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recently i tried to go for a planted aquaria which wasnt as successful as i'd hoped for but the aftermath has been that my tanks algae has shot up.

i've got ur usual algae that is green and easy to remove i'm not fussed about that one as my algae eaters can take care of them

its the hairy algae - they're grey and grow a few millitmeters and are very stubborn to remove

is there a fish that cud take care ofthem? or is there an easier way to remove it from the tank permanently?

they're growing on all the fixtures in the tank too so...

Mani,

Hi there

What you describe sound to me like BBA, small hairs that are gray and grow in bushels, preferably on slow growing plants and hardware (filter intake, wood, rocks, and the like).

As far as treatment: You could try a tank blackout for somewhere between 3 and 6 days. You could also try what is called the Excel treatment, meaning to dose the tank with Flourish Excel for around 10 days.

No matter how you treat it though, it would be important to indentify the source of it as otherwise it will come back. Could you describe everything you know about your tank, lights, water parameters, fish, size, substrate, water change routine. The more info you can give the easier it would be to find the reason for the algae.

Hope this helps,

Ingo

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

hi lil fish

they're growing on the glass too

the substrate is gravel, its a rekord 96 - 3ft tank, lights are a plant-intensive one - but it odnt keep it on as much as i normally wud wiht the algae growth thing,

my stock
2 male guppys *fairly new*
4 neons
1 peppered cory
1 golden loach
1 clown loach
2 silver tip tetras
2 otto's

all of them are about 1-2cm apart from the golden loach which is 4cm adn the clown is aobut 3-4cm

i do think the reason was the plants i ordered from JAVA as i didnt have this prob b4 the plants went in.

i'll prob have to try the blackout,

To trouble shoot your problem you should list what type of lighting, intensity, any known measurements, and your dosing schedule.

If it is BBA blackout won't do much in all cases I am aware of. More CO2 is the way to beat it, but BBA does not die back without an algaecide, and pruning the affected leaves/moss may be necessary. (Excel can function as an algaecide.)

Is it "stubborn" in that it grows back or that it is difficult to remove manually without damagin the leaf? It is simply comes back, in may in fact be hair algae. IME it is caused by too low N, but one of my gurus gets it with too high N. More CO2 again will only help.

Good luck.

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http://justanothertank.com

right so i removed the plants it was affecting and the fixtures and for a few days did the whole no light thing. controlled the food and regualr water changes

went to the lfs and bought a new broad leaf plant

went well for a few days but then noticed it started growin back



as u can see on the leaves its growin and on the back glass u can see spots of it growin there

i've scraped the whole front glass off to try and improve it - wud that work?

A few more questions.
What are exactly your water peramiters? Take a good water sample to your LFS and get a full test done.
Water changes how often and what percentage?
Filtration type and also how often do you clean it?
Airation do you have any at all?

I had a bad dose of it in my Betta tank and I have managed to keep it under control using the Seachem "Flourish Excell" every day. You can double the recommended dosage for 10-14 days this gives the plants a good growth spurt. It worked for me it might also work for you.

Have a look in [link=My Profile] http://www.fishprofiles.com/forums/member.aspx?id=1935[/link] for my tank info

Look here for my
Betta 11Gal Desktop & Placidity 5ft Community Tank Photos

Keith

Near enough is not good enough, therefore good enough is not near enough, and only your best will do.
I VOTE DO YOU if not WHY NOT?
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Mani,

As I mentioned in my initial entry, finding the reasons why you have the algae is important as any attempt to wipe them out will fail, or succeed only temporarily, if the source is not corrected (trust me, I speak from experience).

As Keith mentioned above, giving us as many parameters as possible will help to identify the culprit (or the combination of culprits).

Excel works very well too, but some plants, like the Egeria family, don't like this stuff too much and will show signs of melting, in particular when the dosage is doubled.

Ingo

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

right folks i'll take the water sample 2morro to my lfs get it tested out and i'll post those on here

i do about a 10-20% water change once every week/10days

the filter is the sponge type - comes with the tank

that gets cleaned about once a month maybe more depending if i have the time - i usually do lil bits and bats cleanin when i come back from work at night.

i do have an airpump but at the moment its removed as i was told it wud negate the effect of the plants?

Mani,

Well, I cannot wait until they get you the results, it will be interesting. When did you do your last water change?

About the info you provided:

- "i do about a 10-20% water change once every week/10days" That would be most likely way too little. Try a schedule of 30 to 50% weekly.
- "filter ... gets cleaned about once a month maybe more" Please identify how you clean the filter. Also, most likely if the filter came with the tank (a kit, I guess) then it is underpowered and needs proper (meaning rinsing in old tank water) cleaning on a weekly basis.
- "as i was told it wud negate the effect of the plants" That would be true if you were to inject CO2, but otherwise not really. Nevertheless, most planted tank people don't really like the effect of air bubbles rising in a tank (ducks for cover from the ones that do like it )

Qustions: Do you do gravel vacuuming, if so - how?
I don't remember, what ferts do you add and how much and how often?

Hope this helps,

Ingo

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

I also agree with Little Fish on all points.
Are you using Co2??
If not it is certainly advisable to have a very good water movement using a air stone.
A 30% weekly water change would be far more benifical.

The filter bats would also benifit from a weekly cleaning using the change over water.

Even your feeding program (how much and how often) would help?
Substrate cleaning also how often?

All these little points combined together if not done corectly and a correct regularity can/will caue many problems.

Have a look in [link=My Profile] http://www.fishprofiles.com/forums/member.aspx?id=1935[/link] for my tank info

Look here for my
Betta 11Gal Desktop & Placidity 5ft Community Tank Photos

Keith

Near enough is not good enough, therefore good enough is not near enough, and only your best will do.
I VOTE DO YOU if not WHY NOT?
VOTE NOW VOTE NOW