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Algal mat solutions



Having both black or red ramshorns and Malaysian trumpet snails might cut down a little on the algal mat. Adding an ostracod to the culture, sometimes called hard shelled daphnia or Cypris, will reduce all the algae growth on the sides, floor, and surface of the container. They can easily be separated if you wish when harvesting. Put them in a round bucket and swirl the water. The daphnia will ride the current, but the ostracods will go to the center of the bucket where the current is least and can be easily siphoned out. Also if you switch to a Moina instead of a Daphnia species, they seem to eat algae since even blue-green has not yet appeared in my cultures of them. However most of these measures simply slow the arrival of the day when major maintenance or resetting the culture needs to be done. Seeing any floating algal mat is an indication I use to discard that culture and set up new ones. Continuing past that point risks two fates. One is having the Daphnia crash and be replaced by Cyclops, a much more pollution-tolerant organism. The other is providing a breeding ground for the drain fly, an insect with an aquatic maggot. Drain flies are vectors for many diseases.


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