Algae Identification from Photo

[dabnpits]

Hello,
Can anyone identify what is in my aquarium? I'm guessing it's some kind of algae, but who knows. It appeared a few months ago, but seemed to mostly go away after a week or so. After a tank cleaning the other day, it seems to have gotten worse. It looks like little white hairs floating around.

Is it harmful to the fish? How do I get rid of it if it is?

Thanks for the help! :goldfish:

[Northernguy]

How much do you feed?
When was your last water change? How often are your water changes?

Do you see it in here?
http://plantgeek.net/article_viewer.php?id=9
I think its planaria!

[dabnpits]

Hello Northernguy,
I feed once in the morning, and sometimes a smaller feeding in the evening.

My last water change was two days ago. I change out about 25% monthly.

Thanks for the excellent link. I'd say it looks closest to fuzz algae, but it doesn't appear to be sticking to much of anything in the tank (maybe a little on one of my plastic plants). Mostly I just see it floating around.

After looking up photos of planaria, I don't think that is the answer. The strands are very thin and uniform in thickness throughout.

Thanks for the help!

[Northernguy]

You really need to do more water changes. 25%/month is not near enough.
Do you have a liquid test kit?
Have you tested your perameters lately?
You should be doing 25-50% every week!
What size tank is it and what kind of fish do you have?
You might want to read this!
http://www.aquaticcommunity.com/ebook.html

It could also be "hydra" in your tank.What do they look like?Its kinda hard to tell from your pic.

[dabnpits]

Hello,
Thanks for the ebook link, I'll give it a read.

I have a pH liquid test kit. I keep the water at about 7pH.

The tank is 20 gallon. There is a single banded leporinus in the tank.

I'll try to take better pictures later to give a better look at it. They are quite small, so it seems to be difficult to get my camera to focus on them cleanly.

[Northernguy]

Look up hydra and use a magnifying glass if possible.
The ph is important but as long as it is stable its fine.What you really should test for is ammonia,nitrites and nitrate.

[dabnpits]

Understood. I'll hunt down a test kit and post the results.

I'll see if I can take a closer look to hopefully identify what I'm dealing with :ssmile:

Thanks for your help!

[octoxpuss]

ok i had that too listen, I started to freak out just as u did. Well not really freaking out. What i did for this is i cut my feeding back i would feed each fish 4 pellets but they would never eat them all so now i feed one pellet at a time makeing sure they are eaten until they each have four whether they are in the tank or not becasue they go back and eat them. Convicts btw. And then i do a 25 percent water change 1 a week. and it cleared it up in about 2 weeks.

[Wild Turkey]

I cant really see anything in the pic, but what you are describing is some type of planaria. What type really doesnt matter as the cure for most bugs in fw is just to cut back on feeding, and make sure you are vacuuming the substrate during waterchanges.

Planaria are found in everyones tanks pretty much all the time, but you really never see them unless you overfeed.

[octoxpuss]

yeah that is what i have like these little white worms hahaha they werent algae.