Hair algae?? Help?

[xDestro]

This is my very first "planted tank".
20 long
Corner matten filter with media behind it
20lb of eco complete
Finnex 24/7 planted+ light

I just changed it so the light is on for 10 hours instead of 12 to see of that helps.


Known plants,
Water wysteria
Java fern
Anubius
Possible small sword

Stock
leopard bush fish (grow out)
Reticulated hillstream loach


Basically I have no idea what I'm doing and I just wanted a moderatly planted tank.

At first I thought it was caused by moss balls from where my lfs had them a while ago and the owner told me he hated them because they wont go away. But talking to another lfs they think it'd hair algae.

So how do I treat it? I removed a whole lot yesterday but it grows incredibly fast
And looks bad. Maybe get a few otocincles? A guy at the lfs said maybe my water has leftover nutrients so would adding more plants help?


I tried to upload a pic but mobile on android is buggy and it made a new thread...

 

[xDestro]

Ik the pic is bad because of ****ty phone but I hope you can get an idea
---

 

[xDestro]

I do have quite a few snails in there as I plan to add a puffer but they don't seem to do anything

 

[xDestro]

Ik the pic is bad because of ****ty phone but I hope you can get an idea
---
View attachment 1254118

Pic is upside down idk why...

 

[tarheel96]

It's difficult to ID the algae by the picture but can you answer these questions?

Do you know if your water is soft, moderate or hard? If not, measure your pH from your tank at least 24 hours after the last water change or top-off. (pH strait from the tap is meaningless.)

What's the circulation like in your tank? Is there enough circulation so that all the plants sway a little?

What's the ammonia level of the tank? Nitrite? Nitrate? Has it been up long enough to fully cycle (usually 6-8 weeks). You need a liquid test kit for these tests.

Do you add any fertilizer to the tank? Liquid Carbon? What kind?

Otocinclus won't eat this but Amano shrimp, Rosy barbs and/or mollies might.

It sounds like the moss balls were infested with this algae so I'd toss them.

 

[MrsE88]

Hydrogen peroxide will kill it. I always just dosed the tank, but I've heard you can use a dropper to target it. Remove as much as you can before treating. It's hair algae from what I can see.

 

[xDestro]

Soft
Moderate kh
7.2 ph
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 20ppm

Tank has been running for maybe a month I used cycled media from another tank.

Circulation seems pretty good plants sway a good amount.

Don't add any thing to the tank... should i?

I don't have moss balls buy lfs use to so I assume the plants were already infested when I bought them

 

[xDestro]

Hydrogen peroxide will kill it. I always just dosed the tank, but I've heard you can use a dropper to target it. Remove as much as you can before treating. It's hair algae from what I can see.

Will my stock be okay? And how do you go about knowing how much to treat? I can remove all decor and plants the treat if need be but it's also on the substrate, walls and on the filter sponge

 

[MrsE88]

I could only find the pond dose amounts. One pint per 100 gl.
I think in my 10gl I had added 4 cap fulls? I just kinda experimented to see how much it took to kill it before my plants took a hit.
Just keep and eye on your plants, but they should be fine. Fish will be fine, but make sure the water is well aerated.

 

[tarheel96]

Good job using media from an established filter! Good circulation inside the tank ... excellent.

Maybe you can add something like Seachem Excel (glutaraldehyde) .. a CO2 supplument. Your substrate is rich in micro nutrients so don't add Seachem Flourish Comprehensive only which a lot of ppl do. It's almost entirely a micro nutrient supplement and has no macro nutrients in amounts that matter. Aside from Excel, you could add Seachem Flourish Potassium and 1/4 dose of Seachem Flourish Comprehensive.

I agree ... spot treatment with 3% hydrogen peroxide will knock the hair algae back. It won't kill the spores but under the right conditions it won't grow anyway. Make sure you leave the filter running and have some surface agitation when treating with H202. You can use a pipette or syringe to add the H2O2 directly onto the hair algae. I'll have to check the max dose unless someone else knows from memory. This is the 3% hydrogen peroxide found in pharmacies and some supermarkets. I'll post the dosage later but it'll probably be tomorrow.