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Ameca Splendens in Southern California



Does anyone know of a LFS in the Southern California area that currently 
stocks Ameca Splendens.  I have a 100 gallon tank that is getting overrun by 
an algae that my bristlenoses, SAEs, otos, and American Flagfish do not eat.  
The algae is a form of hair algae.  In the tank it looks grey, but out of the 
tank it is a dark blue-green.  It forms threads that can grow up to ten 
inches long.  The threads do branch, but only every couple of inches or so.  
The algae prefers to grow at the bottom of the tank, either in the gravel 
(flourite) or on plant leaves.  It doesn't grow on the acrylic tank sides or 
on the bogwood.  If it grows on a leaf you cannot get it off without damaging 
the leaf.  The Amecas are my last hope before I tear down the tank and bleach 
everything.  Since my plants are doing so well, I am extremely reluctant to 
tear down the tank.

I am also curious as to why the algae is doing so well.  Every time I measure 
phosphate with my Seachem test kit, the reading is zero.  I have dropped my 
PMDD dosage so that my Seachem iron test kit barely turns a hint of purple - 
which should equate to an iron level of .05 ppm.  I add KNO3 to the tank 
separately from the PMDD and try to keep the level between .25 and .5 N per 
my LaMotte N-NO3 test kit which equates to 1-2 ppm of NO3.  I used to keep 
the NO3 at 5-10 ppm, but that encouraged green spot algae to grow on the tank 
sides.  Its nice not to have to buff the sides of the tank every week.  

In reading through the Algae articles on "The Krib" I did see mention that 
‘overfeeding' the fish can cause algae even if the iron, N and P levels are 
okay.  That may be my problem as I have a pair of breeding dwarf gouramis and 
a school of 30 neon tetras that I feed several times a day in the tank.  They 
eat all the food - none drops to the bottom, but I suppose their feces add a 
lot of nutrients to the water.

Any help or suggestions would be appreciated.

Roger Gordon
San Diego, California