# Planted tank - Tetra Algae Control



## TheCheese909 (Aug 11, 2011)

I've got a bad case of brown and hair algae in my tank. It's growing on the leaves of my plants and it's impossible to clean off of them. It's 10 gallons and only has my HM in it. This is my last attempt before taking my Betta out temporarily and trying to buy some other fish that will eat whats growing in the tank and then sell the fish after (i only want the betta in there). 


I have Tetra Algae Control and i've never used it. It says 1 drop per gallon of water, so 10 drops for my 10 gallon. It says it's for use with freshwater plants and fish (i'm still taking my boy out, just out of precaution). I just want to make sure that this stuff won't actually harm my plants. I've got two anubias, bamboo, 3 marimo and two swords. I'll be taking the Marimo out since I know it's a type of algae and plus they don't have anything growing on them so they should be fine.


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## shellieca (Jul 12, 2012)

I can't comment on the use of Tetra Algae control as I've never used it. For the hair algae I take the plants out that have it & remove the hair algae manually OR I do a peroxide dip or you can put some in a syringe in & spot treat the algae directly in the tank. I also have snails in almost all of my tanks which do a good job on the other algaes.


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## Stone (Jan 6, 2013)

I would try to stop the algae from growing in the first place...how long are your lights on? you can go up to 10 hours a day, but if you are having issues drop to 8 or even 6, florish excel can kill most algae with a few doses, just turn your filter off for 20 minutes and dose, watch out for leaving un-eaten food in tank. you can even dose your tank with 2ml per gal of h202 3% yes hydrogen peroxide same as florish excel turn off filter for 20 minutes and dose


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## snowflake311 (Jun 19, 2013)

Killing the algae will not fix the problem it will come back if you don't find the cause.


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## OrangeAugust (Jul 23, 2012)

What about amano shrimp? I got 3 for my 55 gallon and they ate the thread algae and staghorn algae in a few days. I know I should find the cause first to prevent it (I think I need to add CO2), but the shrimp are doing a good job at keeping it in check.


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## TheCheese909 (Aug 11, 2011)

I haven't been able to find the amano shrimp at all. I've looked in my local pet stores and they just don't have them, which really annoys me. 

I had a nerite snail but he didn't do much of a good job, he stuck to the bottom or the sides of the tank, not going on the plants at all or the decor, then he started climbing the sides of the tank and falling off, so I would have to turn him right side up, he ended up dying from a fall. 

I didn't have any algae problems until I started using Seachem Flourish. I normally use API but was out, didn't have money to buy another and I borrowed some Flourish and within the week started seeing this hair algae. Now it's everywhere. I tried to manually clean it off when i first started noticing it but it's impossible to get it all off. Its not like taking off green algae, this stuff is like, rooted into the leaves of my plants.


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