# How to Get Rid of Hair Algae Growing out of Moss



## miss_vinny (Aug 6, 2006)

Long, green hair algae is growing off of my Vesicularia Montagne which is attached to a piece of driftwood sitting on the substrate in the tank. Besides being unsightly, the hair algae is snagging and trapping the fish if they swim too close to it, so I tried cutting the hair algae back because snaring and pulling on it with a toothbrush is pulling the beautiful moss off the driftwood. Of course, it came back. *Any suggestions??*

-10 gallon tank
-planted with Java Fern, Anubias Nana, and Vesicularia Montagne (mossy/fern-like structure)
-Aquaclear mini
-one 15 Watt fluorescent bulb
-75-78 degrees
-2 adult Platys, 3 juvenile Platys, 1 Siamese Algae Eater, 3 Zebra Danios, and some snails
-fertilize weekly with 1/2 teaspoon of "Aquarium Stuff Aquatic Plany Fetrilizer"


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## trenac (Jul 16, 2004)

It will keep coming back until the tank has a good balance. Make sure that your nitrates are at 10ppm and phosphates at 1ppm. Also use Seachem Excel for a carbon source.

It may be best to cut some of the moss off so most of the algae is removed.


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## MatPat (Mar 22, 2004)

Aquarium Stuff Aquatic Plant Fertilizer does not contain any Nitrates or Phosphates (according to their site) which is probably the cause of your problem. You may be getting enough NO3 and PO4 from fish waste and food but you may not  As pointed out by Trena, you can use Excel as a carbon source for your tank but if you do not add any NO3 or PO4 your problem will more than likely persist. 

The best way to get rid of Hair Algae is manual removal. This can be very tricky with moss as you have already found out. Manual removal will work, but it will not keep the algae from coming back in the future. To keep it from returning, you must address the issue that caused it, mainly a deficiency of something, probably NO3, PO4 or both.

There are fish out there reported to eat Hair Algae...American Flag Fish and Cherry Barbs come to mind. Keep them hungry and they will do a better job. Again, algae eating fish will not solve the problem, adding what the plants need will.


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## miss_vinny (Aug 6, 2006)

Thanks for the advice. I'll try to get my levels sorted out as you both recommended as well as keep cutting it back. Thanks!!


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## abnormalsanon (Jun 6, 2006)

Hi missvinny, I had a similar problem with hair/thread algae in moss when it was about 2-3 months old. I got better about consistently fertilizing and doing water changes on time, and things have finally stabilized. The algae has been gone for a while now and hasn't returned. Hopefully you'll have the same luck!


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## DJKronik57 (Apr 17, 2006)

I have had the same problem in my shrimp tank where I have a moss wall. I've finally given up after manually removing it every week. I had my ferts balanced, but because I'm using an AquaClear HOB and DIY CO2, I couldn't get my CO2 levels up high enough, and this keeps the algae around. Unless you have pressurized CO2 and a canister filter, I'd say it's pretty much impossible to get rid of it with just ferts alone. If you have success otherwise, let me know!


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## houseofcards (Feb 16, 2005)

I'm gonna take a completely different approach here. 

You have very little light (15watt fluro on a 10g) and slow growing plants that really don't "suck up" alot of ferts. I wouldn't dose anything in the tank and let the fish waste and food provide your macros and let water changes (once a week) provide the micros. I would also add some shrimp to clean up the moss. If your feeding daily (not necessary, but many do) that moss can get dirty very quickly and be a breeding ground for algae. 

I personally have a 12g all moss tank with 18watts of light, it houses 11 gold tetras and 5 shrimp and is completely clean of algae.


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