Help Needed: Thread Algae

[khseah79]

Hii.. any1 have any ideahow to remove thread algae beside using toothbrush to brush it away?? tried changing water but still growing.. cant do blackout as some of my plants need high lights

[gemo82]

Hi Bro,

My tank was infested during the 1st 3 weeks of starting up the tank also. What I did was to introduce SAE, Otto, Yamato etc fishes, do a little bit of water change every day, manually remove as much of the algae as I can and trimmed the affected areas of the plants. Be daring when you trim the plants, as much as you can, as they will grow back again. Also, starve your cleaning crew to force them to nibble at the algae. Took me some time to solve the problem, but at least my plants are growing almost algae free now.

Any bros got any other better and safe ways, please advice.

[Verminator]

I have found the best fish for eating thread algae is the common mollie. I had Black Leer tailed Mollies and they simply loved thread algae in my tank. They also ate/drank the thin film of oil on my water surface. They were fantastic, although they did nibble my plants once the algae was gone

[khseah79]

I have found the best fish for eating thread algae is the common mollie. I had Black Leer tailed Mollies and they simply loved thread algae in my tank. They also ate/drank the thin film of oil on my water surface. They were fantastic, although they did nibble my plants once the algae was gone

hmm... worth trying.. got a few mollies in my crayfish tank.. just worried they eat my baby shrimps too.... thanks bro..

[Verminator]

They will eat your baby shrimps; they ate their own young after giving birth in my tank. So your shrimplets may suffer i'm afraid. If you don't want to lose them, another strategy is probably best. In saying that they were very effective at keeping the tank clean

[leechaorui]

I also have hair algae problem. The details of my setup below:

Tank: 4x2x2 ft
Sand: Lapis sand with fertiliser
Plant: Quite a lot of Riccia, nana, Java & Christmas moss and leafly plants (fully planted)
fish: 80 beautiful cardinals & 2 Ottos (recently several of them died, including one otto)
Fish feed: mix of fishflakes for cardinal, live worms and frozen brineshrimp, all food consumed within a short time as fish compete for the food.
Added 20 SAEs bought from C328 a few days ago
Shrimp: 5 Crystal Red, a few Cherries and 16 Malayan. 1 cherry was recently pregnant.

Lighting: 4x36watt and 2x55watt PL lights (switched on 8 hrs a day)
CO2, 1 to 1.5 bubble per second, run full day.
Cannister: 2 Cannisters (1550 litres and 1400 litres/ hr)
1 submerged Powerhead filter (2000 litres per hr)
Blackout for the rest of the day, except those 8 to 10 hours of lighting.
Add about 1 litre of ice everyday in the afternoon to cool the temperature of the water.

WC, almost everyday 5%
Manually remove whatever hair algae I can see everyday
Medication: Anti Chlorine, Blackwater, Oxygen salt (don't think it is salt but oxygen giving powder added into tank to improve water quality) and Down PH solution.

Any solution to hair algae problem?

[khseah79]

Hmm.. saw my horn snail chomping on a strand of thread algae yesterday night.. think they will love to eat it just tat they are floating with the water flow and that they cant reach it..

[torque6]

Pond snails in my previous setup did take them out but having fauna eating algae isnt the best solutions.