# Solutions for hair/thread algae



## turtlehead

I don't test, so I just want to know some solutions to solving hair and thread algae that worked for you guys. It's so annoying on moss. The moss I got was infested with this and now I can't get it out. I'm on the verge of throwing it out.


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## banderbe

EXCEL!!!!!

Read up on over-dosing it. In a 29 gallon I dosed 5 times the recommended amount daily without any problems. Took about a month to totally wipe out all traces of algae and I had it pretty bad. Hair, thread, fuzz, bba, bga, you name it. Ugh.


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## bharada

If you have good growing conditions then you might want to extract a few small pieces of algae-free moss and culture those.

I've also squirted Excel directly onto Taiwan and weeping moss while spot treating algae in a tank with no ill effect, so that may be an option. But I'm pretty sure that a dipping it into pure Excel (in a bowl) will kill the moss along with the algae.


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## turtlehead

Do you guys shoot the excel directly where the algae is or just where ever?


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## banderbe

You are fine just adding it to the water. Some people spot treat but I don't think it matters. Didn't for me.

Also, once you solve your algae problem if your fert regime is in order and CO2 is plentiful, you can stop dosing Excel and algae won't return.

I have not had to use Excel in many months, which is good because it's expensive!


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## hoppycalif

Just about a week ago I cleaned up my tank, got rid of as much algae as I could, dipped anubias and Java Fern in bleach water, and replanted the good plants I still had, plus some that I purchased here and on another forum. Then I doubled the after-water-change dosage of Excel, waited three days and dosed it again. Now the remaining algae is all either white or red - dead or dying. The only cost was that it also killed all of my vals. But, I was kinda tired of them anyway - they reproduce all over the tank unless vigorously culled every couple of weeks.


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## John P.

Keep the CO2 up, too.


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## bigstick120

Here is a good link to do it Eliminating Algae with H2O2

I have used this method, turn off filters, No water movement other then sticking my arm it to spot treat areas. Let it sit of about 20 minutes and then do a 50-75% water change. I did this ever week for about 2-3 weeks and it took care of hair/thread algae. I didnt have shrimp in the tank at the time so use caution and I dose about 50-55 ML in a 55 gallon tank


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## turtlehead

It those two algaes that I have, 20ml in a 10g for 30mins then 50% WC did not work. Brush and hair algae.... shrimps aren't affected by h2o2.


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## bigstick120

Did you just dump it in or use it as a spot treatment?


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## epicfish

Hm, I have the same type of algae that turtlehead has in the 2nd picture...anyone find another treatment for it?


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## Burks

I'm going to try the H2O2 method tomorrow. My thread algae is just getting out of hand. I pick quite a bit out on a daily basis and it just comes right back. 

I'm worried that it won't get all the algae since it is really deep into my moss. I may take the moss out and place it in another bowl and add extra H2O2 at the risk of killing my moss.


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## epicfish

Burks said:


> I'm going to try the H2O2 method tomorrow. My thread algae is just getting out of hand. I pick quite a bit out on a daily basis and it just comes right back.
> 
> I'm worried that it won't get all the algae since it is really deep into my moss. I may take the moss out and place it in another bowl and add extra H2O2 at the risk of killing my moss.


That's what I did. I have a huge freaking clump of thread algae in my Taiwan moss. I put it in a bowl (1 cup of water) and added 5 mL of 3% H2O2. It looks fine...so far. I'll let you know how it goes.

Nevermind. My lights just came on in my tank. I did 2.2mL of H2O2 per 1 gallon of water, so ~22mL of it in my 10 gallon. 95% of the moss in there is dead/dying, the anacharis does NOT look good at all. Curiously enough, in the bowl with more H2O2, the moss looks great.

The clado and thread algae in the tank are quickly dying and turning all slimy. This is probably within 20 hours of me doing the H2O2 treatment. I used a syringe and applied it to most of the affected areas with the HOB filter running. Then after 10-15mL of spot treatment, I added the rest in in a fell swoop.


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## Burks

After you added the H2O2 to the bowl containing the Taiwan Moss, how long did you allow it to soak? After the soaking did you just rinse the moss really well with regular tap water before returning it to the tank?

Did you happen to have shrimp in your tank? I'm holding back on using it directly in the tank due to the shrimp.


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## epicfish

Burks said:


> After you added the H2O2 to the bowl containing the Taiwan Moss, how long did you allow it to soak? After the soaking did you just rinse the moss really well with regular tap water before returning it to the tank?
> 
> Did you happen to have shrimp in your tank? I'm holding back on using it directly in the tank due to the shrimp.


