Yuck - Algae problem...

[yhbae]

Well, after keeping the level of algae in check for a while (doing manual clean up), I gave up...

I didn't clean for just over 2 weeks and the rear glass is basically a carpet of these hair algae. Also, it has spread on the drift wood which I don't want to take out each time to clean up the algae...

I've been shopping around for many LFS and here are my options:

- SAE: Geez, just when I thought I finally found it, they told me it's only for their show tank (which also contains Discus). They don't receive any in stock. I'm still looking.

- Otos: I have two already in 25g, they never touch these algaes. Worse still, they are running out of areas to suck on as the hair algae is dominating more and more over the tank. Believe it or not, I may have to remove them to another tank because of algae is kicking their b*tt!

- Bristlenose Pleco: I found a store that sells a pair for $10CA. Great! Do they eat the hair algae? (Please please someone say "yes"...)

- Amano Shrimps: I found LFS who sells one for $4CA each! So I'm not going to spend $40 on shrimps that I'm not sure if they will survive. I do have Blue Rams in the tank and not sure all I'm doing is feeding some live food for them... These shrimps were under 1 inch long at the store. I've read enough articles that confirm that these guys do eat hair algae if no other food are available in abundance.

I hope either Bristlenose Pleco or Amano Shrimp will do the trick. I started reading "Breeding Amano Shrimp" articles to see if I can replicate a few myself... (So far, it appears to be quite hard to breed and raise these critters...)

 

[aquamanis]

Hi, its must be going around at the moment because somebody else asked the same question. The only fish that eat hair algae is the florida flagfish. There is also a shrimp that eats it. They are both here:Florida Flag Fish

 

[Alien Anna]

Hi, its must be going around at the moment because somebody else asked the same question. The only fish that eat hair algae is the florida flagfish. There is also a shrimp that eats it. They are both here:Florida Flag Fish

SAEs also eat hair algae, although only if its fresh.

 

[yhbae]

Hi, its must be going around at the moment because somebody else asked the same question. The only fish that eat hair algae is the florida flagfish. There is also a shrimp that eats it. They are both here:Florida Flag Fish

I guess this shrimp is Amano shrimp and yes I read articles that they do eat them as long as other fish food aren't readily available. The only problem is that I am supposed to add about one per gallon! That means I need to add 25 of them, and at $4 each, that is $100... Fat chance...

 

[aquamanis]

SAEs also eat hair algae, although only if its fresh.

A most efficient weapon against HAIR ALGAE in your
aquarium. They just LOVE to eat this algae.
They will even devour hair algae forms that
Siamese Algae Eaters (SAEs) won't touch. (I was just quoting this from the site)

Ok, after a bit more reading (peoples experience with flag fish) it seems there are conflicting opinions on the use of this fish for algae removal. It appears the American Flag Fish (correct name) can be quite aggressive towards other tanks mates. They should not be kept with small community fish. The shrimps would be a better option as they do not bother fish or plants. Flag fish are known to strip some plants of their leaves. Whether or not your bluerams would eat the shrimps who knows. But if I wanted to try a remedy, $4 sounds cheap to me. I spend more having morning smoko. BTW, swordtails and rosey barbs are both noted to be good algae eaters but obviously no good for you with the rams.

 

[yhbae]

$4 would be cheap if having one shrimp makes any difference but according to the articles I read, I really need one per gallon! $100 worth of shrimps sounds not cheap...

 

[aquamanis]

I did a lot of reading on these little critters and I couldn,t find the one per gallon thing, that sounds like a lot of shrimp to me. Other articles I,ve read people have one or two and they seem to keep the algae at bay. Its just gonna take one or two a lot longer to do it but in the end a couple will probably be enough. I,de just try one at first though to see if he does eat the hair algae and to make sure as you said they aren,t live food for the rams.

 

[joshua]

just realized there was algae growing in my tank. i left my curtain open for 2 afternoons and now my water is yellowish... there's stuff all over my filter.. there are like white spots on one side.. what should i do?

 

[joshua]

dang.. just found out that the tank shud not receive sunlight.. shud i put the fish into another tank while i clean up or leave it in there and do something else?

 

[Eelzor]

Yes, I would take the fish out of there then giving the tank a bit of a clense by, getting rid of the algae at the sides, changing about 50% of the water, and repeat this. Its probably the best way to go.

 

[Moe]

I had a problem with black beard algae recently. I got 4 amano shrimp, 3 otto and one SAE to combat the algae problems in my tank and the problem disappeared. I also had 4 red glass barbs in the tank they totally attacked the algae, unfortunately when they had consumed all the algae they started eating my plants. But if your tank is not planted these ate tons of beard and hair algae. I have the shrimp in the tank with my rams and there is no problem. Why don't you start with just a few shrimp. They are great at cleaning up the tank and are fun to watch. My daughter has a male bristlenose in her 10G and I have to say I'm not impressed she has green and brown algae growing on the glass and the gravel, he will not touch it. All he does is hide all the time, we never see him. He only comes out in total darkness and god only knows what he is doing because there is tons of algae in the tank. Are there plants in your tank? and Are you using any fertilizers? I have read that fast growing plants will use all the nutrients and the algae will have nothing to feed on and die.

 

[yhbae]

May be I'll buy few as some of you have suggested and try it out... I manually cleaned the tank again, but it certainly isn't completely clean, and I bet they will come back again within a week or two...

What is a red glass barb? Is that rosy barbs? (They are supposed to eat hair algaes if they are hungry)

My tank is planted but I wanted this tank to be super low maintenance (so much for that with all this algae issue... ) so I kept the 20w light and only have java moss and java ferns. From what I hear, these are not the favorite meals for plant eating fishes.

Do you know which of the amano shrimps/ottos/SAEs ate the hair algae?

 

[Moe]

Red glass barbs are small yellow fish with red fins. Adult size 1.5 inch. They are really active and fun to watch. The SAE is the big algae eater. They get to be about 6 in. Mine is tiny my local LFS will take him back when he gets too big for my tank. My algae problem started because I added too much plant fertilizer if you are using any I would stop for a while. Someone also suggested turning off the lights for a few days. I did not try this. I put in more plants to use up the nutrients.