotless, and they don't breed in freshwater or eat live plants which is good too. I had hair algae on many plants but I can't say there is any to notice now!

 

[jtnova13]

ALSO!!! 2 dwarf gourami's just died recently. i noticed them swimming very erratically, then woke up in the morning and they were dead. i dont think its cuz of the algae but i dont know. they were about 4 months old.

 

[TammyLiz]

I would also be interested to know the best way to get rid of thread algae. Is there anything that eats it, for instance? I just threw away about a cup of it I pulled out of a 10 gallon low-light, non-co2 tank. It only took about two weeks to build up that thick, and I pulled it out by the handful. Water params are similar to your tank, jtnova13.

I doubt your gouramis died because of the algae. It could have been from a water quality issue that may or may not have also caused the algae, but I'm pretty sure algae doesn't kill gouramis.

 

[SNAIL]

Sounds like your water is out of balance.
Remove the activated carbon from your filter if you haven't done that yet.
Just use sponge or floss pads to remove large particles. You must clean your filter every two weeks.
Whatever you do, don't use chemicals to treat algae...its a last resort.
Increase your water change to twice a week at 20% each time.
Decrease the light time to 8 hours a day for a week then increase it to 10.
Get a cleaning crew in (snail, oto, shrimp).
Remove the algae by hand as you have been doing. Remove plants that are heavily covered.
Cut the leaves if the leaves are the only infected area of the plants. Any other objects such as bog wood
should be removed and the algae scraped off. Heaters and filters should be cleaned and scrubbed down.
Remove the top layer of your substrate that are also infected.
Controll your feeding. Reduce feeding to once a day for a week. The fish will be fine.
You can increase feeding after a week but make sure you don't over feed.
Do a gravel vacuum once a week for two weeks than make it a part of your schedule with an interval of
every 3 months. And of course, scrubb the tanks glass. Cause of this out break though your tank has been up and running for a year could be a number of things.
The best thing you can do is follow a strict schedule. If you have a UV sterilizer, hook it up.
Have had my tank for a little over 4 years and heavily planted.
I allow a little algae to grow as a source of food for the cleaning crew.
Good luck.

 

[jtnova13]

thanks, i have been changing 25%, will cut down to 8 hours of light a day, get some nerite snails if i can find them haha, pulled off about 6 oz of solid thread algae!

 

[TammyLiz]

Sounds like your water is out of balance.
Remove the activated carbon from your filter if you haven't done that yet.
Just use sponge or floss pads to remove large particles. You must clean your filter every two weeks.
Whatever you do, don't use chemicals to treat algae...its a last resort.
Increase your water change to twice a week at 20% each time.
Decrease the light time to 8 hours a day for a week then increase it to 10.
Get a cleaning crew in (snail, oto, shrimp).
Remove the algae by hand as you have been doing. Remove plants that are heavily covered.
Cut the leaves if the leaves are the only infected area of the plants. Any other objects such as bog wood
should be removed and the algae scraped off. Heaters and filters should be cleaned and scrubbed down.
Remove the top layer of your substrate that are also infected.
Controll your feeding. Reduce feeding to once a day for a week. The fish will be fine.
You can increase feeding after a week but make sure you don't over feed.
Do a gravel vacuum once a week for two weeks than make it a part of your schedule with an interval of
every 3 months. And of course, scrubb the tanks glass. Cause of this out break though your tank has been up and running for a year could be a number of things.
The best thing you can do is follow a strict schedule. If you have a UV sterilizer, hook it up.
Have had my tank for a little over 4 years and heavily planted.
I allow a little algae to grow as a source of food for the cleaning crew.
Good luck.

Ugh, the problem with this is that I already do all that stuff except the cleaning crew, but I don't think shrimp eat thread algae, do they? There are MTS and pond snails and I've seen them walking along the strands but they don't eat it. The only other thing missing from that list in my tank is the UV sterilizer. There must be something else that is causing it besides just cleaning issues.

 

[jordan.m]

jtnova13,

You can also refer to http/yourfishguide.com/Top_10_Algae_Busting_Tips as well - there is a lot of good information on there!

jordan

 

[SNAIL]

Ugh, the problem with this is that I already do all that stuff except the cleaning crew, but I don't think shrimp eat thread algae, do they? There are MTS and pond snails and I've seen them walking along the strands but they don't eat it. The only other thing missing from that list in my tank is the UV sterilizer. There must be something else that is causing it besides just cleaning issues.

Yes, Shrimp do eat algae. Amano (I highly recommend this shrimp) in particular is one of the best algae eaters. Most algae eaters don't eat mature algae. They usually eat algae in its early stage of life. The strands are something you need to clean by hand. Remove as much as you can.
Do a bleach treatment on your equipment (heater, thermometer). Here is a link I think you'll find helpful.
They do mention some fish that can do the job. Just do some reaserch on the fish before you purchase them.

http/www.thekrib.com/Plants/Algae/hair-algae.html

It takes time to get hair algae under control. It took me about 2 months, alot of elbow grease and a lot of patience. I removed as many as I could by hand everyday and with the help of a cleaning crew, we won. Note though that feeding must be controlled. I also employed the 3 day blackout to help me during that time. UV sterilizers are expensive. If you can get one, even better. Add fast growing plants to your tank (ie: Ludwigia Repens).
The more the plants, the better >>>>(maybe not enough plants?..could be your problem?).
Don't disturb your substrate. When vacuuming, clean only the surface. The bacteria colony is in the substrate and you need them.

here is a link to the pinned article in respect to algae.

http/www.fishforums.net/lofiversion/index.php/t106371.html

I'm no expert but have years of experience on freshwater and reef tanks.
I hope this will help you.