# Hair Algae- HELP!



## Nessabobessa (May 31, 2015)

Hello, I have a dreadful hair algae problem that I have been attempting to fight off, but it looks like it is still trying to grow.

Details about my aquarium:
Tank size- 10 gal, divided with a safety zone for heater and filter

Filtration- Internal filter with sponge media in the middle and, most recently, an azoo palm filter with sponge media. The tank is cycled.

Lights- Generic 10 gal hood with two 6500K CFL bulbs. They were installed around 4 months ago. They are on for a total of 8 hours (used to be 9 or 10hrs), with a 3 hour break in the afternoon.

Types of plants- I have anubias, a crypt species, java fern, camboba, kliner prinz, water wisteria, dwarf lily, 3 half-inch marimo moss balls, and salvinia minima

Fertilizer- I was using Flourish comprehensive with every water change, but I stopped about 2 months ago since I was afraid that was causing part of my algae bloom. I have root tabs in the substrate.

Fauna- I have two bettas, a booming population of MTS, and most recently pond snails that hitchhiked from a plant purchase. 



Please, any advice would be much appreciated. The hair algae has died down over the past month, but it is sticking hard to my stem plants and I'm afraid it's choking it out.


----------



## Gariana (Jul 22, 2015)

I got hair algae in a tank that got a few hours of direct sunlight every day. Maybe that wasn't the cause, but it's the only tank I've ever had it in.


----------



## RussellTheShihTzu (Mar 19, 2013)

You can spot treat the plants with Hydrogen Peroxide using a pipette or syringe or you can do a Hydrogen Peroxide dip.

If you spot treat you will need to turn off the filters for 30 minutes or so. The algae will turn pinkish. Treat once a day for three days. You could remove the Marimo as it is a specialized form of algae. But when I spot treated I just moved the Marimo as far away from the infected plants as possible.

Repeat treatment if it doesn't clear up all of the algae.


----------



## Nessabobessa (May 31, 2015)

Gariana said:


> I got hair algae in a tank that got a few hours of direct sunlight every day. Maybe that wasn't the cause, but it's the only tank I've ever had it in.


It may get some light from some internal lights, but that's about it. The tank is about 10 ft from the nearest window, and all of the windows are covered in blinds. I really wish I knew what was going wrong :redmad:



RussellTheShihTzu said:


> You can spot treat the plants with Hydrogen Peroxide using a pipette or syringe or you can do a Hydrogen Peroxide dip.
> 
> If you spot treat you will need to turn off the filters for 30 minutes or so. The algae will turn pinkish. Treat once a day for three days. You could remove the Marimo as it is a specialized form of algae. But when I spot treated I just moved the Marimo as far away from the infected plants as possible.
> 
> Repeat treatment if it doesn't clear up all of the algae.


Would this harm the fish? I may be willing to try this, but I'm trying to figure out what caused the hair algae in the first place, you know what I mean?


Note to everyone: is there anything I can change about my parameters to make this better? Cover the tank with a blanket to induce a stronger blackout period?

There is one extra piece of info I forgot to mention: during the "blackout" and for an hour at night, I have an LED bubbler on that cycles through red, blue, and green. It's not that strong, and its in the middle of the tank. Could that affect things?


----------



## RussellTheShihTzu (Mar 19, 2013)

I believe algae forms when there is an imbalance between light and oxygen. You could start dosing Seachem Excel but start off with less than the recommended dose and gradually increase.

If you have Anacharis the Excel will kill it (according to Seachem) and inverts are sensitive to is which is why you start slow and build up.

The Hydrogen Peroxide will not hurt your fish or inverts. When people lose their power for long periods of time it's what some use to oxygenate the water. Just don't squirt it directly on the fish.

You can Google and find correct dosage.


----------



## Tsukikoi (Feb 19, 2014)

Or- you could just gently rub it off of your plants with your hands. Algae comes off rather easily, and it forms a carpet basically over plants. Since the algae is connected, it's easy to start at an edge and pull it off. A glass scraper will work for the algae on the glass, and any gravel algae pulls off like a carpet, too. (though, it will take your top layer of gravel with it.) 

Adding more plants, or just panting any baby plants that yours makes might help. Plus experimenting with different light, possibly. 

Personally, I like my algae tanks. I just keep it off of the plants, and the glass. Until today- because I had planting of java ferns to do- one of my tanks looked like and abandoned submarine area. Plus, I can just pull up a bit of the algae carpet from the gravel and toss it into my 15 gallon that is algae free but has snails. They love it, and it frees up a planting spot.


----------



## BettaFire682 (Apr 27, 2015)

Ive never heard of hair algee


----------



## Tree (Sep 29, 2013)

Gah I hate that stuff. I am dealing with it in one of my tanks as well. =/


----------



## Nessabobessa (May 31, 2015)

Is there anything that will eat hair algae?


