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Re:getting rid of hair algae
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John Ching said, Wed, 9 Aug 1995 23:01:58 -0400 (EDT)
>I tried using bleach on some of the worst affected plants. Although the
>algae is easily killed and none of the plants seem to be hurt, the
>algae comes back in a week or so. I guess I will have to up root all of
>the plants and treat all of them. I probably also have to empty the tank
>and bleach everything, including the filter and start all over to be sure
>to get rid of all the red algae spores. This sounds like a drastic way to
>solve the problem. Any comments?
If you just treat the plants and then put them back in an aquarium that has
hair algae, the algae will be back on the plants in practically no time.
You have to put them in a tank that is free of hair algae. That means that
you will need to treat the tank and gravel and make sure that you don't
introduce hair algae when putting in fish or snails. It is well worth the
effort. I did it 17 years ago and have had no problems with hair algae
since.
I use snails to keep the soft attached forms of algae under control, and I
use Daphnia to keep green water from occurring. Sometimes the soft attached
forms get totally out of control, and I put in a bunch of guppies for about
a month, They, of course, eat the Daphnia and then the water turns green.
They also eat most of the soft attached algae, and after I take them out, I
reintroduce Daphnia and throw in some more snails, and the tank quickly
clears up and is quite clean looking.
Paul Krombholz