Strands and Strands of Algaeeeeeeee

[raytan12]

Hi guys,
my tank is clear at last. used canister filter now. better. however, i have long thin strands of algae, is it hair algae, it can grow in a mass. clinging to the fine leaves of the plants. so what is this algae, how to get rid of them? so far i only hand pick them... any other better ways to do?
now another problem, my other tank... water is also clear now... my cardinals don seem to be eating... 3 died last friday. they're quite big size now. what's wrong? i put in heater to 29C, will it help. besides cardinals, what other fish will be nice in planted tanks?
look forward to your advices. thanks

[PeterGwee]

How long has it been since you did your last water change? The fact that fish behave abnormally usually points to poor water condition. You can either buy test kit for NH3/NH4 (unlikely that it could be detected) and NO2 to test for the presence of such stuff and if they are in toxic range, do a water change immediately or the other way round is to grow plants well (they will take care of your fishes when they grow well...plant heavily with fast growing stem plants to stablize your tank faster.)

Algae grows when nutrients get out of whack...what is your watts/gallon? CO2 level (pH/KH)? Fert regime? Most likely I think is poor CO2 level...newbies tend to slack on this and then get algae problems..get it up to 20-30ppm and then you can try to correct your nutrient balance..nothing will work if CO2 level is not corrected.