What eats hair algae?

[TyroneGenade]

hi all,
i think the subject line makes it pretty clear what i'm after. any suggestions? its ruining a pretty nice but humble planted tank. :-(
thanks

[spdskr]

Tyrone,

Siamese algae eaters (but they get large), amano shrimp, various livebearers and hardwater killies will all eat the stuff. I'm not sure if any of them will eradicate it, however. I had green hair algae in my 29g high light tank until I removed the driftwood and replaced with "fake" wood.

Duane

[SQUEAK]

Hi Tyrone,

I have found that Floridae Jordanelle otherwise known as the American Flag Fish will eat hair algae for the most part. However, they will only help keep it at bay - not fix the problem. They are also can be very messy fish in my experience, especially when consuming large amounts of algae. Be careful when using these fish around plants with somewhat delicate leaves such as Rotala. My pair of AFF's stripped all the leaves off my rotala plants.

[ed seeley]

Is it the green hair algae or the darker black brush algae (which is a red algae really)? Inconsistent CO2 is often a trigger for the latter. Do you add CO2 and what fertilisers do you use?

In my planted tank I have snails, shrimp and Otos and between them (and the 30ppm CO2 and fertilisers I add) there's only a bit of green spot algae on the rocks and glass. I'd say Amano or Cherry shrimp would be your best bet.

[TyroneGenade]

hi all,
thanks for the advice. being a big killie fan the jordanella sound nice but there are none in south africa. i did see some SAEs at a LFS so they may be an option. i have some platys in the tank but no luck so far. it is certainly green algae!
thanks!

[wllm33]

will nereit snails do the trick?

[exotic_idiot]

Would you like trying malayan shrimps or yamato shrimps?

[natureAddict]

how many malayan shrimps do you need for a 2 feet tank? this hair algae is only starting to grow

[EvolutionZ]

get 100 pieces to be sure..

[exotic_idiot]

get 100 pieces to be sure..

The pro is sharing his secrets now..!!! What are you waiting for get 100??? Really very affordable so don't expect to pay more than a red note for 100 malayan shrimps..

[EvolutionZ]

The pro is sharing his secrets now..!!! What are you waiting for get 100??? Really very affordable so don't expect to pay more than a red note for 100 malayan shrimps..

if i pro i don't even need to get shrimps to clear my algae.
yea.. they are beautiful.. big and very affordable.. recently i just found all of mine either reddish brown, black or dark brown.. all with a golden strip!

[wllm33]

if i pro i don't even need to get shrimps to clear my algae.
yea.. they are beautiful.. big and very affordable.. recently i just found all of mine either reddish brown, black or dark brown.. all with a golden strip!

sakura shrimps can do the same job or not?
i know they are expensive, but my tank only 1 footer, so may not need so many.
thanks

[fishbuger]

I have sakuras and they do eat a bit but only got 6 of them so not much impact.I dunno if having more sakuras will ease the problem but my $4 for 50 malayans took care of my problem in less than 3 days but of course they overcrowded the tank so they took heavy losses too. I'm still learning still but this is what I experienced

[EvolutionZ]

sakura i guess they will.. but malayans are very effective.. recently i took some BBA-infested driftwood to dry and used them back, then the BBA starts to turn red after placing back. the usual "always hiding" malyans came out to feast on the BBA.

[beetroot]

I think Cherries do a great job too, compared to Sakuras. I have Cherries and Sakuras, but no Malayans.
Once, I put a piece of wood with hair algae into the Sakuras tank for them to "clean".. for days there were still leftover hair algae. But once in the Cherry tank, all algae gone in a day. Not sure why the difference even though they should be from the same family...

[natureAddict]

i just remembered red ramshorn snail. they are big. anyone got any experience to share?

[wllm33]

do you all think that the algae on the leaves of my downoi and gujing will also be cleaned up by the shrimps or i need something more to do that.

i already got the neriet snails and 1 oto, but i still see green on the leaves.
a bit worried that it might kill the plants.
thanks

[natureAddict]

i find both are equally good at cleaning, but many of my nerite died - dont know why. but red ramshorn multiplied

[wllm33]

one of my nerite also died for no apparent reasons. the other 5 still ok.
haven't tried ramshorns yet. too many snails already in the 1 footer.

[stillife]

I find the best way is to manually remove them using a small brush or tweezer. It would be easier to remove them when they are longer or coiled up like a ball.

If it's just on a single area of a plant or on a wood. Try to remove it from the tank.

There are cons if you accidentally break the hair algae and it drift to other plants and grow on from there.

Quite a pain to have these.....ugly stuffs

just a thought