# Hair Algae Help



## HONDO (May 4, 2008)

I bought some anubias today that had hair algae on them. I have never dealt with hair algae today, figured my bristlenose would take care of it.

I was reading about it just now and it seems like I may have put something in my tank that people fight to get rid of. Is hair algae going to be an issue if I added plants that have it on them?

Should I remove the plants and burn them asap? Can I clean them and put them back in?

Please give me some guidance as to what I have done and if its too late to stop it. The plants have been in the tank for an hour now... help.


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## LJ (Sep 12, 2007)

Hair algae can be pretty bad. To tell how big of a problem it will be, we need to know more about the tank. Can you give some specs?

Also, can you describe the algae to make sure it is hair algae?


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## HONDO (May 4, 2008)

PH out of tap is around 7.5, my tanks (wood etc) lower it closer to 7. Temps are up at the moment, treating with salts so lookin at 82/83.

ammonia 0, nitrites 0, nitrates 15-20. I do 1/3 wcs twice per week, water is pretty good.

I keep sa cichlids, severum, gt, 9 blackskirts, one bn pleco, 75 gallon tank.

lighting is what came with the tank.

I bought the anubias about 3 hours ago and dropped them off at home. the algae is very dark green. pretty long, close to 3 inches or so in the longest spots. the guy at the lfs said it was hair algae, the anubias were like half off. i have never dealt with this kind of thing, he said i could remove it by hand if i wanted to but didnt make too big of a deal out of it. i dont mind it on the plant, but i do not want to deal with this stuff if its going to spread all over my tank. never had any other algae problems, other than the standard stuff the plecos take care of.

do you need more infmroation? i will answer any questions if i can! thank you LJ.


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## LJ (Sep 12, 2007)

Does sound like hair algae. I've had problems with it in the past. It can spread rapidly.

If you remove the anubias now, you will reduce the chances of the hair algae taking over the tank.

If you keep the anubias, manual removal is the first option. Try to get the anubias as free of it as possible. After manual removal, just keep up with water changes. When I've had it in the past it has gotten the most out of control when I've skipped a water change.

I've had very good results with Flourish Excel as well, using a dose (as prescribed on the bottle) after water changes.

The biggest thing right now is not to let it get a foothold. If you see it getting worse....manual removal. Keep it in check.

There are other options. I've heard of dipping plants in a concentrated excel solution, but have never tried it. You could search that in this forum for info on this option. This would involve treating the anubias and then putting it back in the tank.

Is it a lot of anubias we are talking about? Is the tank heavily planted?


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## HONDO (May 4, 2008)

its one large plant, i keep a large ammount of floating anubias in this tank. these are the only plants. other than that, just driftwood, sometimes a rock or two.

i could remove it now and try to clean it and not have it be too big of a deal. is it really that bad if it starts to spread, as far as getting rid of it? how long til i could safely say it has taken hold? a matter of hours, days, weeks?

thank you for the help LJ. I appreciate your time.

heres a link to a thread i posted with some pics of my tank, just in case it helps: http://www.cichlid-forum.com/phpBB/view ... 598d0a3de4

New scape pictures


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## LJ (Sep 12, 2007)

Under your lighting (not too intense) it won't spread extremely fast, although all that anubias is floating pretty close to the light. You would see it spreading to other plants that it was touching first. IME, it attaches most readily to other plants and to driftwood, although I've had it grip the substrate and filter intake before as well. I'd say if it started to spread and was left unchecked, it could take a strong hold in 1-2 weeks under your lighting.

If I were you I'd take out the anubias with the algae and keep it in a separate bowl of water for tonight. Then get some Flourish Excel and spot treat. Hollyfish2000 talks about spot treating in this post:

http://www.cichlid-forum.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=175990&highlight=excel+dip

Also some discussion here on a similar issue:

http://www.cichlid-forum.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=161560&highlight=excel+dip

Honestly I think you'll be alright as long as you keep an eye on things.


