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Tank Algae


Em

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I took a few photos of my 3 foot tank which seems to be a havesting ground for some sort of algae, as shown in the below photos

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Side View, notice it all over the sponge filter and drift wood. (please excuse reflection of me)

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Top View, this is just a portion of what was there last week.

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Top view of what I managed to pull off the driftwood during the tank's cleanout on Monday

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Side view, with a bit of gravel in the bottom.

It seem to love to clump together when I take it off anything in the tank but grows on seems to grow on anything in this tank.

Any idea what kind of algae I have here? it doesn't do the eel any harm and I've used it in my last few spawns as a source of little microbes for betta fry and didn't killed them or the parents. And what can I do with it, it seems a waste to just throw it out.

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I call that green hair algae, not sure what its actual name is. I liked it until one of my favourite male bettas got trapped in it and it actually cut him, I needed scissors to get him out. He was an elderly gent and had trouble recovering. I have also heard that Sienna Smiles had trouble with fry getting trapped in it and dying. I still have bits of it but I manually remove it pretty frequently so it's mostly just wisps now. I'm sure it would be good for your garden/compost as it would theoretically be full of nitrogen.

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I've got the same prob in my outside 3ft. it's a pain, but looks wicked on my pirate ship flowing in the filter current :D :D the only prob is that it grows on all the plants also, so I basically have to uproot the plants and untangle them :rant: there's a weed killer that u can get. we used it in our outside pond, when that was all u cud see. it got rid of it pretty quickly, and since then we haven't seen it in the pond. (the weed killer was an anti-algae pond one that treated for Green hair algae/blanket weed, not roundup or anything :blink::lol: )

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I had it pretty bad in my 2 foot fry tank. The pond snails couldn't keep up with it but the applesnails keep it under control (the lfs said they wouldn't :blink: ). When I take the applesnails out for a spawn the hair comes back within a week or so.

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i've got a bunch of baby apple snails if you'd like some. they're about the size of a ten cent piece, but will grow pretty quickly (up to the size of a tennis ball) and live for 4-6 years. i keep the adults in my main tank along with golden loaches and i never see any algae in there at all.

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I pretty much get the same thing, mostly on sword leaves, the only thing ive really found effective was a black out for 3 days, ive added co2 to help the plants gain the upperhand, but i dont belive its diffusing properly :lol: Otos are supposed to be great algae eaters, i however can never find healthy specimens AND the price :rant: expensive, they like to be in groups too... :blink:

If you add some more plants they may outcompete with it also.

EDIT: went through my favorites and found a good website http://www.aquaticscape.com/articles/algae.htm#types

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This has been called 'matt algae' to me. :lol: I get it mega in my pond. About twice a year I tear it apart and remove as much as possible. It seems to go well for a couple of months afterwards. In my 3ft, I've got it on my javamoss... So I'm going to have to sacrafice a bunch of that to get rid of it. I'm not really sure what to be doing, either - so I'm interested in the ideas. :lol:

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My solution to remove 'sticky' algae, as strange as it sounds, is to remove the fish (if possible, or just the parts with the algae, and do this in a bucket), and add a strong mixture of that free floating blue green algae, till the tank is basically green. Keep adding light. I find that when i have done this the sticky algae dies. Then just do a whole lotta water changes. Completly fixed my castle thingy that had hair all over it

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BGA is a cyanobacteria, it's VERY bad to have in your tanks as it can stagnate the water, it excretes something into the water (can't remember what but i know it's bad for plants and fish), and can cause massive fish kills due to a cumulation of effects it causes :( i'd be very wary of ever introducing it into my tanks system.

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ahhh you're talking about the algae that LOOKS blue/green in colour, not blue-green algae the cyanobacteria (usually a reddy-brown colour). very big difference :(

this is what i was talking about though with the toxins:

bad CB

edit: i should add that spirulina is a cyanobateria, but isn't a toxic form :(

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