Unusual Growth, Looks Like Green Hair Strands

michaelwgroves

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I have been away on holiday for a week. (Boys skiing holiday, the wife looked after the fish)

Anyway, when I got back I noticed a very large amount of green stuff in my tank, it about 18" long and about 4" diameter.
I looks like very fine green strands of hair. I think it looks cool!

However, my questions are, what is it, is it good or bad, how did it get there, is it an early sign of bad things to happen, is it an early indication of high levels of bacteria?

Thanks
Michael
 
umm are you sure its not a plant?! 18'' high 4'' diameter? you should try to get some pictures up. if you think its algea then i would remove it and do a 50% water change, id test the water too.
 
I think the 4" diameter is throwing people a bit. Sounds more like a green Octopus than algae.

Any chance of a picture?
 
Maybe its just a massive clump of hair algae thats blown together by a strong current in the tank, i got strands of hair algae in my 7 gallon that are several inches long from time to time so in a bigger tank i guess its possible for it to be bigger.
 
I've got that amount of hair algae in my 2 planted tanks :S.I am waiting to transferre them to my new 6ft tank which i am getting today.Sorry for hi-jacking the post but how do you get hair algae off the plants?i have heard 1 part bleach 15 parts water solution is good to dip the palnts in then the algae should die?That just soundsl like a load of bs to me but what do you guys think.only way i managed to get it off before is taking the leaves of the plants .
 
From what you guys say I think its hair algae, yeah I can see how the 4" is confusing. You were right about the strong current, it sits 12" away from my filter outlet. And yes it is lots of strands of hair.

I'll work on the pictures and post ASAP.

So any way, is this good or bad, all my water parameters are good, the fish keep having a go at it and the adventurous ones get stuck for a few seconds if they go too deep.
 
I had a lot of hair algae on my Egeria and bogwood when I first set up my tank. I tried removing it mechanically, but it was growing back incredibley fast and my Amanos couldn`t keep on it top of it.

All I did was get rid of the Egeria and bogwood, which removed at least 99% of the algae. There is only small amounts trying to grow on my Echinodorus Tennellus, but my Amanos are able to keep on top of it.
 
Just read another article which had a link to James Planted Tank. He suggests the cause of hair algae is Low CO2 and Low nutrient levels.

I guess the obvious answer to increase CO2 is a gas canister, but what does he mean about Low nutrient levels?
 
Just read another article which had a link to James Planted Tank. He suggests the cause of hair algae is Low CO2 and Low nutrient levels.

I guess the obvious answer to increase CO2 is a gas canister, but what does he mean about Low nutrient levels?


Low nutrients/fertiliser that the plants to need stay healthy and grow. If the plants arent growing then algae will.
This is the best fertiliser in my opinion. That website is also very good.
 

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