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## BoostedX (Mar 1, 2009)

Everything LJ said was spot on. You could try rubbing the algae off and leaving it in the bowl in a dark room for a while. That might kill it. Nice tank BTW.. Set up very nice..


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## HONDO (May 4, 2008)

thanks for the compliment boostedx. i will go take the plants out, clean it and set it in a 5 gallon bucket overnight. i will go tomorrow and get something to treat the plant. im also gonna go a massive wc and cleaning tonight just to be safe. the poop from the pleco drives me crazy enough, i dont think i could deal with an out of control algae bloom of that junk.

LJ, thnaks for the links and all the help. i will let you guys know how it goes.


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## BoostedX (Mar 1, 2009)

Im the exact same way about my tank. I hate all the **** that builds up on the bottom but i guess its the price you pay with sand. Plus it looks better when its clean..


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## HONDO (May 4, 2008)

yeah, i agree... until 10 minutes after a wc and the pleco does his thing. drives me nuts.
i tried ugj but my fish really did not like the current.

i know you didnt ask, but one little trick i have been playing with is to build a ridge of sand a few inches from the back of the tank. instead of the steady decline of sand from back to front, there is a ridge and a very large ammount of the poop sits back there and i cannot see it. its still there which is no good, but at least its visually more pleasant.

the current from my filters blows to the front of the tank and does that whole circular motion thing and kind of slowly pushes everything back there. my fish seem to also like it, swimming back and forth in the little channel.

sorry to ramble, just been on my mind lately!


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## LJ (Sep 12, 2007)

Good luck. Do let us know how things work out.


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## HONDO (May 4, 2008)

i took the plants out last night and put them in a bucket in my bathroom. i did a big wc and tried to clean everything off wood, sand etc. i will do another wc tonight to try to really prevent an outbreak. the plants with the algae are a mess. i tried to clean them off but its completely overcome with the stuff and is like a complete disaster of a mess. i think its beyond cleaning by hand. i am going to go to a lfs today to see if theres any kind of treatment or "dip" i can put in the bucket to kill the stuff off.

funny thing is, the algae on the plant actually is very cool looking. if it didnt spread real bad to the whole tank i would definetely keep it in the tank. i love the look of it and my sev was actually picking at it before i removed it


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## hollyfish2000 (Aug 23, 2007)

> i am going to go to a lfs today to see if theres any kind of treatment or "dip" i can put in the bucket to kill the stuff off.


You can use Excel at a rate of about 1 part Excel to five parts water. Don't use it straight as it will kill the plant. it's best to just dip the leaves rather than the roots just to be safe. The algae will turned red and die in a day or two


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## HONDO (May 4, 2008)

thanks!


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## HONDO (May 4, 2008)

well, i ended up taking out all the algae covored plants and just throwing them away. they were absolutely covored and getting that stuff off was a waste of time. i just pitched them and the bucket they were in and will eat the 8 bucks i paid for them. i have done thorough %50 water changes the past two days so hopefully i nipped it in the bud and wont get an outbreak.

thank you to everyone who helped me out.


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## trackhazard (Mar 21, 2007)

Just an FYI about anubias and other thick leaved plants:

You can do a bleach dip. I use a 5% solution (1:19 bleach:water). Take out the anubias, prune off really bad leaves with a sharp pair of scissors or a hobby knife as close to the rhizome as you can. Dip the remaining plant in the water. Some people are careful not to dip the rhizome in the water. I'm not so careful but I generally try to not submerge the whole plant unless the rhizome itself is also covered in algae. Swish the plants for about 30 sec then throw into a bucket of clean water with extra dechlor in it. This should take care of any bleach residue. Let the plants soak for a few minutes, rinse them off with more clean water and they should be ready for the tank. At this point, all the algae should be either white or red (depending on what kind it is) and you can scrape off whatever you have left and return the plants to the tank.

I've done this for all my anubias and java fern.

Charlie


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