Help to ID this alage.

**jkcs** · 29th Sep 2015, 22:41

Hello everyone,

I know this qns has been asked countless time and because I do not know the name of this algae, thus I created this new thread

as per subject titled, kindly advise. TIA

if I read correctly from the www, it is caused by excess of iron in the water column and I know SAE eats thisalgae.jpg

**Urban Aquaria** · 30th Sep 2015, 00:13

Looks like thread algae... but brown in color.

Just curious, was that thread algae always brown in color, or was it originally green but turned brown after some time?

**jkcs** · 30th Sep 2015, 10:07

Hello Bro,

thanks for the reply

it is brown color when I noticed. nvr see it being green before unless it changes color very fast.

in your reply, u have mentioned thread algae, I googled "brown thread algae" and have results. sorry ah, because there a lot of description for algae e.g fuzzy, furry etc in the forum

**Urban Aquaria** · 30th Sep 2015, 12:20

Yeah, there are many different forms of algae so its possible to encounter brown thread versions... some people say its a stringy/thread version of diatoms, which could also be a possibility.

Thread algae would typically be eaten by dwarf shrimps... the most efficient so far are yamato shrimp (if you don't mind their larger size). Alternatively you can also utilize an army of the smaller cherry or malayan shrimps to help clear it too. How fast or effective they are still depends on the rate of algae growth though.

SAE can also help to eat some thread algae too, though they tend to become lazy as they grow and eventually prefer to eat more fish food instead.

**jkcs** · 1st Oct 2015, 13:47

i think I will forgo enlisting the help of shrimp because
1) I read from forum that lfs sells them in packet of 50 or 100.. (later my tank will have "6.9mil" population :P) also I hear they breed fast and alot
2) my tank does not have fan and the temp and be up to 31 deg, also not sure if substrate plays a part too for shrimp to survive. (lfs sells substrate specially for shrimp)
haha

**Urban Aquaria** · 1st Oct 2015, 14:42

Well, those 50pc bulk bag cherry or malayan shrimps are the low grade ones and usually smaller-sized juvenile size shrimps, so they wouldn't be adding that much bio-load to your tank. A percentage of them will usually gradually die off due to the initial transition period so getting a larger group helps ensure there are enough left to do the algae eating work. You actually need alot of them to make a difference, otherwise if just a few there wouldn't be much effect.

If they breed its actually good because you will have a self-sustaining population of algae eaters, the new shrimplets replace the old shrimps (it will still take time for them to breed and increase their population though). Algae will always be present so you need a population of them to constantly keep it in check. Any excess shrimps you can cull and just give away, lots of people will be glad to take them.

Alternatively, you could also just buy less shrimps... LFS also sell the nicer grade ones in smaller quantity. They look good and also eat algae, just that each cost more.

If you don't want the shrimps to breed at all, then just buy yamato shrimps, excellent algae eaters and usually cost around $1 each at most LFS. One large yamato shrimp can do the job of 6-8 smaller shrimps. They don't breed in freshwater (their hatched larvae need saltwater conditions to develop) so there'll be no possibility of overpopulation. The trade-off is you will need to keep buying more of them to replenish any that naturally die over time.

All those types of shrimps that i mentioned above can live in non-chilled tanks at normal room temperatures, so you don't need to install a fan or chiller just to keep them. They also don't need special soil substrates or buffers either.

**jkcs** · 1st Oct 2015, 16:13

thanks bro. next time I got question, I PM you can liao (haha, just kidding)

**jkcs** · 2nd Oct 2015, 14:16

bought 3 SAEs, so far, they have been hardworking.

**DeadEnd** · 6th Oct 2015, 14:22

Look like Rhizoclonium

**jkcs** · 11th Oct 2015, 15:22

just an update that my problem is resolved. sae and horned nerite snail made my tank cleaned, even the green spot algae on the leaves of the nana is gone.

hope other forumers will find my post helpful

**jkcs** · 2nd Nov 2015, 22:42

hello all, it is me again back with the same problem after adding Dwarf puffers into it. Need advice again, how do DP owners keep their DP's tank free of algae?

I didn't add:
1) the SAE back because they eat live food too fast, my DP will go hungry
2) horned nerite snail because the DP keep wanting to eat them and so they refused to work on the algae on the nana

i have reduced the hour of lighting from 7 to 5 and once a week, I dose some liquid fert. Give me advice please.. tia again

**Urban Aquaria** · 2nd Nov 2015, 23:00

Originally Posted by jkcs

hello all, it is me again back with the same problem after adding Dwarf puffers into it. Need advice again, how do DP owners keep their DP's tank free of algae?

I didn't add:
1) the SAE back because they eat live food too fast, my DP will go hungry
2) horned nerite snail because the DP keep wanting to eat them and so they refused to work on the algae on the nana

i have reduced the hour of lighting from 7 to 5 and once a week, I dose some liquid fert. Give me advice please.. tia again

Yeah, dwarf puffers do hunt and eat the same creatures commonly used as algae eaters. Maybe you can try adding otocinclus and more shrimps, they can help eat some of the algae too.

I guess without the help of specialist algae eaters, you'll just have to further reduce the light intensity and photo-period, and probably roll up your sleeves more often to manually trim leaves and remove algae.