Hair algae (chladophora)

Re: Hair algae (chladophora)

not sure if this will help or not but i've been battling the same for about 6 months now...only thing that seems to be helping me other than manual removal everydamnday is finally, i cut my light back. not intesity but duration, even by just an hour to hour and a 1/2 made quite the diff.

very frustrating for sure...good luck hope this helps ya!

 

Re: Hair algae (chladophora)

Has anyone found the magic cure for this yet?

I've been toying with a few ways of dealing with it, I now spend more of my time preening this stuff than I do on any other aquarium related maintenance.

I want it gone!

I would spend $1000's of dollars to remove this annoyance from my tanks. That would be cheap compared to the psychiatrist bills this algae is costing me.

Plastic plants, glass fish and bleach water is not a viable option.

There MUST be a cure that doesn't hurt the tanks or make me insane.

 

Re: Hair algae (chladophora)

I like using an old toothbrush to remove this stuff. Makes life a little easier, but I must say for me anyways- the stuff is non existent since I've cut back the amount of Seachem Iron and Flourish and added Amano Shrimp. I've noted this on two different tanks now. Also double check your CO2. I can't tell you how many times I thought it was right, but come to find the KH has changed and my controller wasn't allowing enough Co2 injection. You may even want to try bumping up Co2 around 30ppm to 40ppm just to see what happens.

 

Re: Hair algae (chladophora)

I read on another list that Rosy Barbs as well as Amano shrimps eat this stuff. I have a few Amano's coming this week - I'll let you know if they help.

Keep us posted,
Bill

 

Re: Hair algae (chladophora)

Yes, please keep us posted as to how the Amano shrimp do with this stuff. I'm very eager to know. I'm heading out to get some rosy barbs to test that theory out too.

 

Re: Hair algae (chladophora)

I picked up some Puntius Denisonii (redline shark/barb/etc) because I loved the way they looked. Kind of pricey for a freshwater fish. Then they ate almost half of the hair algae in my tank in a day and I now think they were cheap.

My amano and rcs shrimp have never made a bit of difference that I could tell with the hair algae.

Tom

 

Re: Hair algae (chladophora)

Awesome, I'll keep my eye out for those too. Did the Redline Sharks ever eat ALL the hair algae?

 

Re: Hair algae (chladophora)

Thought I'd mention that the common (and more affordable) SAE will eat this stuff too, but I do find that they like to eat moss too as well as other fine leaved plants. Top of my list have gotta be the Amanos and the Cherry Barbs.

 

Re: Hair algae (chladophora)

My SAE's lightly snacked on the various algae I had in my tank but seemed (like the oto's and shrimp) to prefer cleaning the plants of something I can't see but they like to eat. Perhaps I feed too well for the SAE's to go after the hair algae. The shrimp are fantastic at cleaning the green algae off the wood though.

My redline barbs are voracious eaters and ate all the hair algae they could find. They are far more expensive but I think they look fantastic in a planted tank. I was thinking of adding some golden barbs later as a contrast to the redline barbs.

Tom

 

Re: Hair algae (chladophora)

Anyone have the Latin name of redline barbs?

 

Re: Hair algae (chladophora)

Never mind... should have looked before asking!