Im home on break from college and while my mom was looking after my tank an outbreak of this green algae has occured. It has covered most of the plants and all of the driftwood. Are there any kinds of shrimp that will eat this algae or is removing it by hand the best idea?
Hair Algae Problem
- Thread starter chunkswrestles
- Start date
Ive got both Amano and Cherry. The Cherry do a mediocrity job and the Amano are awesome. Is this a Shrimp only tank? If not and you have fish or want to find fish that specifically go after it. Look at SAE's.
Amano r one of the best. You can use a small brush or your hands if its not 2 bad. There are also chemicals at LFS that have worked for me.
Your best bet would be to figure out the actual cause of the algae problem and correct that. If you bring in livestock intended to feed on the algae, you get new issues to resolve if they succeed and all the algae is gone.
If I had to guess I would say not enough water changes and to much light
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It's either a deficiency or a surpluss. You have to figure out which. If your fertilizing regularly and supplying enough co2, your plants should be growing fast enough to outcompete the algae. If there is a deficiency, the plants growth will slow and the algae (being opportunists) will start to grow. On the other side, if your supplying too much fertilizer, both your plants and the algae might have enough nutrients to grow. Usually there is a connection between Iron and hair algae. What are you fertilizing with, are you supplying co2? What is your water change schedule? How long are your lights on and what kind of lighting do you have(and how old are the lights)?
Also, if there is very little hair algae, amano shrimp are great, so are red cherries. You could buy SAE's but they are hit and miss on species identification at local fish stores and even online. Plus, when you buy an SAE I would make sure your tank is big enough to supply him with algae of some sort on a constant basis. The shrimp can usually find plenty to eat in a tank, just by eating leftovers and diatoms. I would go with shrimp before I bought a fish to handle algae, or like it was said above, you need to find out why your having a problem with the algae, not just battle it with an algae eater. The algae will always win.
I agree, first find out what is the cause of the outbreak. I set-up a new tank and I had too strong of lighting for my type of plants and my size tank. Within two weeks it started growing some serious hair algae. I replace the light and everything is doing much better. I did buy the amano shrimps and they have done a great job. Within a week the hair algae is gone. Now I have to start feeding them which is no problem, because I really do like the shrimp. I personally haven't had the greatest luck with the RCS but the amanos are doing great and the betta is leaving them alone. I find myself just staring at the tank watching everyone move around.
Ask your mother how long she left the lights on for per day. Reduce your photoperiod a bit, and if you dose fertilizers, cut back on them a little with the lights until you get the algae under control. If you don't run CO2, dose Excel.
You should be able to remove most of it by twirling it around a toothbrush.
Your best bet is to treat the cause, not the symptom.
You should be able to remove most of it by twirling it around a toothbrush.
Your best bet is to treat the cause, not the symptom.