# Hair algae problem



## mikaila31 (Feb 24, 2006)

I am having an algae problem in one of my tanks. It appears to be a hair algae that is very dark in color. It likes to grow on the tops of the plants, the tank is 20gal its been setup for over a year. 2wpg of light and pressurised co2. Below is a bad pic of the algae, but the best I could get. What would be the best way to try to get rid of it?


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## helgymatt (Sep 12, 2007)

Do you have a drop checker to see what your CO2 levels are? Are you fertilizing?


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## trenac (Jul 16, 2004)

From the pic it looks like you have Black Beard algea (BBA) which is usually caused by low C02 levels.

About the only fish that will eat on it is the SAE. I've also seen Amano shrimp pick at it.


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## KnaveTO (Jul 4, 2007)

I have a continuous battle with BBA. The only way I have been able to get rid of it is by boiling the wood that it is on and raising my CO2 levels on the tank. Furthermore there is another fish I have found that loves the stuff, Ilyodon furcidens. This fish is a Goodeid live bearer and a plant eater. I Had BBA in my 65 tall and after a month or so after I placed the livebearers I had absolutely no BBA in there.


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## IbnOzn (Mar 16, 2007)

I battled with it for the longest time until I target dosed it with Excel. Turned off the filter so the water stopped moving and blew Excel right on the algae with a dosing syringe. Turned the filter back on after half a minute. After doing this daily for a few days the algae turned gray and died off.


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## Ebichua (Jun 3, 2008)

Direct spraying or injecting excel at the locations will help. Just be careful because this also means overdosing on excel. If you have inverts in the tank, take precautions


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## Seattle_Aquarist (Mar 7, 2008)

Hi mikaila31,

I agree, it looks exactly like the Black Beard algae (BBA) I had in my tank. I removed leaves of plants that were heavily infested, then I bought a couple of true Siamese Algae Eaters and they grazed on it pretty well. Lastly, I followed the instructions in the thread here at APC on using Flourish Excel to treat for algae. It is a long thread but the treatment works. At least it did for me!
http://www.aquaticplantcentral.com/forumapc/aquarium-algae-control-specific-problems/3806-flourish-excel-got-rid-all-my.html


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## exv152 (Jul 12, 2008)

1- remove infected foliage
2- greatly improve the water flow rate throughout the tank
3- increase CO2, slowly
4- get SAE's


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