# What would you do???



## mpodolan (Mar 27, 2007)

Well, if you're just gonna throw it out, you might as well try the excel treatment. Who knows, you might get lucky


----------



## ikuzo (Jul 11, 2006)

i'd take it out, clean them all and start over. takes a lot of patience though.


----------



## bsmith (Jan 8, 2007)

Does anyone know what triggers hair algea?

Does hair algea spread to other plants?


----------



## Rod Hay (Feb 11, 2006)

Yes it can spread to other plants. 

I'd try removing it from the tank submerged in a pail of tank water, then into a dark closet for four days. Give the moss & algae a blackout treatment separate from doing your whole tank.


----------



## bsmith (Jan 8, 2007)

Rod Hay said:


> Yes it can spread to other plants.
> 
> I'd try removing it from the tank submerged in a pail of tank water, then into a dark closet for four days. Give the moss & algae a blackout treatment separate from doing your whole tank.


I didnt even think about blacking it out, great idea! I found thet it is spreading to my marimo ball too. I will find everything that it has attacked, take it out then black it out for 4-5 days!


----------



## bsmith (Jan 8, 2007)

Just put the moss in a dark tupperware (with tank water) in a file cabinet. I will let it out the 3rd of March and see what has happened.


----------



## Gatekeeper (Feb 20, 2007)

When you spot treated, did you turn your filters off? You have to let the water go stagnant for the spot treatment to really be effective.

Good luck with the B.O.


----------



## bsmith (Jan 8, 2007)

We will see what happens.


----------



## bsmith (Jan 8, 2007)

Well im pretty convinced that I have Clado not hair algea. I have read that low nutrient levels and low co2 are the triggers for it. My drop checker is always light green leaning towards the yellow side, and I dose daily.

Any other input on this stuff???


----------



## dekstr (Oct 23, 2007)

I wouldn't try excel on mosses, as IME they melt away along with the algae if you overdose on excel. My beautiful moss-covered pieces of driftwood fell apart after spot-dosing w/ excel. 

However, at lower concentrations of excel, algae growth seems to slow/stop w/o killing the moss. At that point I can methodically pull it out by hand.

Another way I am trying is to pull out whole sections of moss+algae out and leave them in different water containers to experiment with.

I haven't gotten around to the experiment part though.

What I have noticed is that algae growth definitely stops with blackout or even very low light. I forgot about the containers for weeks now, and I leave them about 5-6 feet from fluorescent lights. The moss seem to do well even with little light, while the algae suffers. But this is just speculation on my part.


----------



## lauraleellbp (Feb 3, 2008)

x3 or 4 or however many... on a blackout.


----------



## bsmith (Jan 8, 2007)

Well I black the moss ot untill TODAY!!! The hair algea was still on it, crazy huh. I threw it away.

I know algea is from an inbalance, so what do I need to check for? 

Right now here are the paramaters that I have...
Nitrate- 10ppm
Nitrite- 0ppm
Ammonia- 0ppm

Co2- ~30ppm green DC with a 4Dkh solution

What else do I need to check for, phosphates, potassium????

Please help I have never had an algea problem in ANY tank and im really stumped with this.


----------



## NeonShrimp (Mar 9, 2006)

I wish I had seen this thread earlier. I had the same problem with some HC I bought a while back. I spent an hour using tweezers to pull out the stuff until I could not see anymore. The hard work paid off because I did not see anymore after that.


----------



## pecelfavoritku (Oct 6, 2007)

Maybe you can try Tetra Algimin to fight againts algae. It works well in my tank.


----------



## fishscale (May 29, 2007)

Most chemical algae treatments are not good for invertebrates. I am not really sure what you have; it doesn't really look like clado to me. FYI, marimo balls are actually made of algae, namely clado: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marimo


----------



## bsmith (Jan 8, 2007)

Im deffinantly NOT going to use any chemical treatments. I dont want to kill my shrimp.

Does anyone think that going from a 26w light to a 20w will help any???

Here are my most current pics...


----------

