Black hair algea

hey everyone,

Quick question, well a synopsis first i suppose, i've been lucky in my aquariums to never have an algea bloom before. Lately i've noticed what i have identified as black hair algea growing in my java moss and on some of my dwarf sag. The algea isn't creating a huge mess or anything but it's definately attaching itself to my plants. Besides ripping apart my tank and trying to remove it that way what are my best options. My snail population has been reduced significantly since the addition of my assassin. I'm planning on setting up a 5 gallon dirted tank just for this snail and maybe to start a shrimp population. Which without a predator my snail population will come back. Does anyone know of a snail species that really enjoys eating hair algea? I sometimes see my common pond snails clinging to it but i don't think they eat it. What about ramshorns or mystery or even MTS's do they eat hair algea?

So long-windedness aside, what are my best options of reducing this hair algea? I DO NOT want to use chemicals, i've cut down on the EI method of dosing ferts and only do about 20-24 drops every few days for a 24 gallon tank. I've got tons of plants and they are all doing very well, my fish are all healthy and seem happy, i've lost some shrimp along the way but mostly those die within a few hours of getting them home from the store. The strong, healthy ones do a decent job of cleaning up the substrate. Any advice is insanely appreciated. Thanks fish tank people you rock,

Patrick

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Permalink Reply by 2apes2gp667wr on September 29, 2011 at 4:20pm

A pic of the algae would be good. I am guessing you are getting BBA. Best way to get rid of it is dosing with Excel. It's not really a chemical per se, it is a liquid that activates carbon. It's from Seachem, which is a very good company. Put it in a plastic syringe and spray it directly on the algae. Should die after a few doses. I'm not sure on the dose amount so you will have to look that up. Other than that SAEs and Amano shrimp are supposed to eat it, but mine never did. Not while there were flakes and other tasty morsels coming in daily. Maybe if they were starving. Reduction of lighting will help remove any algae outbreak, but BBA is a very tough nut to crack that way. Good luck.

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Permalink Reply by Matthew on September 29, 2011 at 7:39pm

I'm all so having a problem with algae I think mine is fuzz algae so I'm woundering do you pull the plants out of the tank and dose or shut down the filter and inject in the water?

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Permalink Reply by 2apes2gp667wr on September 30, 2011 at 1:36am

Just inject it into the tank with the filter off. Also BBA loves to grow on the bottom half of stem plants. When that happens I usually just pull that plant out cut the bad part off & replant the top. Only stems though. Don't start pulling up swords & making a mess.