# What is this Purple hairy algae?



## sea_monkey 1 (Feb 20, 2015)

What is this odd purple algae and how do I get rid of it? 
It has covered my plants, my driftwood, even my heater isn't safe. 
I have no idea how to combat this, I've taken everything out and scrubbed all the algae I could see off numerous times but it always comes back. 
Any help you guys could give me would be greatly appreciated.


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## Yokai (Dec 7, 2014)

Purple? Haven't heard of that before.. maybe you can sell it online like that red algae going for 25 for 2"x2" 

xD


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## bmo (Jun 11, 2014)

that is very odd, never seen purple algae in freshwater aquariums before.


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## bsantucci (Sep 30, 2013)

Looks like BBA treated with peroxide honestly.


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## vinizuh (Sep 17, 2014)

I'm guessing it's some sort of fungus. It should go away on its own. Keep up with water changes.


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## plantastic37 (Nov 4, 2012)

Kind of looks like cyanobacteria to me Coating bba. It is usually caused from a combo of things. Not enough flow, too much dissolved organic compounds. I would increase flow, do a massive water change. Be careful about over feeding. There are chemical ways to take care of this as well but it will harm your bio filter.


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## Kathyy (Feb 22, 2010)

I think Excel will kill it. It looks like the stuff I used to have on a manzy branch planted with Java fern before a female swordtail found it and taught the platies to eat it as well. It blended in with the java fern roots so I didn't actually mind it much.

The usual suspects are too much light for the CO2 available and be sure there is enough NPK+M and GH/KH for the plants to thrive.


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## dru (Mar 9, 2013)

Looks like cotton candy


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## sea_monkey 1 (Feb 20, 2015)

Kathyy said:


> I think Excel will kill it. It looks like the stuff I used to have on a manzy branch planted with Java fern before a female swordtail found it and taught the platies to eat it as well. It blended in with the java fern roots so I didn't actually mind it much.
> 
> The usual suspects are too much light for the CO2 available and be sure there is enough NPK+M and GH/KH for the plants to thrive.


your situation sounds a lot like mine then. This all began when I added what I assume was a manzy branch to my aquarium along with some lace java fern. I had nearly no light on this tank for a long time (just the cheap leds that the tank came with) so its hard to imagine an abundance of light is the issue. . . I just recently started dosing ferts so that could be the problem I suppose. The tank has been cycled, planted, and inhabited for about five months now with weekly 30% water changes.

Bump:


plantastic37 said:


> Kind of looks like cyanobacteria to me Coating bba. It is usually caused from a combo of things. Not enough flow, too much dissolved organic compounds. I would increase flow, do a massive water change. Be careful about over feeding. There are chemical ways to take care of this as well but it will harm your bio filter.


I suppose low flow could be an issue as this a betta tank so I have baffles over the filter outflow. . . however the betta eats every pellet given to him immediately so i don't think overfeeding is the issue.


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## mattinmd (Aug 16, 2014)

bsantucci said:


> Looks like BBA treated with peroxide honestly.


I second the notion that it looks like dead or dying BBA, which is technically a member of the red algae family... That's pretty much what mine looked like a day or two after I spot treated it with excel. 

All of the locations seem to be good ones for BBA, which seems to like growing on plants, wood and plastics near the surface.

While flow is one way to combat BBA, what worked for me was lowering my light level a tad. (In my case, I added a dimmer and dropped the wattage 10%)


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## ValMM (Feb 22, 2011)

"I suppose low flow could be an issue as this a betta tank so I have baffles over the filter outflow. . . however the betta eats every pellet given to him immediately so i don't think overfeeding is the issue."

What goes in the fish must come out, so nutrients are still there. But I would agree with low flow being an issue with algae in betta tanks.


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