What kind of algae is this?

[NinjaFly]

Anyone please let me know what kind of algae the below is? And how I can remove them.
It appear sometime after I started increasing my lighting wattage and small dose of the water fertilizer, Sera florena



Also, I got this plant from Gan last time, only about 2-3 stalk that time and it had grown. I like this plant coz it is not very big and doesn't seems demanding. Can let me know what is it?



Thanks alot!

[DEA]

you're pretty much screwed wrt to pic 1
that's black BEARD algae, and the way to remove it is through . . . proper water management
this is a telltale sign that something is seriously wrong with your tank, organics-wise
you probably feed quite a bit or have something rotting in the tank, plant material or etc
these coupled with the increased fert could have triggered this
cut off all affected leaves, clean out the filter and change water regularly
oh, and cross your fingers

as for pic 2, it appears to be a cryptocoryne spp., if i'm not wrong
it's a slow growing plant and thus becomes a very attractive target for algae

[wahlaueh]

You might find this thread helpful. Read the solution given by Ahkitus.

If I'm not wrong, the circumference of your umbrella plant is also attacked by BBA.

Your pic very graphical!!! []

http://www.aquarealms.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?t=6294

[DEA]

link for u

[DEA]

anyway, just FYI
that thing in the pic? it's not brush algae
nothing eats it, and even after it dies, it doesn't melt away like brush algae
it looks like a beard, that's why it's called beard algae

traditional algae fighting techniques will fight it off eventually
lighting means nothing to it
strong light, low light, it doesn't care
hydrogen peroxide WILL melt it, but at the cost of your shrimp, if you're not lucky
with crypts in your tank, it is very ill advised as you're likely to melt all of them too

[NinjaFly]

Yeah .. quite a number of my plants had been attacked by this algae!

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Your pic very graphical!!! []
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wahlaueh : Graphical?!?!? Dun get you ... enlighten me please ...

[wahlaueh]

Opps sorry...I thought brush algae and beard algae are the same thing. And brush algae will go into beard algae under direct light. Ya, I agree that nothing eats them. Even if you try plucking them, the roots stay put and will grow again. Best to just snip off the leaves. That's what I did to my umbrella plant.

Coincidentally, I was also using Florena at that time. Somemore reduce dosage to 1ml for 20l not 5ml as recommended.

[stressed]

Hi Ninjafly,

Remember me? heeeheee.....looks like you were attacked by "aliens" eh....best way to remove this is good water management....I was hit by these when I first started my tank...try planting abit more with some fast growing plants and reduce feeding, reduce fertilization frequency and concentration for now, and increase water change frequency...problem should go away in a couple of weeks.

Good luck

[NinjaFly]

Yeah .. I had increased the florena brand water ferlizer that time with strong lightings and resulted in those algae. Dun have that last time.

I was actually wondering what had caused the growth of this kind of algae? Too high in NO2,NO3?

Anyway, I used to do water change about once a week, 25% or a pail. Think for now I will have to do it more often.

BTW, I had tried to follow what you told me that day on doing a back-drop using the X-moss. Doesn't really work. So I started tieing it onto a plastic (dunno what's it called) and see if it will starts spreading. Once it grows more, I will redo until I have a thick back-drop. Hopefully the algae doesn't start attaching themselves onto them. [:]

[NinjaFly]

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Remember me? heeeheee.....looks like you were attacked by "aliens" eh....
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Haha ... if you said those are aliens, you should looked at the other thread by me ... "Freshwater corals?" .. Those looked more like aliens to me.

BTW, dun worry about the Xmoss .. they are not from that tank.

[spilopterus]

Having a spot with H.polysperma or H.Difformis should be a good deterent. I do not know if C.Thalicroides helps.

[CoryDorus]

Ninjafly, u have very nice cool pic.

[NinjaFly]

Corydorus,
I am definitely not into Photography...

Well, those pix are the nth try before I really get something that clear.

I hope to improve the next time I buy a digital cam.
Those pix are taken using a Nikon Coolpix 950.[:]

[vinz]

To take this kind of close ups... I find cameras with Macro shot feature useful. Also pay attention to the indicators form the cams. A lot of digi cams will indicate to you when it cannot focus.

[justjoin]

NinjaFly, where u get tt plastic mesh for yr back drop of moss? How much? the dimension?

I need it for my riccia back drop too.

or other suggestion fr fellow members

would like to try xmas/java moss but temp is too high for them - appro 30-32 deg cel. Will DIY fan & c how.

thks

[DEA]

got indicate meh? mine juz shows me a fuzzy pic, lol
if you're taking pics of static plants, you can con the camera into focusing on closer objects by focusing on your hand or finger, then moving it closer to the plant WITHOUT taking your finger off the button
that's how i managed to get this shot



this was taken 1 cm away from the plant

[juggler]

NinjaFly: That's a nice algae pic. Wonder if Simon would like to add it to the gallery.
Here are some things you may like to do:
1) Get one or two SAE to help eat away the algae.
2) You can at the same time put in some fast growing plants like Frogbits, Hornwort, Salvinia to absorb away the excess nutrients. These are floating plants, grows tremendously fast and are easily removed.
3) Keep up your regular water changes.
4) Stop fertilising unless you see deficiency problems.
Good luck.

[Simon]

LOL, perharps we can create a Algae database

[juggler]

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On 8/6/2002 12:08:38 PM

LOL, perharps we can create a Algae database
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It's a good idea because not all the time we get each kind of algae in the same tank. So hard for fellow aquarists to describe or reference. And possibly add the remedy for that algae too.

[NinjaFly]

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LOL, perharps we can create a Algae database
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Yeah ... As what DEA said.. my tank now seems quite pretty mess up.

We can start posting all kind of algae and it will definitely help anyone who wish to have a look on how it is like.

BTW, I started to see some red colour algae appearing in my 1.5ft tank.
Maybe I can post a pix next time I get hold of a camera.

Funny ... the red hair algae appear only after I clean up my tank and had do a major water change.