Thread Or Hair Algae Problem

[poopaloop]

I have a 55 g tank and some of my plants have either hair or thread algae..it basically looks like very thin tentacles attached to the plants...i was wondering how you can get rid of that..any ideas??? oh and the algae has no real coloration..and i have co2 running for about 4 days now but this happened before the co2...any help?

 

[blackfinshark_3]

i would also like to know, ive got the same problem....grumble

 

[zig]

Well the answer probably is to add more CO2, if you post your tank stats, lighting, fertilseation routine, test kit results etc. and we will see if we can solve the problem, and if you could describe the algae in more detail as well, is it all over the plants or just certain areas.

 

[poopaloop]

i have the nutrafin unit thats working really well, one bubble starts after another is only half way up...i think it might be because of my nitrate levels but im not sure...i just started doing the co2 so who knows.. the algae is mainly on the top of the plants and it is like little tentacles streaming off of the leaves...shouldnt the amano shrimps clean this up...the only thing is they stay in one spot its like they are scared..any help?

 

[oldwhitewood]

Check your ph levels first off, temp etc, I know it's basic things but c japonica shrimp often group together and stay largely still if they are not happy with the water conditions. I had a similar thing a while ago as my ph dropped very low. If your water params are ok they may be settling in, but them grouping together and not being active in the tank indicates a problem with either water chemistry or it's possible you have got a bad batch of shrimp, unlikely though.

 

[poopaloop]

i just bought two more and now they are moving all over cleaning alot...what is the reason that thread algae appears?

 

[poopaloop]

bump

 

[newfishaddict]

i just bought two more and now they are moving all over cleaning alot...what is the reason that thread algae appears?

I had this problem exactly. In a 55g tank too. I had moderate lighting but I didn’t have the correct water parameters to grow my plants well, the hair algae often grows on the parts of the plants growing slowly, and in my case all my plants were growing slowly.

By following the EI (Estimative index) posted above I solved the problem.

1)I got co2 levels up to about 20-25ppm,
2)and I noticed my iron and nitrate levels were always too low. I got them up...
3)I put a fast growing plant in the tank (wisteria) I have since removed the wisteria after my slower growing plants took hold....
4)I trimmed the areas of the plants that had heavy hair algae, I painstakingly cleaned some plants that had less hair algae on them (this cleaning was not easy and took hours, I basically pulled the little hairs off of the plants that I wanted to save)

oh ya , perhaps only have your lights on 7hrs a day until you get your water parameters right (EI)


My hair algae is totally gone now!

 

[poopaloop]

thanks alot homie..im at college now but ima do it when i get home..one last question..how do u test ure co2 levels?

 

[bogwood]

Don't reduce your lighting too drastically... you'll end up getting 'brown' algae instead...