Plants growing "hair"

[MasterZ]

I have several different types of plants in my freshwater aquarium. They look healthy, and grow very fast. Lately, though, the plants are growing what looks like hair. Some of the leaves of the plants get fairly heavily covered in algae and junk, but never hair. Any ideas?

[jamjarjames]

It sounds like you have some hair algae in your tank. It is common to see small strands of "hair" and it likes to attach it self to plants. Unless it becomes invasive i wouldn't worry about it just remove what you can by hand

[djlen]

You need to tell us about your aquarium.
Lighting wattage.
Tank size.
Fertilization.
How long set up.
Type and quantity of plants.
Water parameters.
Can't help without info.

Len

[oscar83]

yeah, i have the same problem, and its starting to get out of control. i have only 100 watts of light in a 75 gallon tank. with about 40 total feet of anacharis (8 bunches of plants with about 4 strands each). 3 amazon swords, and 2 hairgrass (both about 20 inches in length. i do not fertilize my tank however i have co2 injection. my tank has been set up for about 6 months or so. water parameters: ammonia 0, nitrite 0, nitrate 7, ph 6.9, co2 15. any help would be appreciated.

PS. sorry for pimpin ur post masterz

[djlen]

Is that N=7ppm coming from your tap water or do you have a heavy fish load? Or are you dosing N?
How are the plants growing and have they been in the tank for
6 months?
If so, they are probably out of the other necessary elements.
Plants will do well initially, but their stores of nutrients will soon run out and must be replaced.
You need to balance your ferts to get the plants growing well.
Even in a low light environment(1.25watts/gal), a lack of K(unless you are dosing KNO3), P, and Traces can/will cause algae issues.
If it is a lightly planted tank, you won't need much, but you will need some of the other elements.
I'm assuming that your kH is 4°H from the information you've supplied. Is that correct?

Len

[Goldy]

Not sure if this will help. I had a 5 gallon that had a lot of hair algae growing on my wenditi crypts. I added a mystery snail and a ramshorn snail. I'm looking at my tank right now and I don't see any hair algae at all. The snails feasted for about a week and now it's gone.

[oscar83]

no, im not dosing nitrate but i do have a fairly heavy fish load. actually, my tank is quite overstocked at the moment. most of the plants have been in the tank for about 5 months or so and are growing very well and seem to be healthy. yes, my kh is 4. thanks for the advice goldy, i was thinking about getting a few snails to hlep control the algae problem. my plecos dont seem to care for the hair algae at all. i tried to remove some of the hair algae from my plants manually but it seems that the algae is growing "inside" of the plant and i dont want to damage the plants.

[djlen]

Read our sticky on fertilization. Then if you have questions don't hesitate to ask.
Looks like you need to dose lightly with some K and P as well as some traces, to match the N in the tank.
Doing a few, large water changes will help a lot, but with a large fish load, the Nitrates will continue to re-occur.
If you are not doing regular, weekly water changes, it would be a good idea to start doing that as well.
Again, how heavily planted is the tank?

Len

[oscar83]

i do 20% water changes twice weekly. i got into that habit when my nitrite levels were at .5 and wouldnt go down for about 2 months. so yeah, im sure my water changes are ample. i'd say my tank is fairly heavily planted about 40 total feet of anacharis (8 bunches of plants with about 4 strands each). 3 amazon swords, and 2 hairgrass (both about 20 inches in length. as i said before.... i dont know how else to describe how heavily planted my tank is except for a pic. i will post that probably later on tonight.

[oscar83]

http://img7.exs.cx/img7/5281/tank1.jpg

sorry for the crappy quality, it was taken with my camera phone, but i hope it hleps a little

[djlen]

My suggestion would be to go here:
http://www.csd.net/~cgadd/aqua/articles.htm
You will note that the first two entries are for dosing calculators.
The first one is a down loadable one for a desktop. I use it frequently as a nutrient calculator and as a CO2ppm calculator.
The second is for a calc. on that site which you can use as a reference for dosing the major elements needed to balance a tank.
In either case I suggest you dose some K, and P at half the strength recommended on the calc. You could also pick up some Seachem Flourish(not Flourish 'Trace') at the LFS and dose that according to the directions.
The best way to combat algae is to balance nutrients and grow plants well. I think you'll see an improvement in plant growth and less algae as a result.
I know it's difficult with DIY, but if possible, and increase in CO2ppm will also help a great deal. Shoot for a pH of 6.7 if possible.

Len

[oscar83]

thanks a lot len, i really appreciate it. i will take your suggestions and use them :) thanks again