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Re: What is this stuff?



"Vrondi" <vrondi at mailandnews_com> and Barry 
<barry_mitchell at hotmail_com> wrote:
> > The stuff is pale, actually looks white growing on the sides of the tank, 
> > looks almost black growing on the leaves of plants.  It attaches at one base 
> > Actually, it looks like a herd of tiny reindeer have shed their antlers in 
> > my tanks.
> i had something similar once in a tank.  on the glass, it was 
> whitish/beige, and branched out on the glass much like antlers.  I 
> have no clue what to call this. I tried everything I could think to get 
> rid of it.  it was hard to scrape off the glass.  Since that was an un-
> planted tank I even used algae-cides, which had NO effect at all.  I 
> finally got rid of it by tearing down the tank and scrubbing it with 
> hydrogen peroxide.  the peroxide seemed to just eat it right away. 
> made it much easier to scrape off.

Sounds like filamentous algae. Stag horn algae is another name. It 
does have an "antler" appearance and is quite a pretty algae (I 
know, in the beholder...). I've seen it dark green, brown and nearly 
clear. *From experience* - this stuff love light areas and loves a 
good amount of nutrients. Once established on a leaf, it's pretty 
much there for good. It also grows exponentially fast! Cut the leaf 
away to get rid of the stuff. I also had it growing on it's own, with no 
base. A piece of FA would come slithering through my ferns when 
one end was pulled and it looked to be just growing by itself. I've 
pulled yards of this stuff out!! It took nearly a month of daily work 
with hemos to get the free growing stuff under control and I cut 
away lots of leaves to rid the attached algae. All this was done with 
lots of periodical water changes. After many handfuls a day, it 
finally went away (it's still there as always, but not in the adult 
stage!).
*From experience* - I've only had the problem on newer tanks (< 
1/2 year old). The water parameters weren't stable and a lot of plant 
shuffling was going on. I attributed it to an imbalance of nutrients 
and high light. We all know that something will grow, even when 
the plants refuse to...

Remember, never swear at algae!!! Kill it with kindness...

Jamie    <"\\\><