hair/beard algae problem!

[SeymourFRESH]

well, it's steadily been getting worse and worse, but now my tank has fallen victem to some BAD hair algae. it's all over my plants and some of my rocks.

i can not pick it off my plants without destroying my plants. i know the siamese algae eater will eat hair algae, but i already have too many bottom feeders in my tank.

we plan on getting CO2 very soon! so here are my questions:

1) when we get CO2, will it help neutralize this problem?
2) is the algae bad for my fish?

 

[lovemybarbs]

The other day someone got some rosey barbs for this problem, but I haven't read any updates yet.

 

[sir_dudeguy]

i got something that was called um...somthing like chinese algae eater? it was just some type of sucker fish, but it was INCREDIBLE! I only had one and it was for a 40 gallon tank...i had told whoever was watching my tank while i was on vacation to turn the lights on in the morning and off at night so there was only 8 hours about of light per day...well, it turned out that they never turned the lights off, and i was gone for about 3 weeks...ya. the glas was covered in algae. I couldnt even see thru. I used a magnet scrub thing on the front, but i couldnt get it on the back cuz it was too close to the wall, so i got one of those fish, and in about 3 days it was all gone...and then the fish died. But the fish was from petsmart, so what can i say.

 

[SeymourFRESH]

wow. ONE fish ate all that algae? chinese algae eaters are aggressive i heard, and they grow very big. i would like to get some siamese algae eaters, but seriously...i have way too many bottom feeders in that tank already, and one more isn't gonna do me any good.

rosy barbs don't sound too bad, but i don't really know too much about them, i've just seen them before.

i guess what i mainly need to know is if the algae will go away when i get my CO2 system going

 

[Jchillin]

CO2 won't help at all. BBA is usually a sign of low nitrates. The problem is even when you get your nitrates back up to par, it will not get rid of the existing BBA at all.

FWIW, I have BBA almost totally covering my large driftwood. It has been there almost since the beginning of the tank. I'm just happy it never went anywhere else.

Getting rid of the existing can be a chore as several members have documented their attempts. Rosy barbs and SAE's seem to be the only fish that like the stuff. If you decide to go with barbs, you will need to see if they are compatible with your livestock. I've also heard that cherry shrimp also like the stuff but as you noted, you already have a healthy stock of bottom dwellers.

 

[newfound77951]

Some folks on this forum have noted that increasing the tank temp to the mid to high 80s seems to knock out several kinds of algae, including BBA. Might want to peruse the older threads and see what you can find. I've not battled BBA but I am using heat to get rid of GW at the moment and it seems to be working. I think there is a thread entitled "Algae and heat" somewhere...

 

[lovemybarbs]

I've never had that type of algae before, but the roseys will eat a lot of my zuc when I put it in there, so I know they like their greens.

 

[Lonewolfblue]

Some folks on this forum have noted that increasing the tank temp to the mid to high 80s seems to knock out several kinds of algae, including BBA. Might want to peruse the older threads and see what you can find. I've not battled BBA but I am using heat to get rid of GW at the moment and it seems to be working. I think there is a thread entitled "Algae and heat" somewhere...

It's an experiment that I'm working on. I have to treat for ick anyways, and have noticed a drastic drop in the different algae's I had. Including BBA. Just slowly disolving. You can check my link for Algae and Heat for updated info and some pics so far.

 

[Elmware2000]

Some folks on this forum have noted that increasing the tank temp to the mid to high 80s seems to knock out several kinds of algae, including BBA. Might want to peruse the older threads and see what you can find. I've not battled BBA but I am using heat to get rid of GW at the moment and it seems to be working. I think there is a thread entitled "Algae and heat" somewhere...

Might be worth a try but I'd be carefull and make sure the fish you have can tolerate the high temperatures fisrt. Some Tetras might not like it.

 

[sushiluver]

what about an algicide?

 

[F-18 TECH]

Using an alge reducer called Green X. This is the stuff for shure. You place it in your tank/filter for a specified period and BLAMO all the algae is gone. Hagen produces this product in Canada anyways and it runs from 4-7 dollars depending on the number of doses.

 

[SeymourFRESH]

ehh chemicals shouldn't be used in my opinion...more of a hastle than the problem itself

what do you guys think of leaving the lights off for a week or something? i'm thinking the fish should be able to handle that....i have a moon light fixture that we keep on in the evening, i'm thinking i can just keep that on all the time. i'm just not sure if that'll kill the algae or not, and i'm thinking my plants may not do to well with that...hmmm

i'd like to try the heat method, but Lonewolf Blue had some fish die with that...quite a pickle i'm in here