# Green hair algae-Help Please!



## chiahead (Dec 18, 2004)

I have hair algae over almost all my stem plants(esp my rotala indica) and I cant get rid of it. Every day I pull it off and more grows. I stopped my trace dosing completely for 5 days now to see if that would help, but it is not. I am wondering if I should just cut off the infested parts and go from there. My tank parameters are:
kh-4
gh-8
Ca-25ppm
Kno3-5ppm
Po4-1.5ppm
I use injected Co2 with ph controller set at 6.6ph, 260 watts pc lights on 12 hours(with 1 hour mid day off) over an 80 gallon tank with light fish load. Any help woul be appreciated.


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## Erirku (Oct 5, 2004)

What else are you dosing, besides Macros? They say too much iron is the case of thread/hair algae. Did you use the fertilator or Chuck Gadds calculator to get the right measurements of your dosing regimen? Maybe you should do a total blackout for 5 days? Or get alot of Amano shrimps or SAE's. Can't help you out that much, hope this helps alittle. :?


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## chiahead (Dec 18, 2004)

Hi Erirku
I am dosing K and Po4 and No3 as well. I was using the PPS system and Chuck's calculator doesnt have a measurement for traces I believe, just the main ferts(No3, Po4, K, Mg). Do u think my plants would hate it if I did a 5 day blackout? I have some Sae's and I bought 12 amano shrimp and they all died within 2 days, I dont know why, maybe too much Co2.


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## Simpte 27 (Jul 16, 2004)

What are the levels of NO3 and PO4 in your tank? I;m guessing they are out of balance.


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## Sir_BlackhOle (Jan 25, 2004)

Check and recheck your co2 and make sure it is around 30ppm.


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## chiahead (Dec 18, 2004)

My Co2 is above 30ppm, and my No3 and Po4 are listed in the orig post. This stuff grows very fast and I dont know what to do about it. I can remove all I see and the next day its all over and about 6-8 inches long. I am going to try a blackout period cause this sucks.


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## HeyPK (Jan 23, 2004)

Is your hair algae long and filamentous without branching, or does it branch? Is it tough and hard to break, or is it soft and easily broken when you pull on it?


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## Simpte 27 (Jul 16, 2004)

Along with a CO2 rate of 30ppm, I think you need more No3. Could be wrong. It wouldn't be the first time.


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## chiahead (Dec 18, 2004)

the hair algae is long and very skinny-easy to break. it breaks very easily. If it was tougher it may be easy to remove. It doesnt seem to branch at all. I just did a water change I will retest later and see what I have.


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## HeyPK (Jan 23, 2004)

If it is soft, it might be Spirogyra. If you have access to a microscope, you can see the characteristic spiral chloroplasts in the cells. Spirogyra is soft enough that I would think that grazing fish, such as guppies or other livebearers would feed on it. I have seen pond snails feeding on it. I have never had it in my tanks, myself, and am only speculating.


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## EDGE (Feb 28, 2004)

hair algae will not break when you pull on it. It just stretches out really long. This is the one that is cause by excess Fe in some cases.


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## chiahead (Dec 18, 2004)

it does break very easily and my algae fish are not touching the stuff. I read some posts about adding Excel and it acts like an algicide and blasts it with carbo and Co2. I do not have a microscope to check it out. I wish I had a digital camera so I could show you what it looks like


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## BigFoot (Jan 3, 2005)

the only time had this algae is when i was very new to this i was overdosing the tank so you might want to rethink your dosing plan and what i did to get rid of it was that i had to move to a new location that meant a very large water change that might helped me cuz now i dont got it the tank has been reset up for 7 months now no return


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## trenac (Jul 16, 2004)

chiahead said:


> it does break very easily and my algae fish are not touching the stuff. I read some posts about adding Excel and it acts like an algicide and blasts it with carbo and Co2. I do not have a microscope to check it out. I wish I had a digital camera so I could show you what it looks like


 If it pulls off easily it may be thread algae, it also grows fast in very long green strands. Best way I have found to get rid of it is pull as much off by hand, then do a 50% water change, then dose your ferts up to recommended amounts. As with any algae keep your nutrients in balance and C02 between 20-30ppms. There is a thread on using Excel to get rid of algaes, but I'm not to found in overdosing any fert.


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## chiahead (Dec 18, 2004)

well, I just did a big water change and dosed according to the fertilator. I am also using a double dose of Flourish Excel, I also just tested my parameters.
kh-5
gh-9
no3-5ppm
po4-1.5
ca-30ppm
I am starting to dose a little more Kno3 to adjust the low nitrate issue. Also, according to the Kh/Ph chart my Co2 is 37ppm. I am on day 2 of the Excel and the strand or thread algae looks to be less. We shall see what happens in a few days. Thanks for all the advice. Oh, ya I almost forgot I started with the straight flourish for my traces rather than using the CSM+B. I am dosing 2ml every day, so we shall see what happens.


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## HeyPK (Jan 23, 2004)

The bleach treatment is too drastic for most, but sometimes when hair algae makes people truly desparate, that option is tried. I got some plants early last summer with Spirogyra, and the treatment worked for me. It killed all the Spirogyra, which has never showed up in the tank I used to start up the plants. In fact, Spirogyra appears to be more sinsitive than most hair algae to the 5% bleach and it turns white after only one minute in the solution.


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## chiahead (Dec 18, 2004)

I have been dosing the excel for 3 days now and I realy see a difference. There is only 2 faint weak looking strands that I can find. The excel od really works and nothing else seems affected. Even the amano shrimp are great. awesome!


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