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Re: new tank blues

Doug Herold wrote:

>.....When the algae growth became really bad two weeks ago, I removed many of
>the plants and gave them the 5% bleach treatment and manually removed
>much of the other algae in the tank. I did three, 50% water changes over
>a week and have done two smaller changes this week. The algae always
>returns in a day or less. It grows on the edges of leaves, on the
>surfaces of weaker leaves, and just about every other object in the tank
>except the fish! It forms, long, flowing gossamer type hairs that can be
>removed with some rubbing.......
>
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The 5% bleach treatment will kill the algae on the plant, but, if you put
the plant back in a tank that has the algae, it will just climb back on the
plants in no time, as you experienced. The object of the bleach treatment
is to get rid of all the hair algae, completely.  You put the treated plant
in a hair algae-free tank, and then you go back and bleach the hell out of
the old tank, gravel, and equipment.  If you move fish from a tank with
hair algae directly to a new tank, some hair algae will likely be carried
along.  But, if you set up a temporary, intermediate tank where you let
them stay for a few days, and then move them to their final destination,
you shouldn't have to worry about introducing the algae with the fish.

The bleach treatment is the last desperate measure when all other measures
fail.  You use it when you want to get rid of the hair algae, rather than
control it.  There are species of hair algae that you can't eliminate by
adjusting the nutrients or the light level.  Fish like Siamese algae-eaters
(SAE's) or the American Flagfish, may be able to keep hair algae under
control, but they won't eliminate them completely.  After a successful
bleach treatment, it is relatively easy to keep your tanks from being
recontaminated by treating new plants and putting new fish in a temporary
tank for a few days before introducing them to your planted tanks.


Paul Krombholz, recovering from another cold.