Tropical Fish Forums

[Ursa]

I have a 36-gallon tank with live plants that seem to be infested with 'hair algae'. My two Otto Cats and my Albino bristlenose don't seem to be munching on it, and it's getting away on me. I have 4 cherry barbs, 5 dwarf rainbow fish, 2 albino cats, 2 cardinal tetra, as well as the 2 Otto cats and bristlenose. I also have a very healthy population of assassin snails. Had problems with keeping tank cool enough (which is why I think I lost 5 of my cardinals, one small albino cat and one large dwarf rainbow) Water chemistry is good all-round, and the heat problem was solved by floating frozen 1 litre jugs of water in the tank.

Does anyone have any advice about my algae? I'd be grateful You've been so helpful before.
_________________
Ursa

[Flame Angel]

SAEs are probably the best fish to eat it that I know of (if you don't want to play around with water conditions to prevent it from growing).

[diademhill]

Narayani barbs also eat hair algae.

[diademhill]

Narayani barbs are as peaceful as cherry barbs if you have at least three. They grow to similar length to the dwarf rainbows.

[The_Big_Sleep]

Generally speaking algae problems boil down to some imbalance between light/nutrient levels with a variety of other factors thrown in, although excess light & nutrients seem to be big culprits. Instead of finding something to eat the existing algae, you can try pinpointing what's causing it in the first place. You mentioned the water quality is good so how about lighting? If you don't have "grow lights" could there be any ambient sunlight hitting the tank? If you do have growth-promoting lights, try reducing the photo period and/or "blacking out" the tank for a few days to inhibit algae growth. It could be an excess of nutrients in the water column/substrate, are you using inert substrate & decor? Have you ever dosed the tank with any kind of fertilizer or additives? How long has the tank been running? It could just be an initial bloom that will go away in time.

Honestly there's no "magic bullet" for getting rid of algae, it's a cruddy problem that most of us deal with at some point or another. Keep whacking at it, physically remove what you can (sometimes removing a piece of decor and hitting it with a clean toothbrush works wonders) and do what you can to prevent the causes of it - successfully keeping algae at bay is more of a "prevention instead of reaction" technique that can really only be learned through constant trial & error.

Best of luck to you!

[Olorin]

Another piece of advice I was given when confronted with a simlar problem several years ago was to make sure that the "proper" plants were growing well / had the best conditions for proper growth and/or to add in some fast growing plants e.g. Hygrophilia polyspermia. The aim of course is to take away the take away the nutrients which the algae are thriving on by making sure that your "real" plants gain the upper hand. A mixture of addin the polyspermia, DIY CO2, being more conscientious about liquid fertilisers, cutting the lighting for one hour during the middle of the day and introducing 3 Siamese Algae Eaters did the trick nicely for me. It is all about balance and no one solution works on its own in my experience. Good luck and let us know how you get on.
_________________
Do as you would be done by.

[Olorin]

oh sorry, just noticed the date. If this is long solved forget I said anything. I have not been online for ages. All the best.
_________________
Do as you would be done by.