Black hairy algae

I can't bleach them! two upsidedown catfish call it home

 

I rinsed and vinegared eveything but this stuff is still growing out of my white river sand super fast. I'm thinking about trying this amano shrimp then medicine.

 

Last sunday after tank Vaccuming.

 

My 30 gal planted tank is starting to get a hair algae problem, and its on the plants, so I'm not sure how to get if off without harming the plants. I tried getting two otos, but my bichir ate them.........(I promise I thought they were big enough and he was small enough, but I guess I underestimated Beast.......). Most natural consumer of algae get eaten (I.e. shrimp usually, although they do last a little while when I put them in in numbers). Is there another way to get rid of it without harming the plants? Or should I just keep adding in shrimp? (the leaf fish usually are the ones that destroy those)

 

I always use toothbrush to twist on it and remove as much as I can. After that, dosing excel or algae fix will help control this algea. And make sure your filter's flow is not decreasing

 

Good evening,


I have moved your thread from General Discussion to Aquarium Water/Algae section of the forum.

Using Excel:





I would not recommend using chemicals specifically designed to Kill or Destroy/Remove Alage. They could possibly destroy more than just the algae in the aquarium. Keep in mind that we are trying to mimic a natural environment and the fewer chemicals and medications/treatments we use, the better off our fish and tanks are going to be.

Chances are good that the underlying cause is a lighting issue.

Thanks!

Ken

 

Thread moved to Algae forum

Hi,
BBA is often a result of unstable CO2 levels. Stable CO2 levels, and good circulation tend to help limit the growth of BBA.

You can spot treat with Seachem Excel to quickly eradicate BBA, and many also have success double dosing Excel. There's a number of threads here on Fishlore about treating BBA.

 

I have a heavily planted tank. Unfortunately Black hair algae is becoming very unsightly. Any ideas on how to get rid of it? I have 4 amanos, loads of CRS (breeding like crazy), and 4 ottos for my cleaning crew. None of them seem to care for the black algae. Any ideas????

 

Here's some info:
https://www.fishlore.com/aquariumfishforum/threads/algae-problems-and-how-to-deal-with-them.188662/

 

Thanks!! Great info. I need to do a bit of research on my tank I think.

 

How many gallons is your tank? I can offer a suggestion of a fish that nibbles on this stuff but it gets about 4 inches and requires a larger tank as it grows.

The way I keep this stuff in check is regular dosing of flourish excel. Also, CO2 injection. The combination of both would be a double wammy to push this stuff back and never see it again.

 

Thanks, I have a 30 gallon bio cube. Would those fixes be alright with fish and inverts?

 

I read up on flourish and it seems pretty good. I only saw 1 write up that mentioned problems with fish. Over 300 had good results and specifically mentioned hair algae. What is the fish you were going to mention?

 

A Siamese Algae Eater probably, but your tank isn't large enough for them.

 

After reading some of the information on the links you sent, I think what I'm going to try first is adjusting my lighting. I'll have a little bit more dark time and see if that influences the carbon dioxide levels. If that doesn't work I'll try a CO2 injector. My only question now is about the lighting. Will blue lights affect anything?

 

So I'm pretty sure what I have is black hair algae, tho it has pretty long strands. I thought they usually stayed short but then again ive never dealt with this. I got 2 plants almost a month ago, guessing that's where it came from...anyway any help would b appreciated. Ill try removing some with a water change, maybe h202 soak? Thanks

 

That's Staghorn algae, actually ...

 

Sometimes you can just cut the affected plant and replant anything u can salvage from the plant

 

That's Staghorn algae, actually ...

How can u tell the difference?

 

Sometimes you can just cut the affected plant and replant anything u can salvage from the plant

Yes I was planning too, its hornwort, can't aee it on anythin else so may just get rid of parts of it cuz its growning a lot anyway

 

I think that looks more along the lines of staghorn more so than BBA... but either way sometimes manual removal is the best fix.. then move on to what caused it in the first place. High lights on too long or unless it was attached when you got the plant. You can take the affected area and cut it and try the hydrogen dip to see how it does with it incase it shows up again. Look at it as a test run and learning curve on a small piece that your gonna throw out anyways

 

I agree with the above, cut off the affected plant matter. I wouldn't attempt an H2O2 soak; I've heard hornwort will completely melt after being put in it, unfortunately.

 

I agree with the above, cut off the affected plant matter. I wouldn't attempt an H2O2 soak; I've heard hornwort will completely melt after being put in it, unfortunately.

I was only suggesting the h2o2 as an experiment. but if your sure it'll melt then don't bother just cut the affected plants .

 

I was only suggesting the h2o2 as an experiment. but if your sure it'll melt then don't bother just cut the affected plants .

Oh, I see what you meant; absolutely, I would see the purpose of soaking only the affected piece of plant after cutting it off. I was just hoping to discourage soaking the entire bundle of hornwort.

 

Oh, I see what you meant; absolutely, I would see the purpose of soaking only the affected piece of plant after cutting it off. I was just hoping to discourage soaking the entire bundle of hornwort.

Yes I would never make a suggestion like that. I tried it on water wisteria a while back and I think I may have overdosed it cuz it all turned to mush.

 

Maybe a bleach dip instead...?

 

Staghorn’s a bit easier to deal with than BBA, but still a pain nonetheless...

 

Had to throw a lot of hornwort away, now my 75gal looks empty. I think there's some I missed. I appreciate everyones help

 

I tackled the Greenspan algae but now here comes Black hair algae I noticed that my phosphates were high at 2ppm now I brought it back down. I have a 20 gallon tank with 10 juvenile phoenix rasbora, 10 ember tetras, 5 amano shrimps, 2 zebra nerite snails and around maybe 70 cherry shrimps. Co2 turns on an hour before the lights turn on and shuts off an hour before lights turn off. Hang back filter well planted tank. Feed fish and shrimps once a day. Will bringing down phosphates alone solve this issue or could it be large water changes since tap water does have a little bit of ammonia. I've also used hydrogen peroxide to spot treat didn't work I also heard that you can dose 1ml of hydrogen peroxide per gallon has anyone done this before?

 

What plants do you have? Ideally they should be fast growers to out compete bba

 

I've used flourish excel to spot treat with a syringe. That worked very well, yet I have not been able to defeat BBA completely.

 

If you have access to youtube check out GirlTalksFish... I just recommended her to another thread but I just found her and she has a really great video on treating bba. Saved my tank!

 

What plants do you have? Ideally they should be fast growers to out compete bba

Rotala Vietnam, Yellow flame bacopa, HYGROPHILA LANCEA 'ARAGUAIA', Red and green ludwigia, Alternanthera reineckii, staurogyne repens, 3 Java ferns and 1 Anubis nana.

If you have access to youtube check out GirlTalksFish... I just recommended her to another thread but I just found her and she has a really great video on treating bba. Saved my tank!

I just saw the video towards the end where she spot treated green hair algae or greenspot and she recommended to get a maybe a Siamese algae eater. I think I might try the the Siamese algae eater What worked for you, the dosing?

I've used flourish excel to spot treat with a syringe. That worked very well, yet I have not been able to defeat BBA completely.