----------



## Tree (Sep 29, 2013)

naw, the only thing you can do is use Hydrogen Peroxide or do a black out. right now I added Hydrogen Peroxide on the algae and it is doing the trick as I can tell.


----------



## jadaBlu (Feb 14, 2013)

Siamese Algae eater ( make sure you get a true siamese algae eater not a chinese they get nasty and agressive. Red cherry shrimp and nerites snails might help. If you get interested in a Siamese Algae eater here is how you identify them


*Identifying the Siamese Algae Eater*

| Identifying the Siamese Algae Eater How to identify the Siames Algae Eater. Recently I had the luck of running across 6 beautiful little Siamese Algae Eaters, mistakenly labeled at the Pet Store as Flying Foxes. Knowing their true identity I immediately bought all 6, and now that they've settled and I've gotten some good pictures, I'd like to share with you all some tips on identifying this amazing little fish. 


First off let me say that I've searched the Internet extensively for info on SAE's, and I have to admit I am amazed at the conflicting information concerning this innocent little fish. As with everything on the Internet, easily half the information posted is either inaccurate or outdated, so it is very possible that something I post is also incorrect. So this is sort of my disclaimer: to the best of my knowledge, what I'm writing is as accurate as information as I can find. OK, so what's the fuss all about? The answer is this little guy right here: 










This is a true Siamese Algae Eater, _Crossocheilus siamensis_. It is a beautiful, peaceful little schooler that more than anything else is famous for being possibly the only aquarium fish in the world that will eat Black brush (red) Algae. The problem is they're not easy (or downright impossible) to breed in captivity, and easily mixed up with Chinese Algae Eaters and 2 other species: _Epalzeorhynchus sp._ (Garra taeniata?) or "False siamensis" and the Flying Fox, _Epalzeorhynchus kalopterus_. Here are the best pictures I could find of them: Chinese Algae Eater:
(photo credit: Pseudogastromyzon)










False Siamensis:
See photo here. 
Flying Fox:
(photo credit: Julian Matz)










Ok, I'm sure you can see the differences right off the bat between a Siamese and Chinese Algae Eater, so I'm not going to get into that much. But as you can see, the False Siamensis and Flying Fox are very similar in apperance to a true Siamese Algae Eater. So what do you look for?
The easiest and most apparent difference is the horizontal black stripe running down the body. Both the False Siamensis and Flying Fox have a nice smooth black stripe topped with a gold stripe. The true Siamese ALgae Eater has a ragged, almost zig-zag black stripe running to it's tail, and no gold stripe. 
The next thing to look at is the mouth. Admittedly it's hard to see in the photos, but on close inspection you'll notice that the False Siamensis and Flying Fox both have twin pairs of barbells (the little whisker by their mouths), but a true siamese Algae Eater only has 1 pair. 
Now observe the color of the fish itself. You'll see that both the False Siamensis and Flying Fox are more colorful, with some yellow or red markings to the fins. The Siamese Algae Eater is rather blandish gold-brown-silver. But a distinctive marking is along the back, where the black outlines the scales, making the top of the fish appear retulicar. 
Another big difference is in behaviour. Both the False Siamensis and Flying Fox are solitary, and may become aggressive to others of its kind. The Siamese Algae Eater, on the other hand, is a peaceful schoaler, and does better in a small group of 4-6. 
Finally, one last thing I've read about and also observed in my tank concerns the peculiar way a Siamese Algae Eater rests. It doesn't lie flat on it's belly but keeps propped up slightly with its tail, pelvic and pectoral fins; prefering low, dense plants like Cryptocorynes. 
I observed mine doing this very thing the other evening, so it seems only appropriate to end this article with a picture of 3 of my Siamese Algae Eaters resting in the dim evening lights. 











This is sourced from an article on a forum so I cannot link to it. I have met people that say this fish does ok in less than 4 or even alone but maybe others can comment to that.


----------



## Tree (Sep 29, 2013)

I have a nerite snail and an assassin snail in mine and they wont touch the junk. I had the same issue in another one of my tanks that has shrimp living in there and again, they were not eating it. 

I'm sure a divided ten gallon is not larger enough for a Siamese Algae eater am I right? If I could I would so add one in my 5.5 gallon tank.


----------



## jadaBlu (Feb 14, 2013)

Yes that's right I must have missed the tank size. Sorry.


----------



## frospike38 (Feb 11, 2015)

I had the same issue about 2 weeks ago in my tank. Hair algae had grown on my plants and stuff. So I limited the lights in my tank, so instead of having my tank light on for 8-10hrs a day, I cut it down to 3-5 hours a day and I also bought some shrimp. Then 3-4 days later, the hair algae literally disappeared!!


----------

