alec alec
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  • Posted on: 12/7/2019 1:00
Hair Algae #1
Hi
I am having a big problem with Hair Algae in my fish tank. It is growing all over the rock backscenes and along the edges of the Amazon sword plants. The tank is a Juwel Trigon 190ltr corner tank with a Juwel Bio Flo 3 filter. I have had the tank about 6 years, not added any fish or plants for a very long time. I noticed this a couple of months ago and did get some medication from my local fish shop for it but this has not worked.
I have done a few water changes in the last few weeks each of around 35% of the tank. Can anyone give me any help or advice on how to try and remove this algae, can you actually remove it ?

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Fishlady Fishlady
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  • Posted on: 12/7/2019 6:58
Re: Hair Algae #2
That actually looks more like black brush algae. The most common cause is overstocking and/or inadequate water changes, often combined with too much light. Can you post tank size and a list of stock plus test results for ammonia, nitrite and nitrate, please and how long your lights are on each day?
alec alec
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  • Posted on: 12/7/2019 13:03
Re: Hair Algae #3
Hi.
thanks for your quick response. The lights have been on probably too long in the last few months around about 10 hours a day. Results from the following tests you asked for are as follows.
pH=6.6, Ammonia=0, Nitrite=0, Nitrate=0, Phosphate=5 !
The tank size is about 190 litres, and stock is roughly Platys =4, Swordtail=8, plus 1 now large Plec which I have had since setting up. Any suggestions would be most appreciated, I know the maintenance has slipped over the last 6 months because of illness in the family so I need to get back on top of that. Is there anyway to get this off the rock backscene without damaging the tank?

Thanks
Alec
Fishlady Fishlady
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  • Posted on: 12/7/2019 18:47
Re: Hair Algae #4
Hmmm.....something's off with the test results. In a cycled tank you should never see 0 nitrates as nitrate is the final product of the cycle and only removed by water changes. Maybe your test kit is out of date? What test kit do you use?

There are a couple of potential solutions that will work in conjunction with getting back on top of maintenance and regular partial water changes. The first, which I used myself is a group of Siamese algae eaters. They cleared masses of it from my 6ft tank in just a few weeks, but only get them if you really want a group of them long term and make sure you do get true Siamese algae eaters as some shops will mislabel the Chinese algae eater or the Flying fox and you don't want those. The other solution that works well is to spot treat the algae with "liquid carbon" such as Seachem Flourish Excel. Don't overdose the tank though. Just drip it onto the algae (preferably when it's exposed during a water change, and it will gradually die off - it usually turns pink as it dies.
alec alec
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  • Posted on: 12/7/2019 22:00
Re: Hair Algae #5
Hi,
thanks again for your response, I used a Nutrafin test kit and yes you are right when I checked the box it was out of date. I will pick up a new one tomorrow, which of your two solutions would you try first, or could you use both at the same time? or would that be a problem?

thanks again.
Alec
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  • Posted on: 13/7/2019 11:55
Re: Hair Algae #6
The Siamese algae eaters were extremely effective for me, but they do need to be in a group of at least 4 so if you like the look of them I would do that. If the idea of having 4 quite large fish in the longer term doesn't appeal, go for the liquid carbon treatment. It will take longer as you'll have to spot treat a bit at a time to avoid overdosing the tank. I wouldn't combine the two methods.