Hey all… so I made a dumb dumb noob mistake… I had a miromo moss ball and I put it in my planted aquarium… well it broke.. and it spread BAD! It covers everything! And sucking nutrients from my other plants! How do I get rid of this pesky algae? I ordered new substrate to start completely over! But I’m afraid since it’s on my plants will it spread to my ‘fresh start’ and it’d in my filter media! Will I have to recycle my tank?! I feel so dumb!!! I have very unique angelfish that I do not want to hurt in this process
Help!!! Big mistake with moss ball
- Thread starter KKat1997
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It looks like hair algae. It's a real nuisance as it entwines other plants and just one strand will infest a tank. Remove as much as you can each week. Some people use a toothbrush to twist it out. Once the tank is in balance (lights and nutrients), it will stop spreading.
Thank you! And a toothbrush will help tremendously!!! Never thought of using a toothbrush
A tooth brush is a fish keepers best friend!
8 hours a day
Hey all, so originally I thought this was from my marimo moss ball, but I’ve been told it’s a few different algaes? What kind of algae is this? It’s very course to touch… very contagious, grows on EVERYTHING and will cover the floor on my gravel
NannaLou
Fish Herder
Hair algae..?
I've never had it that bad but it looks very much like hair algae to me.
I had it cover all my bogwood and plants with streaming threads flowing around from where it anchored.
I could never get rid of it except for a total empty and bleach clean. I have been lucky since than as I have a new filter with a UV light that seems to help, and have also added a Seachem soil substrate that gives the plants plenty of growth. Can't have too many plants in my opinion
What gets me is it’s very course to touch, no slime. And it doesn’t flow with my airflow.. it’s like a sponge
Peroxide Method didn’t faze it.. and I put seacum excel in because I’ve heard it’ll effect algae and nothing 
I had a Marino moss balls in my tanks and where the one moss ball was I started getting that hair algae too, it was only on the driftwood that the moss ball was next to.
I have since taken moss balls out of that tank. It reminds me of black beard algae in that there are tufts of it on the driftwood. That's the only place so far.
The driftwood is in what is now my invert tank, I have snails and shrimp in there. I've tried taking the driftwood out and brushing it but you can't really see the algae unless it's in the water.
I wonder if fake moss balls are being made with hair algae. It's definitely growing on the driftwood. I'm not sure to what extent I should go to to get rid of it, the shrimp seem to like it.
I have since taken moss balls out of that tank. It reminds me of black beard algae in that there are tufts of it on the driftwood. That's the only place so far.
The driftwood is in what is now my invert tank, I have snails and shrimp in there. I've tried taking the driftwood out and brushing it but you can't really see the algae unless it's in the water.
I wonder if fake moss balls are being made with hair algae. It's definitely growing on the driftwood. I'm not sure to what extent I should go to to get rid of it, the shrimp seem to like it.
Okay I can relate to this so much! Because this is exactly what happened to me… my moss ball broke apart, and particles floated everywhere!!! And attached to everything and grew like crazy!!! But you may have a good point there about ‘fake moss balls’ but whatever it is it’s hardy and hard to rid of! The texture is so so course too, and not slimy! I put shrimp in there and they loved it as a ‘home’ but my ramshorn snails, and 2 different algae eaters never touched it… my fish would nibble on it..
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