Hi everyone, I set up a tank 3 weeks ago, 2nd week it got infested with brown algae, but that was easily settled. Now I have this algae in my tank
Can't seem to properly ID it, so asking for experts for help here and how I can tackle it. Thanks for reading!
Last edited by dhmy2kgto; 31st Dec 2014 at 12:22. Reason: re uploading picture
Looks like the typical thread/hair algae... manual removal, more frequent water change to flush out excess nutrients, improved water flow and circulation to prevent nutrients pooling in dead-spots around the plants and introduction of a small army of hardworking/hungry shrimps will help keep it under control.
Along with the above steps, you can also dose algae treatments like AlgExit to help further inhibit the algae growth too.
Great!! Thank you sir! But two things I noticed... 1) the algae is only growing in areas exposed to high flow, those plants under my lily pipes are algae free, 2) my algae crew don't seem too interested in them, it is normal?
Sometimes that happens... hair/thread algae gets blown around the tank and end up tangled in carpet plants along the path and continue growing there, which is probably why you see them in the high flow areas. Certain types of hair/thread algae species (there are many different species) also happen to like high flow areas, they grow well in the same conditions as plants.Originally Posted by dhmy2kgto
What type of algae crew do you have and how many are there in relation to the tank size and plant density?
Different algae eaters prefer different algae, and if they are fed well with commercial food or have access to other easier food sources, they would be less inclined to feed on those hair/thread algae (its tough and probably not as tasty), hence the need for algae eaters to be "hungry" to do the work.
The quantity of algae eaters also matter, too few and they wouldn't make a dent in the algae. The algae basically grows faster than they can eat it.
Condition of the algae also affects how palatable they are to the algae eaters. Many algae eaters prefer to eat the algae when its weak or dying (probably its softer so easier to pick and chew), so you need to combine various methods to weaken and inhibit the algae so that they become more edible for the algae eaters.
I see... I'll try to get my hands on AlgExit first to weaken the algae, hopefully the crew will attack it in its weaken state. I currently have 2 SAEs, 3 Otos, 3 nerite snails, 10 Yamatos and 10 cherry shrimps (due to shortage of yamatos) in a 2 X 1 X1.3(ft) tank. They did a great job in getting rid of my Diatom issue
Thats a very good team of algae eaters. For these types of hair/thread algae, the yamato and cherry shrimps would be the main crew to help clear it. The SAE may help abit, though its more likely they are probably waiting for tastier pellets and wafers instead.I see... I'll try to get my hands on AlgExit first to weaken the algae, hopefully the crew will attack it in its weaken state. I currently have 2 SAEs, 3 Otos, 3 nerite snails, 10 Yamatos and 10 cherry shrimps (due to shortage of yamatos) in a 2 X 1 X1.3(ft) tank. They did a great job in getting rid of my Diatom issue
Hopefully Yamatos will be back in stock soon. Thanks again!Thats a very good team of algae eaters. For these types of hair/thread algae, the yamato and cherry shrimps would be the main crew to help clear it. The SAE may help abit, though its more likely they are probably waiting for tastier pellets and wafers instead.
In this case, the yamato shrimps will do most of the algae eating job... the cherry shrimps are smaller and currently too few to have as much effect at the moment, but they do provide some color to the crew.
Y618 have yamato in stock. they are very good in cleaning hair algae
Thanks for the heads up!
just to check. Can a yamato shrimp mix with a brood of normal red rili and fire reds ? have these hair algaes too
Yamato shrimps are different genus so they wouldn't interbreed with your red rili or fire reds... though do be aware that the red rili and fire reds themselves will interbreed with each other.
Note that yamato shrimps are much larger than cherry shrimps (up to 4-5x larger), so they will look way out of scale amongst your other shrimps, especially in smaller tanks.
If you want to preserve the sense of scale in your tank, you could stock more red rili or fire reds instead, they do the same algae clearing job, just need more numbers to increase their efficiency. Its all a matter of size vs quantity.
I alr have about 30 pcs of them in a 10l tank 20x20x25 . Is there a rule of thumb to say how much can we stock for shrimps?
Shrimps have relatively low bio-load, so the stocking ratio mainly ends on your filtration efficiency and tank maintenance routine.
Though if you already have 30 shrimps in a 10 liter tank and you still have hair algae (the algae growing faster than the shrimps can consume), then you'll have to look at other factors. Most likely its either too much feeding and too much accumulated nutrients or too much light (both not being used completely by the plants), so the hair algae use it to grow rapidly instead.
Try reducing lighting, doing more frequent small water changes, adding more fast growing plants and reduce feeding (that will also encourage the shrimps to eat more algae rather then just eating commercial food)... basically do things which help bring the tank environment back under balance.
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