Hair algea

[Jmatz]

I have a problem in my 130G with hair algea, it is green short wavy hair when it is alive, but when it dies it turns a blackish color. It grows on all my plants live and fake, on all my decorations and on the acrylic but only over regular algea. It is extremely hard to remove, even when using your fingernail to scrape it off. I heard I would have to bleach all my gravel tank and decorations to truly remove it... In the mean time I would have 20 odd larger fish laying around, so that won't happen. Has anyone found a species which will feed on this algea? This stuff also snuffed out all of my plants in my tank by completely covering them so that that could not receive any sunlight. I hate this stuff, can anyone help?

 

[chesterthehero]

hydrogen peroxide works great with live plants.. just give them a dip in a bowl or "paint" it on with a brush/papertowel.. it takes about a day then it starts to turn bright pink and then another day or so it brushed right off (or if you have snails they eat the heck out of it once it starts to die)

for fake plants/rocks/driftwood.. just pull it out of the tank and let it dry out for a day.. then soak it and it comes right off..

 

[jcardona1]

hydrogen peroxide works great with live plants.. just give them a dip in a bowl or "paint" it on with a brush/papertowel.. it takes about a day then it starts to turn bright pink and then another day or so it brushed right off (or if you have snails they eat the heck out of it once it starts to die)

for fake plants/rocks/driftwood.. just pull it out of the tank and let it dry out for a day.. then soak it and it comes right off..

i had cladophora (blanketweed) in my planted tank. i started squirting with H2O2 using a syringe, and a few days later it was gone

 

[deeda]

You can also treat hair algae with Excel. I have used this method by increasing the recommended daily dosage by 3 to 3 1/2 times for at least 7 days. Then do a 50% water change & repeat for another week. This method has not harmed either the fish or the live plants in the tank.

 

[uncwnells]

I am also having this problem, is it caused by to many nutrients?

 

[chesterthehero]

theres a good chance someone will have a better answer... but basicly...

its algae... it just likes growing in water...
i cant get it to grow in my unplanted/lightly planted tanks.. but it LOVES growing in my planted tanks... who knows why..

 

[Jmatz]

Cool thanks for the feed back, I'll give those ideas a try.