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Re:reinfestation of hair algae.




DIONIGI MALADORNO <DIONIGI.MALADORNO at roche_com> wrote Thursday, May 23:

>Subject: Beard Algae

.....<snipped>........I do not agree with those who consider it as a factor to
>prevent  algae infestations. I used bleach treatment of plants with
>success, but mostly for cosmetic reasons, or in order to give
>individual plants a chance to better recover from algae
>infestations.
>My point is that I suspect that many algae are almost ubiquitous
>(are we really sure that plants and fish are the main carriers? What
>about air, dust particles and tapwater?), and apparently algae-free
>tanks do carry small amounts of algae. They may however become
>visibly infested if the conditions change in favor of algae, even
>without any introduction of new plants or new fish.
..........<snipped>....

I invented the bleach treatment back around 1965, and, for me, it has been
very successful in eliminating hair algae permanently.  From what I have
been able to read, the various types of hair algae that I have had problems
with do not have resistant spores that can withstand drying.  The bleach
treatment can't eliminate green water algae, bluegreen algae
(Cyanobacteria), or green spot algae, but it really does get rid of the
hair algae types.  I grow my plants under conditions where, if it were
present at all, hair algae would multiply rapidly.  But, provided that I
have the plants and tank REALLY free of it, hair algae never shows up.  The
only source of reinfection that I have seen is new plants, although I
consider it likely that introducing new fish could bring it in as filaments
in the water that came with them or possibly as undigested filaments in the
fish's digestive tract.  So, just to be on the safe side, I give all new
fish a few days in a quarantine tank and then run them through some water I
know is free of filaments before they go in my plant tanks.

Even though I use soil from a nearby woods to grow my aquatic plants, I
have never in 30 years had hair algae show up, except once, when some
Cladophora got in on some plants that I had treated for two minutes.
Cladophora is the toughest of them all and needs four minutes in the 5%
bleach.


Paul Krombholz                  Tougaloo College, Tougaloo, MS  39174
In hot, humid 95 degree Mississippi