lil black tufts of stuff

[teknikz]

i got lil black tufts of stuff on me plants.....tried cleanin them off but didnt do a good job....what is it?

 

[fishdude]

may be some sort of algae. what does it look like hairy? i haven't seen that many of the same people here the same as when i used to be. So far u and cfc are the only ones. Anyway could ya get me a pic.

 

[Lithril]

I got exactly the same thing in my tank Teknikz, if you find out how to get rid of the damn stuff let me know, I think it could be black hair algae. Absolute ***** to get off though, seems to glue itself really well to the leaves.

 

[CFC]

Ive suffered from the evil hair algea for years, and as yet have been unable to find a way of beating it for good without the addition of SAE's which are the only fish known to regularly eat the stuff.

As far as ways to beat it go reducing nitrates to as close to zero as possible, using phosphate absorbing medias, keeping lighting times down to the bare minimum your plants require and adding more plants to out compete it for nutrients are all supposed to help but so far all ive been able to do is reduce it to a managable ammount so that i can remove leaves that become infested with it. Im afraid that in my experience once a tank has it nothing short of a complete strip down and throwing out or boiling all the substrate, filter media, plants and ornaments to kill all the spores will get rid of it (apart from of course the addition of 3 or more SAE's).

 

[teknikz]

awwwww dammit......that really hasnt made my day

hate it when somethin like this happens....i cant be puttin up with that....gonna have to strip it down

 

[Cian McLiam]

Although it isnt mentioned as a natural diet, my Gibbiceps plec loves the stuff.. he wont eat it off long leaved plants, but did a great job of clearing up my bogwood.
I may have some before and after pics to see if we're talking biout the same thing.
Course they get to nearly two feet!

Ken