# Green Hair Algae Infestation [12/25/2012]



## sub-80

*Starting Date: 11/18/2012*

Hey got a green hair algae on my dwarf baby tears and its spreading to neighboring plants. this is the second algae infestation that I am dealing with in this tank. The first was grey algae which was started due to my laziness which caused a lot of fish food being dumped in the tank and me thinking I just don't need to feed them for a few weeks. :flick: I got rid of the algae by closing the lights for 3 days but that also killed most of my plants.

To get rid of the algae this time I have reduced the light to 2xT5-HO for 3 hours a day. I have mechanically reduced the algae as much as possible without pulling the roots of the plants for most of the plants (really difficult for dwarf baby tears on sand substrate). And also doubled the dosage of the Seachem excel. I added 4 True SAE, 2 Chinese SAE (Not sure), 2 corydoras and a twig catfish. Anyway today I started using Hobby Algen-killer, which is a liquid algaecide (link to their website is here: http://www.dohse-aquaristik.de/en/p/51500/AlgenKiller-). It says to dose [STRIKE]2ml per 100liters per week[/STRIKE] 2ml per 10liters for heavy algae and to repeat if algae is "stubborn" so if it works I'll let you guys know. I have tried Tetra Algumin which did not work on the grey algae or the green hair algae.

If the algaecide shows no progress I am thinking of using Hobby Duplarit K:"Natural tropical laterite in pellet form for subsequent use in existing  aquariums. Iron-active soil additive for all aquarium plants. Enhances growth and appearance and prevents deficiency symptoms" and Hobby Sanoplant: "CO2 fertilizer tablets for strong and healthy plant growth. Ideal and inexpensive carbon dioxide fertilization. Basic fertilization with all necessary nutrients", to help kill the algae. 
*
UPDATE1 [11/19/2012]:* After realizing that I misread the instruction for the algae killer, which I have corrected above to the correct dosage for heavy algae which I will not be using as a noticeable reduction in algae has been noticed, so I will be using the normal dosage conditions of 1ml per 10 liters.

*Update2 [11/24/2012]:* The first day I got the SAE they were awesome half of the algae was gone but after that they don't seem to be eating the hair algae. Some are becoming lazy while some are looking for food at the sand area but are not going anywhere near the hair algae. (Discussing Problem here.)

*Update3 [11/28/2012]:* 1 True SAE is died probably from algaecide and another missing and its been a week since algaecide has been added and no reduction noticed. 3 days ago I added nutrients and CO2 fertilizer to boost plant growth and ended up giving the hair algae a boost. :sad
I removed a driftwood that had hair algae growing on it and placed it inside a drawer. I placed more plants in the tank.

*Update4 [12/05/2012]:* 2 weeks have passed and I gave up on the algaecide after 10 days and used neutralizer to remove the copper so I can add 6 Fire Red Shrimp. I currently using Seachem Phosoguard and am going to do a weekly 30% water change and hope for the best.

Tank originally:http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/p...pe=f&id=12289&title=First_One_15-11-2012b.jpg

Tank Currently:http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/p...92&title=First_One_Alteration_28-11-2012c.jpg

*Update5 [12/25/2012]:* I have removed the algae mechanically once again and did a 30-40% water change two-three times since the last update. I have reduced the weekly fertilization to half and noticed the algae has a slower growth. I've used the Algencide once again but then I went and used "Ocean Free Pure liquid" which according to the box might remove the effect of the algencide. Place a pic of what "Pure Liquid" does.

Let me know what you think.
Here are the Pics.


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## herns

Here's a good experiment being done on TPT nuking all your algae woes.

http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/showthread.php?t=204449


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## sub-80

Thanks, forgot about this thread the original is in planted tank with new updates.


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## niko

What you have is Cladophora. The worst algae ever, even worst than BBA, because it loves exactly what the plants love. The only way to combat it is to have the plants growing very well - which in the beginning will accelerate the growth of the Clado itself very, very well.

What you most likely have is high P. That does not mean some crazy numbers like 3 ppm or 5, or 10 ppm. It means that the P is floating around and it could be even 0.5 but the plants don't really grow well because of lack of something. "Something" maybe lack of a nutrient, CO2, light, good water flow that distributes stuff evenly.

Shooting algae with a chemical is a no brainer, no matter how we look at it. Find a dose that is not harming anything else and go. But we can't deny that if you do not fix the original problem you are not really doing much.

