Algae ID and treatment please

**Holyvision** · 09-29-2008, 06:49 PM

Sorry for the crappy photo, it's growing on the ends of my micro swords and rupin, I think it's black hair, but it isn't jet black.

I have 5 oros and 5 cories, and I definitely don't overfeed (I keep tally of how much gets eaten).

I also have some green algae growing in the glass that no one is eating, and is a pain in the butt to scrape off -- this might be attributed to the fact that the tank has only been setup a little over a month though..?

Thank you!

**fins_n_fur** · 09-29-2008, 06:58 PM

If it's black and stringy, you can do a couple of things that I did that worked well. Dose with Flourish Excel according to the directions for your size tank. Be careful if you have Vals, though, as the Excel will melt the leaves. You can even drain the tank a bit and spot dose with Flourish with a syringe. Kills the black algae almost instantly.

Put a break on your lights timer, depending upon how many hours the tank lights are on. Mine were on 10 hours, so I just introduced a two hour break of lighting but kept the total hours the same.

**smaug** · 09-29-2008, 10:43 PM

Looks like green hair algae to me.Remove it manually and back off on your feedings and lighing cycle an hour or so.
Its either that or just the annoying algae that happens to newer tanks,in which case it will go away in a few months by itself.

**Alfcea** · 09-30-2008, 12:41 AM

Originally Posted by smaug

Its either that or just the annoying algae that happens to newer tanks,in which case it will go away in a few months by itself.

I think the only "algae" that attacks new tanks and goes away by itself are brown diatoms.... which definitely do not look like Holivision's pic...

**Holyvision** · 10-03-2008, 02:11 AM

Here's a new image:

http://img528.imageshack.us/my.php?i...8210200zo1.jpg

The crud seems to be growing and spreading, I kinda have this "fuzz" on most of my plants now, it's taking away from their "Crispness". I purchased some excel, and am treating daily, should I be using double doses or something? Or will just the normal amount be ok? Also, my otos, shrimp, and pleco do not seem to be eating it...at all.

I would have to lower the water level an unsafe amount to directly treat all the plants, as it's on the micro swords as well.

Please help!

**Sounguru** · 10-03-2008, 04:15 AM

Okay now knowing what I know I think you are seeing a natural break in occurance. As I posted in another thread tanks go thru cycles as they mature and can take many months to a year to fully balance. One of those stages is when funguses and other fun weird stuff start to grow stuff like bio film. I think what you are seeing is a process where something has died off or changed giving the fungus a chance to bloom and what ever takes out the fungus is not in enough abundance or is still in to much abundance allowing it to prosper....

I have had the same thing in a couple of my tanks and usually with time it will die off. It seems that it really starts to decrease once the plants are fully established which usually takes 6 weeks to 3 months to happen. It is at that time your plants will suddenly shoot up like weeds and the fungus seems to go away on it's own. In the mean time run the leaves between your fingers gently before a water change and suck out the stuff in the water column. Also keep a good eye on everything and if anything starts to change like plants dying or livestocked stressed let us know so we can look at other possiable ideas.

**Holyvision** · 10-03-2008, 04:17 AM

Originally Posted by Sounguru

Okay now knowing what I know I think you are seeing a natural break in occurance. As I posted in another thread tanks go thru cycles as they mature and can take many months to a year to fully balance. One of those stages is when funguses and other fun weird stuff start to grow stuff like bio film. I think what you are seeing is a process where something has died off or changed giving the fungus a chance to bloom and what ever takes out the fungus is not in enough abundance or is still in to much abundance allowing it to prosper....

I have had the same thing in a couple of my tanks and usually with time it will die off. It seems that it really starts to decrease once the plants are fully established which usually takes 6 weeks to 3 months to happen. It is at that time your plants will suddenly shoot up like weeds and the fungus seems to go away on it's own. In the mean time run the leaves between your fingers gently before a water change and suck out the stuff in the water column. Also kep a good eye on everything and if anything starts to change like plants dying of livestocked stressed let us know so we can look at other possiable ideas.

thanks a million!