# Hair Algae, Stringy Moss and Excel....Oh My!!



## froghair (Jan 5, 2008)

Hair Algae is growing on my stringy moss. :frown: I'm wondering if I can use excel directly on the moss to kill the algae? If not, is there another method of killing hair algae on moss that wouldn't kill the moss? (Besides upping CO2 which I don't use.) Thanks.


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## Darkblade48 (Jan 4, 2008)

I'm afraid that spot treating with Excel to kill the algae might also kill the moss. Unfortunately, once you have algae tangled in your moss, the only solution (that I've found) is to cut away and remove the afflicted parts, especially in (what I assume) to be a low-tech tank (which does not use CO2)


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## eyebeatbadgers (Aug 6, 2007)

Manual removal and a three day blackout seem to be the most effective on sensitive plants. If the moss is not attached to anything, or attached to something small, you could place it in a separate place, like a cup or pitcher for the blackout period.

Another option is just to dose Excel as recommended per directions on bottle and hope that your new growth chokes the algae out.


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## froghair (Jan 5, 2008)

Thanks Anthony and EyeBeatBadgers. I've removed the moss tiles a couple of times before and pulled and trimmed the algae and moss. This time I'll do the blackout. Thanks again.


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## Neophyte34 (Nov 9, 2007)

i had good luck with hair algae in my moss by combining a good haircut, lots of amano and cherry shrimp, and a re-doubling my efforts to get my tank parameters correct (weekly water change, 8 hour light cycle, proper EI dosing). the hair algae is now almost entirely gone from my tank. i didn't expect it to be gone from my moss, too, but it is.


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## froghair (Jan 5, 2008)

Hey Neo. I actually have it all removed and in blackout right now but....if that doesn't cure the problem I'm going to plop it into the shrimp tank and see if they have an appetite for what I didn't pull out and clip. I ran UV on my koi pond until I turned off the filter last year. (Herons ate 'em.) The water was crystal clear and it was amazing that hair algae actually grew there in some spots. That stuff's badazz.


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