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To my extreme frustration my algae is back. Its this white stringy stuff that I thought was gone. I had added anacharis and the stuff disappeared, now its back!!!
This stuff is driving me nuts!!!
I dont want to black out my tank again!!!

Does anyone know what this is and how I can get rid of it for good?

"A noble spirit embiggens the smallest man" Simpsons

Hi,
This is a link to a site that describes the various forms
of algae:
http://www.otocinclus.com/articles/algae.html

This is a more scientific dissertation on the subject:
http://www.cam.org/~tomlins/algae.html

Essentially, algae will fill a niche. If you have too much
of a nutrient, or too little, algae will take advantage of
the situation and thrive. You will need to figure out what
the cause is, and attack it from that angle. Generally,
one of the first things to look at is good tank
maintenance. Cleaning the tank, including the gravel,
not over stocking, not over feeding, using a quality food,
and regular water changes of at least 10-20% weekly are
usually the answer to routine algae outbreaks. Others can
be caused by your own water supply that might be high in
some nutrient(s).

If you want specific help, most of us will want to know
a lot about the tank. Its size, plants (what kind and
how many),lighting (type, wattage K temp), stocking,
foods, maintenance routine, and of course the
standard pH,KH,GH, Nitrate, etc. readings.

As an after thought, I don't think I've seen a
white algae nor have I heard of any.

Frank


-->>> The Confidence of Amateurs, is the Envy of Professionals <<<--

bcwcat22, I had this exact problem about the same time I had an outbreak of ich. After I had treated (aquarisol)the tank for ich, the white stuff never come back. At least not yet. I have no idea, but I'm inclined to think that it was somehow related to the ich. I wish i knew for sure.

"I am a believer in punctuality, though it makes me very lonely" EV Lucas

bcwcat,

A picture would help A LOT if possible. It sounds like staghorn algae off the top of my head, but without more info it's impossible to tell.

A better description of the algae (length, texture, where it's growing) in addition to the parameters Frank laid out would be most helpful:

If you want specific help, most of us will want to knowa lot about the tank. Its size, plants (what kind and
how many),lighting (type, wattage K temp), stocking,
foods, maintenance routine, and of course the standard pH,KH,GH, Nitrate, etc. readings.

---

Back in the saddle!

Heres my stock
10 Gallon
Black Sand
2.6 WPG Compact fluorescent bulbs (2)Daylight
Average Temp. 76F 24.4C
PLANTS
1 Amazon Sword/Echinodorus cordifolius (i think)
1 Saggatarius/Sagittaria subulata
2 Valsneria Americana not sure what type exactly
1 (bundle) Anacharis/ Egeria Densa
1 Bannana Plant/Nymphoides aquatica
Flourish Tabs added for amazon sword
FISH
1 Female Bolivian Ram/Mikrogeophagus altispinosus
3 Panda Cory's/Corydoras panda
5 Bloodfin Tetra's/Aphyocharax anisitsi
INVERTS
2 Amano shrimp
FEEDING
1x daily of
Brine shrimp (frozen)
Nutra Fin Max Flake
1/6 Omega One algae wafer
1x week 1/2 Hakiri Tropical Cory Wafer
Water change every week
De-Clorinator: Aqua Plus
Filter: Cascade 80 HOB
Heater:50 Watt 110-120 Volt
1 airstone

Its a white stringy thing growing near the top of my anacharis. It is also on the leafs of the anacharis.
I was told in my first attemt to get rid of it that it was FW hydra by ACIDRAIN but no one knew how to remove it.

I cant get parameters because my test kit is bad, I want to get a new one but it may be a few days.

"A noble spirit embiggens the smallest man" Simpsons

Flourish Tabs added for amazon sword

Is that all the nutrient fertilization you use? Any Carbon addition (like Flourish Excel)? What do you do with the tabs, and how often?

Ingo

---

Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

Substrate tabs are good for sword plants, but you need some liquid ferts added to the water column, since this is how most plants, even rooted plants, get most of their nutrients. Flurish Excel works as a carbon supplement, and will help plants utilize the light they're getting better, which will help them want to utilize more nutrients from the water, thus starving out the algae. I had this problem in my tank until I started a good, consistent fert regimen. I use Flourish Excel, regular Flourish, and then a cocktail of other Flourish products: Nitrogen, Phosphorus, Potassium, and Iron. I use the Excel and regular Flourish three times per week, and the cocktail twice a week. My plants are doing quite well, and there's no algae at all, and I even got rid of some fuzzy blue-green algae that was on the plants before I started the ferts. Seriously, give it a try and I think you'll be surprized how easy it is to add to your aquarium maitenance habits, and how good the results are.

Hoping that there must be a word for everything I mean...

The problem is that flourish excell is not available at my lfs or any lfs in my area for some reason.

"A noble spirit embiggens the smallest man" Simpsons

bcwcat22,

If not locally, why not get it online, for example from Big Al's.

But Excel is only the carbon (instead of CO2) for the plants and not a fertilizer. So - do you use any fertilizer for the water column?

Ingo

---

Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club