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Re: blackish-gray hair algae
Michael inquired....
>Problem - I have a tank that has been set up for six months. The past
>month i noticed a hairy blackish-gray algae growing. The algae only grows
>on plants, rocks, and ornaments, I have not seen any growing on the glass.
>It is very tough, holds tightly to the surface. The algae has several
>hairs that will grow from a central node on the surface of the object but
>their are many nodes of this algae on the objects and plants and it grows
>quite thick. If I dont find out how to stop it soon it looks like it will
>take over the whole tank.
<deleted>
It sounds as if you might have an infestation of audouinella or black
brush algae. Some people find that their siamese algae eaters (SAEs)
will keep this algae under control. The situation may be ameliorated
by using the PMDD approach of careful daily dosing of nutrients to
encourage the plants to outcompete the algae. You could also try
bleaching the plants and aquarium furniture for 3 to 5 minutes in
a solution of 1 part chlorine bleach to 19 parts water. Some plants
tolerate this torture better than others. For my part I have found
that the audouinella is difficult to eradicate using the bleach
treatment.
Details of all three procedures should be found in the FAQs at
( I believe) http://www.cco.caltech.edu/~aquaria/Krib/.
--
Dave Whittaker
ac554 at FreeNet_Carleton.ca