Black?? Algae

[Ursi]

Lately I've had short black algae growing over all my plants, what can I do to stop this happening? It wipes off, kind of, but on a lot of the plants I will end up breaking leaves off if I try to get it off. Does anyone know what it is, and how I can prevent it?











It's round the edges mainly, thanks

 

[bkiggy]

It is black hair algae. It will go away on its own. Usually BC of phosphates

 

[Ursi]

How long does it take to go? And is there anything I can do to prevent it in future or speed up it going away?

 

[bkiggy]

Not really. Takes a couple weeks. PWC, phosphate remover, snail, my Pleco helped, but it will go away. It is almost impossible to "rub off" looks like fake plants. You can take it out and boil it then put it back in. I had it all over my driftwood!!! Oh add a little salt to the water. It helped in my tank.

 

[thomasina]

I got a Chineses Algae eater and it took care of it in just a few days! You need to be careful of them tho, they can get up to 6 inches. I was lucky that my daughter took them in her 55 gal.

 

[Ursi]

No the photos I put up aren't fake plants, they're real, I've tried rubbing it off, but it's not coming off or bits I do get off are small.. A Chinese algae eater isn't an option as I used to have one, he got to 4 inches and started getting aggressive so had to regime him. I have two bristle nose plecos, they don't really eat it, I did a 50% water change yesterday, will go and see what I can find to remove phosphate, I'll just have to wait it out, thanks

 

[Ursi]

That should say re home **

 

[bkiggy]

Oh yes! Chinese algae eaters get belligerent toward tank makes! The black will go away in time. All apart of different bacteria taking hold and different minerals in water