thin hair looking algae

[LMOUTHBASS]

ok after looking closely at my plants i noticed they all have very fine hair like algae that is a light green growing on their leaves - is this hair algae? what eats it? i have like 4 or 5 ottos but i dont think they touch it neither does my sae (prob a false sae) - i'm guessing an army of amano shrimp would devour it but they are out of the question at $2.50 a shrimp in my area plus my fish will eat them - what else can i go with?

 

[Aqualung]

What plants do you have - and what about lighting, CO2, and ferts? The key to beating algae is getting everything in balance so that the plants will use up the nutrients before algae takes hold. Check out the plants forum for better advice than I can give.

I'm no expert on this, as I have a hair algae problem in one of my tanks as well. I plan to add more plants, perhaps some CO2, and figure out a fertilizing routine to attempt to beat the problem. For now I just remove it by hand, and frequent water changes help.

As for fish, I've heard flag fish are good at eating the stuff. You're right about the otos not eating it......they ignore hair/thread algae.

 

[LMOUTHBASS]

the plants are swords and crypts i think i have about 3 1/2 wpg - once i a while i add liquid plant fert but i was just reading this is more beneficial for algae so i will get some plant tabs to put int he gravel instead -
are florida flagfish aggressive?

 

[anonapersona]

Dredlocked tank

I had long green hairy algae so bad in the goldfish tank that as the fish swam around the hair got spun into dredlocks! Man I wish I'd gotten a photo of it. When I moved the (single, very tiny, very fancy and delicate) goldfish out I began dosing nitrate. (the goldfish would pout and sulk if I added nitrates, he hated them) In just a week or so the algae was gone. I think the shrimp helped, but the ferts helped more.

 

[Malachite]

I have something similar on my Amazon Swords. Mine is kind of grey however and my otto's also won't touch it. After much looking I 'THINK' mine is actually beard algae. Some people claim the only good way to get that off is to cut the leaves off. Very stubborn algae that you can't even pull off the leaf. I have been trimming my swords and so far the new leaves have not become infected. We'll see what happens.