Here's a good example for you because in my big tank I have the exact same, on the bottom only, algae. My tank has no plants and no CO2, the light is low. I have a lot of fish in it. So what do you think is happening every day? Nutrients get accumulated in the water. And there are no plants to eat them. So "something" will eat that food. The Clado I have now came out of nowhere after emptying the tank and keeping the wet substrate without water for 2 weeks followed by 45 days of no-light and just a fishless tank full of water. There were no alge for a month after I added the fish. Then the Clado slowly showed up. Now you know why - because "something" will utilize the waste that the fish make. Last time I checked I had N=5 and P=1.5. 

My goal is to have a fast growing plant in this tank, add CO2, and good light. I want to see how the plant wil take over while I actively help to manually remove the algae and keep the nutrients minimal but available. You have the plants in the tank already, you got the Clado, and your fish are a bit on the "too many" side for the tank as it is now. Not that bad of a start if you ask me but you need to understand it will take some work with these fish in there. Change the water about 15% every other day and make those plants grow! From your pictures it is obvious that the plants are either very new or have not grown much for a long time. Hope you have CO2 because without it the plants will grow very slow and yo will be changing water forever till you get to where you want to be. Anyway - these are the things you that need to be doing, not trying a fast fix that will lead to more fast fixes until you get tired of it all.


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## sub-80

I installed the co2 system a week ago. Some guys told me that the plants look weak but have not informed of what the possible sources of the foreground plants not growing.

First am not sure what am doing wrong with the plants. The background plants seem to be fine and grow fast. I have wisteria, cabomba and another which I dont know its name. It is just the foreground plants that seem to grow at a snail pace.

I have 125 Liter (33 us gal) tank, which is 3/4 planted used to be all planted but removed the carpet plants that was infected. 3x 39W High Output T5 @6500k and 1x 39W High Output T5 @8000k, on from 10 am to 6pm. Co2 1bps from 9 am to 5pm (Drop checker purplish green).

For fertilizing, I use liquid fertilizers: Seachem Flourish, Easy-Life Ferro (Fe), Easy-Life Nitro (NO3) and Easy-Life Kalium-Pottasium (K). I used the "yet another nutrient calculator" (http://calc.petalphile.com/) for weekly dosage, which has a premixed category. That resulting dosage
Seachem Flourish: 2.5ml
Fe: 3ml
K:11ml
no3: 12ml

Can you indicate what am doing wrong??

I noticed that the clado grew faster with fertilizer.

Please tell me what is the imbalance that has caused my foreground plant to grow slowly.


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## herns

Adjust your light period to 4-5hours for the time being, remove algae as much as you can and do water change.

CHeck your ferts and crank up CO2. An Metricide 14 or Excel overdose will help.


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## sea weed

I used algaefix. So sick of picking that hair algae off my plants every day. Stuck with dosing per instructions. Hair algae is gone, but now I have green water bloom. Much better than hair algae though. I would however recommended removing inverts and breaking up the dose into 3 seperate smaller doses over the course of an hour. People say its less harmful to fish but still just as effective on algae. Btw, the cause of mine was fluctuations in co2 from DIY co2. Now dosing excel to compensate.


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## Bugaboo7

I'm currently dealing with a similar infestation in one of my tanks, with gravel substrate. 

I'm contemplating on covering the top layer of my gravel with two to three inches of new gravel. I'm hoping by blocking the source of light, the hair algae will die?

OR

I'm thinking about completely emptying the tank, drying the gravel for a few days in blazing sun, washing the gravel out thoroughly, and starting anew. 

The tank is currently not planted, but I want to plant it so bad! I'm just afraid to do so with the hair algae not being under control.

Does anyone have any recommendations? The tank in question is a 20 gallon long and has 15 neon tetras. Thanks so much!


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## sub-80

http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/showthread.php?t=197690
here is the updated version. I was victorious at last.

since its not planted I have to recommend a complete removal of the gravel. a bit more work now better then more work later. siphon the aquarium water into a bucket and place the tetras in the bucket or a spare tank if you have one. remove the gravel and place it in another bucket pour some water 3/4 of bucket and add 6ml of hydrogen peroxide 6% and mix the gravel, not sure if it'll have a side effect on buffer gravel. pour the water with h2o2 out and add water to wash the h2o2 off. you can let it dry just as an additional precaution. that should Free your gravel from any algae. 
OR 
if you don't mind risking your mid sized gravel turning into sand you can boil the gravel for a few minutes let it cool off and put it back into the tank.


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## Zapins

Algae issues aside this photo shows several plants with iron deficiency symptoms (white new growth).


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## Soup12

amano shrimp in my experience eat green hair algae like crazy


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