Black Hair Algae Question

[soulFish]

Ok broke down the entire tank trimmed 99% of the algae off the plants (removed 50% of my plants) took out half of the rocks covered in it. REmoved ALL of my driftwood. Did a 50% water change.

1. Ok now that I removed 95% of the algae, how do I keep it out?

2. I have 4 really nice pieces of wood that are now sitting outside in tap water in a ice chest. How do I kill this crap and get it off the wood? I tried scrubbing, doesnt really come off. I'l like to put the wood back in there some day! And prefer not to have to toss out $100 worth of driftwood.

3. I also have these tiny white worms crawling on the glass, too small to take a pict of them. What are they and how do I kill them?

I hate bare tanks! It hasn't looked this bad since I set it up!

 

[WyldFya]

You can either use excel if you have a good number of plants, or a bleach dip to get rid of BBA. To keep it out of your tank, you need to monitor your nitrogen and phosphorus levels.

 

[Danyal]

the tiny white worms are just planaria, no big deal, they grow because they've got lots fo debris to eat. the BBA can be pretty hard to get rid of, i got rid of mine by turning my lights out for a week and doing a couple water changes. i've heard that hydrogen peroxide will kill BBA.

 

[soulFish]

How would I do a bleach dip? Would any of the bleach get soaked up in the wood, then leach out once it was back in the tank and kill my fish?

Is Excel a product or a chemical in a medicine? Is this what your talking about?

 

[soulFish]

Ok read on their site, that it may get ride of BBA as a side effect of what it's primarily used for.

I also bought 2 UV sterilizors for my tank a 35 & 18. for my 210 & 90 Gallon. That should be strong enough to kill regular algae.

 

[alfagator]

Alas..I currently have the same problem. I got rid of it on the wood and ornaments by soaking in hot water and aquarium salt. I'm trying Excell, and some rosy barbs as I've been told by my lfs that they may actually eat this stuff.

 

[beblondie]

Uv sterilizers only kill floating algaes(greenwater)
check your source water iron excess iron can be a cause for black beard algae

 

[alfagator]

Alas..I currently have the same problem. I got rid of it on the wood and ornaments by soaking in hot water and aquarium salt. I'm trying Excell, and some rosy barbs as I've been told by my lfs that they may actually eat this stuff.

Update: The rosy barbs showed no interest in the black hair algae after more than 24 hours ; returned them to lfs and picked up some Siamensis Flying Foxes, they went straight to the black hair algae, hopefully with these lil guys and the excell, it will clear up. I'm told others got the same problem right around the same time, during the spring thaw, so perhaps a change in the water supply, eg: more iron, is indeed the culprit. I too have added a uv steilizer hoping to limit the spread of the algae. Will post the results.

 

[likestofish]

is bba bad or something because i got small tufts growing on my bogwood.

 

[alfagator]

the only bad part for me was it was growing on my plants, blocking the light to the leaves, otherwise its not much of a problem , its easily removed from the gravel/substrate, scraped from the sides of tank, etc. It also helps consume nitrate , I"d leave it if its not causing any other problems.