please tell me this is just algae...

CatPresley3

AC Members
Apr 7, 2008
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i have a planted tank that at first i couldn't get anything to grow in and now i have a jungle! while i'm happy to have my plants growing like weeds, i think we're also getting a lot of algae.....?

all over my plants are these tiny hairs. they could be worms (nematodes?), but would they be growing on my plants? it grows especially on the tips of the plants and a little on the wood as well.

just this morning while doing my water change i noticed them all over the glass as well. they don't move at all and are tiny clear to white hairs. some of them have a tiny tiny tiny white ball at the base on the glass.

we've had them on the plants ever since they plants started getting all the lighting and ferts they needed, so i just assumed it was a form of algae.

i scrubbed some off the glass and they aren't moving at all, at least not like worms, just with the current of the water.

so, algae or nematodes?

these are the best picture i could get. it's hard to tell, but the first is a semi-side view of the back wall of my tank. you can barely see the "hair", but in the second two pictures of my plants you can really see what i'm talking about...

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thanks for your help!
cat presley
 
When I get that algae on my plants I cut off those leaves because it spreads and is hard to get rid of. My otos won't touch it.
 
I think it starts from after you do a water change and the tiny partical floating around in your water settle on the leaves of your plants and whatever else and then it starts to grow that algae. I noticed it starting to grow on my driftwood, but before that I seen the particals of mulm that have settled on the wood.
 
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