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Re: Aquatic Plants Digest V1 #75

> From: krombhol at felix_TECLink.Net (Paul Krombholz)
> Date: Thu, 16 Nov 1995 15:36:27 -0600
> Subject: Re:getting rid of hair algae
>
> > [ Brian's depressing story deleted ]
> >
> It sounds as though you are unhappy enough to be willing to do the bleach
> treatment.  It is a bit of work, but it gets rid of the hair algae once and

	[ hideous treatment deleted (but saved, just in case!... ]

> Paul Krombholz                  Tougaloo College, Tougaloo, MS  39174
>
	Paul,

	I've had the same problem Brian talked about.  I couldn't get the
	stuff off the leaves, though, since it was tenacious as hell and
	was even hard to get off the glass.  Not to mention rocks, wood,
	etc.  I wound up using a steel brush on the decorations, and lots of
	scrubbing on the glass.

	But, the stuff came from somewhere -- from the devil's own garden,
	I suppose -- and it's sure to come back, floating on some hellish
	spore to plague even the most antiseptic tank in the future.

	Now it's happening again.  I've got 6 baby SAE (man, I HOPE that's
	what they are....) that I'm hoping will ward off an incipient bloom
	of the stuff.  I'll stop feeding the fish for a few days and hope
	they get hungry enough (gotta be damned hungry to eat that stuff,
	I suppose) to at least control the stuff.

	I am starting to think a strategy is to give the plants enough
	nutrients and CO2 to keep ahead of the algae, and keep your SAEs
	hungry enough to take care of the rest!
>
> From: "Anne Nicholls"  <ANNE at southend_wayne.edu>
>
> I wouldn't tear down the tank, you'll just end up with another algea
> bloom in a couple months.

	This I can verify from personal experience.
>
> One part of the solution would be a couple of good algea eaters

	I think I need another dozen or so...

> Snails have also been successful in my tanks. You may or may not be a
> snail person. I happen to prefer the little guys you find on a lot of
> plants when you buy them. I've found them to be excellent algea
> eaters.

	Snails don't last long with Botias in the tank, though. >:(