Re: Aquatic Plants Digest V1 #165

To: Aquatic-Plants at actwin_com
Subject: Re: Aquatic Plants Digest V1 #165
From: krombhol at freud_inst.com (Paul Krombholz)
Date: Thu, 6 Jul 1995 11:38:22 +0600

>From: "John Y. Ching" <jyching at watnow_uwaterloo.ca>
>Date: Wed, 5 Jul 1995 13:46:54 -0400 (EDT)
>Subject: Buying Plants from people on this list?

>This morning I
>noticed that the swords have this dark green fur-like algae all over the
>leaves, despite my soaking them in a bleach solution as per reading this
>list.

I really find it hard to believe that a fur-like algae survived the bleach
treatment.  Was it a 5% dilution of liquid bleach, such as Clorox or Purex?
This would be, for example, 50 ml of bleach in 1 liter.  Was the plant
submerged in this solution and stirred around for a minumum of 2 minutes?
A sword plant should be able to survive 3 to 4 minutes without serious
damage.  Are you sure that the algae you noticed that morning had been on
the leaves when you treated the plant?  Is there a possibility that it
could have got on the plant after you put it in the aquarium?   Are the
'hairs' of the algae tough and firmly attached, or are they soft, slippry
and capable of being rubbed off with your finger?  The fur-like algae that
I know is Oedogonium.  It is tough and firmly attached, and I know that 2
minutes in the bleach solution kills it.

Again, let me say that I don't have any problems with hair algae, because I
got rid of it all, and now I treat new plants with the bleach solution and
put them in aquariums free of hair algae.  I don't have to worry about
nitrates or phospahtes being too high.  I keep green water and soft
attached algae (including bluegreens) from being a problem by having
daphnia and snails.

It isn't true that the spores of hair algae are everywhere and will
reinfect your tanks. You may pick up hair algae from soil If you collect it
near a lake or pond.  Otherwise, the only major route of infection is by
way of new plants, although there is a possibility that it could be carried
in with new fish or snails.

It is worth the effort to get rid of hair algae.  When hair algae is
present, you are forced to crowd and starve your plants to keep it from
taking over. It is a serious pest that we in the aquatic plant hobby do not
have to put up with.

Paul Krombholz