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Re: Hair algae




>------------------------------
>
>From: Mike Bateman <vandi at well_com>
>Date: Tue, 20 Feb 1996 11:10:31 -0800
>Subject: Spider-Web Algae
>
>Ok, here's something I bet no one has heard yet.
>
>Help, I've got an algae problem!
>
>I've got this nasty filamentous algae and for the life of me I can't get
>it to go away.  This is the stuff that grows in LONG spider web-like
>strands and gets all tangled in just about everything.
 There isn't much light in that tank either but this stuff
>just keeps on tickin'.

.............<Snip>............

>What's the cure?
>
You may have to resort to the bleach treatment.  it is drastic, but it gets
rid of hair algae forever.  Set up a tank that is free from the hair algae
with some plants already growing in it  (Hygrophylla polysperma is an easy
one to get started.).  Then put the infested plants in 5% liquid bleach
with agitation for 2 to 4 minutes, depending on how thick stemmed and
robust they look.  Rinse them well and transfer them to the hair algae-free
tank that you previously set up.  Give them good light, plenty of CO2 and
soluble iron, (around 0.5 ppm for the iron) and they should recover nicely.
As far as the tank that has the hair algae, move the fish to a bare
'hospital' tank for a few days tank where they can shed any hair algae that
may have come in with them, and then send them to a more permanent home
known to be free of the hair algae.  Fill the infested tank with 5% bleach
for several days, and then rinse.  Wash out the gravel, then soak it in 5%
bleach for a few days, rinse, and dry.  The hair algae will not come back
"floating on hellish spores" as somebody said several months ago.  Once you
have your tanks free of it, you only have to treat any new plants you get
and let new fish stay for a few days in an uninfested hospital tank (You
probably do that anyway).

Paul Krombholz                  Tougaloo College, Tougaloo, MS  39174
Where our chances for decent winter weather are passing quickly. Soon there
will be nothing to look forward to but tornadoes and floods