About three hours. I forgot about it while I was doing the minor WC on my larger tank. When you do it, I'd let the large tank sit for about 30 minutes and do a 40-50% WC instead of 25% like mine (I did a smaller WC because I had lots of thread and clado algae...not a good idea). I just checked again, the moss looks happy as ever in the bowl, but dead in the tank.

As for shrimp, I'd take them all out before doing the H2O2 treatment on the entire tank. You can do the inverted soda bottle w/ an algae wafer trick to get most of them out.

The clado in the tank is getting all slimy now, MUHAHAHHA! A guppy perished too, however. But it was either the H2O2 treatment, or a whole-tank bleach.


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## Burks

Thanks for the advice. I'll do that tomorrow afternoon. Will take out all my shrimp, Gold Mystery Snail, and Clown Pleco. The other snails can stay in there because frankly, I don't want them. Came home after the weekend and found a HUGE number of babies.....no clue why.


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## Burks

Gave it a try today with good results. I let the moss soak for about 2 hours and rinsed it off _really_ well. About three hours later I noticed white strands of dead algae in the moss ball. There was a small amount of moss that died which was mainly older moss toward the bottom of the ball.

This is a good method. Be sure to give it a try on smaller pieces before going full scale.

Thanks a bunch Epic. You saved me a lot of headaches!


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## epicfish

Heck yea! My tank is algae-free (for now). 

My anachris suffered badly. All the leaves stripped off the stems. Only the very tops are green! =/

I have a bunch of extra, so I'll re-plant tomorrow and see if I can salvage the tops. =)

H2O2 = GREAT TECHNIQUE! At least for Burks and I...try it before a full-tank bleach.


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## Burks

And my hair algae is back again. I'm about ready to nuke my tank because this stuff I just can't get out!


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## bigdaddytank

I have a newly setup 10 gallon that has been a constant battle with bad hair algae. I tried the h202, upping my co2, adding more plants, everything I read to try, then I got some Excel. Algae stopped spreading after one day of a double dose, then has slowly died off the last four days of double dosing.


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## epicfish

How's it look now?

My clado is coming back in small bits. I might have to try a H2O2 treatment again.


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## bigdaddytank

Stopped double dosing for three days and it started coming back. I went back to adding the excel and its gone again.


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## epicfish

bigdaddytank said:


> Stopped double dosing for three days and it started coming back. I went back to adding the excel and its gone again.


Good to know. I hope clado responds similarly.


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## whitetiger61

to get rid of my algae i take all my moss out and put it in a large container with water ..put it in the closet for 5 days and moss is free of algae..of course if your tank isnt balanced then it will come back


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## TortoiseBoy

Ok, I am a total rookie on this. I have been a very strong algae-farmer for the last two years, but I am learning. 

Don't forget that if you beat back your algae and the conditions in the tank are still the same when you are done treating, it will come back. I recently learned that my test kits were lying to me and telling me that I had enough NO3 and PO4. After getting new test kits and dosing appropriately, I no longer have BBA growing at the same rate (if at all). I can tell because I have Anubias with the older leaves just about covered in BBA (the little black spots, not the brush-like stuff - the SAE's keep the brushes beat back) while the newer leaves are relatively free of it.

The moral of the story is that effort should be put into correcting whichever imbalance led to the algae in the first place. If you do that, it probably will not return when you successfully beat it back.

Anyway, just my uneducated $0.02 worth. Good luck!


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## miles

hi, 

i had some hair algae on my java moss which is attached to a coconut shell with a hairnet. 

i took it out, placed it in a container with less than 1/2 gallon of tank water. i added about 2 oz and let it sit for about 1 hour.

next day, all of the hair algae died, but the java moss was not affected; only the older, bottom layer of strands turned a copper brown color, but my ghost shrimp and sae's finished off the dead stuff. 

i also was able to treat a rather severe case of staghorn on my anubias with h2o2. being attached to drift wood, i was able to treat outside the tank. i added about 8 oz to 3-4 gal of tank water and let sit for about 45 min. all of the staghorn died within a week. java ferns that were also attached to the wood showed no ill effects. neither did a ghost shrimp that apparently hitch hiked a ride to the bucket on the wood. i've yet to try in-tank treatment.


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## wen05key

Yeapee I also enjoy on on moss . Thanks to share your experience on moss.


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