hairy algae problem - help

[kebuchan]

Hi all,

I noticed Hairy Algae in my tank last week, it was all over a couple of the plastic plants and this old earthen-ware pot thing. There are also bits and pieces of what look like hairy algae sitting around the gravel. I read that Siamese Algae eaters (not Chinese or Firefox) and American Flag fish were the best things out there for Hairy algae.

I went out and bought a couple of AFF and 1 SAE. When I added them the AFFs went straight for the plants and started picking at the algae. Later on that day I noticed the AFF were still nibbling at the hairly algae. The SAE seems to rest on the plants with hairy algae but doesn't seem to be eating it.

Anyway, bottom line, it's still hairy as ever!

Does anyone have ony ideas other than washing off the plans, pots, rocks, tubing and gravel??? I read somewhere to wash the plants in 10% bleach water, not sure how good that is.

Should I be adding more AFFs or SAEs? The Petstore owner thought that 1 SAE should be good enough.

Thanks,

Kevin

[dev]

SAE (Crossocheilus siamensis) should be kept in groups, and is not particularly fond of those hairy algae. They also grow to be quite large (and do so very quickly in my experience), so you should make sure your tank is large enough before you do add a group.

The AFF (Jordanella floridae) is known to be quite agressive towards other fish aswell as members of it's own kind. It does however eat almost any kind of algae, but prefer the green ones.

In my experience (this is not a fact) it seems that the hairy kind of algae arrives when there is too much iron (Fe) in the water, aswell as too much light and phosphates. I would try to lower the level of phosphates (by changing 30-50% of the water), stop adding anything that contains Fe for a while, and possibly black out the tank for a couple of days.

I do not reccomend washing the plants in any bleach solution. While this definately kills the algae it could easily damage the fish and bacteria in your tank.

[Rue]

...I didn't know about iron in the water! Good to know...thanks...

I've had luck using PhosX in my filter...my 25g is in the middle of the house but gets too much light, so I always have some algae or other...

I also had problems with the hair algae...but whether it ran it's course or not...it ceased to be an issue after I added the oto cat(s) and the bamboo shrimp...coincidence?

[kebuchan]

Rue - do you remember how long after the addition of the shrimp and oto that your hairy algae cleared up?

Maybe I should wait. A couple of sites and two LPS owners recommended the SAE and American Flag fish for hairy algae. However it's only been a little over a week.

Thanks,

Kevin

[Rue]

No...sorry...I wasn't paying attention...it was more like one day while feeding I realized there was hardly any more hair algae! I still have a few patches on the rocks...but none on the plants anymore and none growing on the gravel...