# long green algae problem



## AndrewB (Jul 7, 2006)

Hey all,

I've got some long green algae that looks like long hair. Its growing between plants that are some distance apart and is also getting stuck around plants when it moves around the tank.

I didn't see any photos of it in the algaefinder, so I don't think it is one of those.

Any ideas? Sorry, no photos as yet.

Cheers,
Andrew


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## Nevermore (Mar 26, 2007)

If it's slimy it could be rhizoclonium.


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## rhodophyta (Jan 23, 2006)

I have some long stranded hair algae out in my pond that comes back every year since I bought a few plants at one particular garden store. This year I added lots of koi, some large 12"+ plecos, and ten tilapia, and four different species of large snails. Something seems to be working in the main pond section. However barley straw, some wierd kind of clay powder, and using a rough sawn oak board to pull out the "blanketweed" all seemed to work at first. Then the hair algae came back in spades. I wonder if this could be the same type of algae, now showing up in our planted tanks.


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## AndrewB (Jul 7, 2006)

here is a photo of it...


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## overboard (Mar 11, 2008)

I have that in two of my smaller tanks. Sometimes it is threadlike and reminds me of the white stuff they sell at Halloween to make spiderweb, the way it stretches but doesn't break. Increasing phosphates made it act that way; most of the time it is in clumps, down in the hairgrass. I also get huge masses in a large windelov java fern that is right underneath a filter outflow. I dose higher-than-recommended amounts of Excel, always have. These tanks are very high light, w/CO2. Both get greenwater every couple of months. I will be watching this thread closely to see if anyone has suggestions... other than tweezers and toothbrushes


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## tranr (May 20, 2009)

I've had these before too, and unfortunately, the only way I was able to get rid of them was to pull them out manually. They're really sticky too and cling to plants in my experience.

I just did a quick google search and found the following link which describes what to do in order to get rid of it. The first step still appears to be to just manually remove it though. 

http://aquamaniacs.net/forum/cms_view_article.php?aid=138


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## KentCurtis (Jan 18, 2009)

In my opinion...Pull out as much as possible, try a 3 day blackout (No lights + cover tank with a couple towels or a trashbag), and dose excel at recommended dosage or even a little more if you'd like. Follow up the blackout with a 50% water change. I had this kind of algae in my tank and after I did this it was gone. For good.


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## overboard (Mar 11, 2008)

tranr- interesting link. One tank got bad shortly after I lost all of the amano shrimp. I have a tank with SAEs and another with rosy barbs, and this algae is not a problem in those. It isn't really an option to use them, though. My 4" SAE would give the celestial pearl danios little bitty heart attacks. And a constant 83 degrees didn't work for the shrimp. alas. Back to the tweezers...


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## lilypotter2009 (Jun 26, 2009)

Algae needs two things to grow, light and nutrients. Reducing either or both of these will help the algae problem. Keep your lights off as much as possible and on no more than 10 hours a day. Do 25% or greater water changes once a week and be sure to use a gravel siphon to clean the gravel as you go. Between these two things the algae will be starved out and won't be a problem any more. If you already to this, do slightly larger water changes and reduce the lighting even further.


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## rhodophyta (Jan 23, 2006)

lilypotter2009 said:


> Algae needs two things to grow, light and nutrients. Reducing either or both of these will help the algae problem. Keep your lights off as much as possible and on no more than 10 hours a day. Do 25% or greater water changes once a week and be sure to use a gravel siphon to clean the gravel as you go. Between these two things the algae will be starved out and won't be a problem any more. If you already to this, do slightly larger water changes and reduce the lighting even further.


I've found those Marimo balls, if you have lots of them, do cause algae to die off without affecting other plants. It could be they absorb all the nutrients, or perhaps give off something that affects algae somehow.


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## AndrewB (Jul 7, 2006)

So if I keep the lights off for 3 days, will that cause issues with my plants? My tank is a planted tank. I'll check its phosphates etc tomorrow but I haven't fertilised the tank since it started becoming an issue.

Manual removal is such a pain! Like others I've got it growing in windelov fern, java moss, java fern, in between val. It's such a pest as it is grows so fast!


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## Feralgodmother (Aug 7, 2009)

I am new too and I have long green hair like algae in my pond. It is in 98% shade but does get diffused light. Only added lights two days ago so that isn't the original issue. Help!!!!


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## Feralgodmother (Aug 7, 2009)

I wonder can I use this long green hair algae as some kind of fertilizer for my garden? At least it would feel like killing two birds with one stone to pull it out and use it. Rebecca


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## rhodophyta (Jan 23, 2006)

Feralgodmother said:


> I wonder can I use this long green hair algae as some kind of fertilizer for my garden? At least it would feel like killing two birds with one stone to pull it out and use it. Rebecca


I have put it in the compost pile for years. It composts more slowly than most organic materials, but it's free. At least if you don't count the cost of any fertilizers/light it may have stolen from your desireable plants.

I did find a fish, a blue tilapia from Lake Tanganyika, that will eat the hair algae and not many other plants, so far. It did eat one hardy marginal, a mystery species I bought as "Lucky Lucy" with many small blue flowers but no scientific name. I put twenty fry about an inch long in the pond less than a month ago. They are now four to five inches long and at least one better than six inches long. I heard they start breeding at two months of age, so by the end of August they should be reproducing.


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## overboard (Mar 11, 2008)

Last week my CO2 regulator broke and I was going out of town on Monday, so Sunday night I blacked out the two tanks in question. I would be gone from Monday am til Wed PM, so I wouldn't be tempted to peek. What could go wrong with that plan? Ugh. I got back last night and the filter on the 10 gallon was running dry. The cardboard was soaked. Water on the floor. The water level was at the bottom of the filter pick-up tube. The towel on the top was dry. I put a sponge filter in and have been slowly adding water back. If the tank holds, then I will test the filter. I think all of the fish are OK. And the algae? Still green, looks the same as before. Dumb stupid blackout.


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