Hair Algae problem

[Hyrules]

I have this algae in my aquarium that is really growing on plant and wood. It is grey and looks like hair ( look at the attachments ) i've tried to remove it with my fingers but it's quite impossible to remove. I was wondering if somebody had any problem with them or had any idea how to remove it.

 

[Lonewolfblue]

How old is the tank? That algae is common in a new tank. Will go away as the tank matures. If the tank has been running for a long time, then it might be another problem.

 

[Guest]

Do you have any algea eating fish?

 

[Wizzard~Of~Ozz]

For some reason Black Bearded algae or Black Hair Algae come to mind.

How much light do you have on the tank, do you add Co2?

 

[tropicfishman]

you could try a black out by turning the lgiht out and covering the tank with a blanket since algea is like any other plant it will die without light, or you could possibly go the chemical route and buy some algea destroyer, A pleco might take af that kinda agea, I think I read on here that Phosphates cuase algea, you may wanna check your Phosphate levels and go from there, hope you get it resolved

 

[anythingscales]

It means your water is good but your lights arent enough. Blackbeard algae do well in low lighting and comete with plants and other bacteria for food. If you blacked out your tank with a blanket, your plants will die before the BBA. If anything, get stronger lights. Also, you got a small piece from your LFS or whereever you bought your plants and fish from.

I actually made the blackbeard grow on my driftwood, making it cover everything. It looked cool flowing like grass in the wind with my AC110 over it. All I had to do to make it grow like crazy is not change my bulbs for 2 years and lots of water changes.

 

[Hyrules]

My tank is about 1 year old. I dont have any algae eating fish unless you can call a clown loach algae esting fish. I give my tank about 6 - 7 hours of lighting per day ( if you dont count the normal daylight not near any window ) and i dont add any CO2 in my tank. I'd rather not go the chimical way unless it's life threatening.

 

[tropicfishman]

My bad I didn't realize you had live plants, Although I did recommend the chemical way I feel the same way you do I wouldn't want to that route either unless it was life threatening, you can still try a pleco though, ask on here some of the people who know alot about plecos and see if it will eat this type of algea, if it does I would put one in and let it go to town and see if it helps. If it did come from your LFS then call them and see if they will give some kinda credit, mine gave me a 10 dollar credit after I found a red ramshorn baby snail in my tank after two days of having 2 new fish, they even admitted that they had those snails in the tank they kept the fish in lol 10 dollar store credit for a 4 dollar fish is pretty good IMO

 

[crazycat]

how big is your tank? that's definitely black beard algae. plecos won't touch it. siamese algae eaters are the best algae eating fish, and will decimate that algae before you can say supercalifraliciousexpialidocious. however, saes, who like to be in groups of 3 or more, can grow to be 5-6" and they grow really fast. i've also heard that mollies and american flagfish will eat algae, although i don't have experience with it.

it is common in new tanks. i would check you water parameters, especially nitrate and phosphate levels--they should be in a 10:1 ratio. you should also begin fertilizing, check out the sticy in this forum. algae will thrive when your aparameters are out of whack, so best thing to do right now is work on getting your water chemistry balanced. that will definitely help with the problem.

hth

 

[Hyrules]

Well my LFS is rather cheap when they come to reimburse anything in any case. I went there cuz one of my clown loach died 2 days after i bought them and they asked me to bring a water test which i ded and the told me it was my water and to do a water change cuz my php and nitrate level was too high ( yeah right ) i tester my water myself to find out that yes my PH was too low but my nitrate level was ok. So i did a water changer but since i have a KH problem i wouldn't fix anything a long term... ( read my other thread ) So for snail i bought a Clown loach i too had and still have real plants and got snail in my tank. these little fishies love to eat snails.

 

[Hyrules]

15 Gallon tank. Like i`ve said in my other thread i have a PH / KH problem right now.

 

[Lonewolfblue]

How about Otos, they stay small and eat algae....

 

[Wizzard~Of~Ozz]

Oto's won't touch it either. Rosy barbs and most barbs will eat it. (SAE are barbs).. SAE are tops, Rosies are next IMO.

 

[Hyrules]

ok i`ll try to stabilise my tank first and the i will get a SAE.

thanks for the info.

 

[SerLunchbox]

just be sure that you get a true SAE.

The best way to tell them apart is that they have only 2 barbels at their mouth and they have clear fins.

 

[Wizzard~Of~Ozz]

I find the lateral line is the easiest way to tell.

1) it's zigzaged (follows scale line, not a straight line through the scaled)

2) it tapers off through the fork of the tail, (thick at base of tail, getting thinner towards the fork)

I have 2 with a yellow tint to their fins, but they are true SAE. They don't fit any other description.

 

[ace]

I have the same problem only about 10 percent of it is BBA and the rest looks the same except it's green. Anyone know what the green sdtuff is?

 

[Wizzard~Of~Ozz]

Regular hair algae.. I had them both, I upped my lighting the BBA and hair algae died off pretty quick (Also added DIY Co2). Adding Pressurized Co2 killed off the thread algae. (Perhaps Co2 is the key to this) Now I just get a bit of green spot algae (started adding some phosphate) and some regular old algae on the leaves of some low light plants..

 

[malkore]

SAE is WAY too big for a 15gal. it'll hit 5" in a year or less, IF you can even find true SAE's.

BBA typically forms in higher light tanks, where there are plenty of phosphates and not enough nitrates. Its not indicative of low light, or new tanks...but rather caused by a nutrient imbalance and enough light for algae to grow.

injecting CO2 will help, but you should know your nitrate and phosphate levels if you keep plants and your lighting is above 1wpg.

 

[Hyrules]

one thing for sure is that the plant i have right now is the last living one i'm gonne put in there. In the future i'm going plastic or silk all the way.