Black hairy algae

[VOZIE]

Seem to keep getting a problem with black hairy algae on my plants. It grows around the edges of the plants and don't seem to be eaten by any of my fish. I have a 300L fresh water community tank. All the fish are fine. Does anyone know a simple way of getting this problem under control.

 

[BBradbury]

Black Hair Algae

Seem to keep getting a problem with black hairy algae on my plants. It grows around the edges of the plants and don't seem to be eaten by any of my fish. I have a 300L fresh water community tank. All the fish are fine. Does anyone know a simple way of getting this problem under control.

Hello Voz...

Algae grows well if there are high levels of phosphate and nitrate in the water. The idea is to shrink it, not kill it. Shrinking it takes a long time, but I think that's the best way.

I have no visible algae in any of my planted tanks and here's why: I do large, weekly water changes to remove extra nutrients in the water, 50 percent of the tank volume isn't too much. I got some of the small, brown snails from the pet store. These little guys eat all kinds of algae and multiply quickly. I have a large number of snails in my tanks. If you feel like there are too many, then gets some Loaches to control them.

I keep floating stem plants that use any extra nutrients in the water. Water wisteria and Pennywort are very fast growers and get the bulk of their food from the nutrients in the water.

So, the key to algae control isn't to kill it quickly. The floating dead plant material just provides more food for the next algae bloom. You just need to remove the algae food source and it will shrink to the point it's no longer a problem.

B

 

[Biosfear]

i just added 2 siamese flying fox's to my 75 gallon. They look a lot like my chinese algae eaters but the LFS guy said they will eat mostly hair algae. After about 1 week with these 2 dudes in there and a shorter light cycle i'm starting to see a difference. They don't eat ALL of the algae but seem to trim it back and keep it under control.

Not sure whether to attribute to algae recession to the flying fox or light deprevation.

good luck.

 

[aqua_chem]

What you are describing is an algae known as Black Brush Algae, or Black Beard Algae. BBA is indicative of too much light and/or too low of CO2 levels. Spot treating with excel or another topical agent is the best way to eliminate what you already have, but it will quickly regrow if the root causes are not address.

Buying a fish such as SAE to address an algae problem is a very poor method to address the issue. While these fish often will eat the algae in question, they will often not do so in an appreciable quantity (or even not at all) and are certainly not a long term plan. Buying a fish and putting it into what is often a suboptimal stocking situation to fix your algae problem is irresponsible in my opinion.

Additionally, there are flying foxes, false siamese algae eaters, and siamese algae eaters. Only the later will reliably eat BBA past their juvenile stage.

 

[Biosfear]

What you are describing is an algae known as Black Brush Algae, or Black Beard Algae. BBA is indicative of too much light and/or too low of CO2 levels. Spot treating with excel or another topical agent is the best way to eliminate what you already have, but it will quickly regrow if the root causes are not address.

Buying a fish such as SAE to address an algae problem is a very poor method to address the issue. While these fish often will eat the algae in question, they will often not do so in an appreciable quantity (or even not at all) and are certainly not a long term plan. Buying a fish and putting it into what is often a suboptimal stocking situation to fix your algae problem is irresponsible in my opinion.

Additionally, there are flying foxes, false siamese algae eaters, and siamese algae eaters. Only the later will reliably eat BBA past their juvenile stage.

yes, putting a fish in will not be the magic answer but why not treat the algae problem from multiple angles? Light, excel, AND fish to compliment the process. It makes perfect sense to add fish to an environment to help even it out... though that is not always the best route.

so in summary.... you're right but you're wrong. theres more than one way to skin a cat

 

[Rutrag]

In my experience beard algae comes from high phosphates and sometimes high nitrates. A phosphate absorbing media (like Phoszorb) will help it to recede and cutting back on the photoperiod to no more than 12 hours a day with live plants and no longer than 8 hours a day without live plants will help. The only things I've seen eat it are snails, and then they eat the plant it's growing on to boot. Water changes with low nitrate / phosphate water will help as well.

 

[aqua_chem]

yes, putting a fish in will not be the magic answer but why not treat the algae problem from multiple angles? Light, excel, AND fish to compliment the process. It makes perfect sense to add fish to an environment to help even it out... though that is not always the best route.

On this point you are absolutely correct. The problem is that all too often I find that people think that they can get XXXX algae eater and it will somehow be a magic bullet. IMO algae eaters are best at maintaining the natural and healthy accumulation of algae the occurs in any planted tank (especially high light, high nutrient environments.


So, in essence, I would incorporate both of our philosophies as such:
Excel to take care of what you already have, CO2/reduced light to fix the problem, algae eaters for further maintenance. On this I think we can agree.