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Anything eat staghorn algae?
I have a sparsely planted 55g (160w) tank that has a small problem with green spots on
the gravel, but a large problem with what I think is stag horn algae. It is not dense at
all on the leaves, and it has the branching pattern of a stag's horn, so I figure it is
that. The color of it is very dark; a brown, or perhaps black, color to it. If I allow it
to grow, it can reach a length from rhizoid to tip of about 2-3". The cause is obviously
the heavy fertilizing that I am doing to grow a hyacinth (which is doing great thus far).
The fertilizer is a pond one (22-8-4) which is high in PO4, but I am not going to reduce
that, because I want the hyacinth to receive the full benefit of the fertilizer. Anyway,
I was wondering if there was a fish or crustacean out there (with SAE as an exception)
that could eat this algae. It is usually a better solution than bleaching, or fooling
around with nutrient levels for me, so I like to use creatures to control algae problems.
Am I correct in thinking that a molly will do this job for me? Before I go spend $3
dollars on a molly that is going to get eaten after a few days by the bullhead, I want to
know if it will help out at all. I reduced the lighting to 10 hours, so I think that this
will help. The leaves of the plants that have this algae do not look all that unhealthy,
but the algae does reduce the aesthetic effect of the tank.
Thanks.