# you thought you had an algae problem?



## Xiaozhuang (Feb 15, 2012)

Snail looks cute though.


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## Dina-Angel (Jun 20, 2013)

That does look interesting on the snail... That is the new exclusive housing


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## ftwchopper (Nov 12, 2011)

That snail needs a haircut....


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## junglefowl (Oct 30, 2012)

Your snail is rock...mohawks!!!


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## Cyanider (Mar 1, 2013)

I wish my snails had sweet hair!


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## Deirdre (Mar 18, 2011)

Ahhhh man Id have loved to see a FTS before and after!!! And the snail.....I LOVE HIM!!!!!


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## Betta132 (Nov 29, 2012)

That snail is cute! I have a marine snail who gets algae on him now and then, but never that much. I vote you keep the snail all fuzzied up!

Wait a minute... 

OH MY GOSH IT'S A TINY GREEN UNDERWATER TRIBBLE DISGUISED AS A SNAIL!


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## redeye (May 11, 2013)

Holy crap. Do you have a picture of your aquarium before you removed all that algae? Be kewl to have a lot of snails with algae on them.


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## Jessicafish (Jul 13, 2013)

that snail looks AWESOME! I vote you keep him that way! 

I see that same kind of algea in a creek by my house! Me and my friends used to pull tons of algea out of the creek to save the tadpoles and minnows from getting stuck in it!


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## pantherspawn (Dec 21, 2011)

I would totally shave little lightning bolts into the side of the snail and put him back in like that. Haha


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## Sajacobs (Aug 24, 2012)

I agree with others. Your snail rocks!


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## auban (Jun 23, 2012)

actually, the algae mass is from a tank that is completely devoted to growing algae. there is literally nothing else in it.
the snail is from my 55g shrimp tank, which has a whole lot of algae covered driftwood in it. same kinda algae, but the shrimp keep it well trimmed.

pretty much all my snails are covered in algae, that one just happens to be one of the biggest.


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## lullafishi (Dec 13, 2012)

That's not just any snail, that's a Chia Pet!

And it's adorable.


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## Flear (Jul 10, 2013)

what kind of algae ?


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## concepts88 (Oct 4, 2012)

Are you growing the algae for something?


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## auban (Jun 23, 2012)

Flear said:


> what kind of algae ?





concepts88 said:


> Are you growing the algae for something?


i grow algae. im odd like that.


http://forum.nanfa.org/index.php/topic/13401-my-ramblings-on-algae/


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## Flear (Jul 10, 2013)

some algae is good.

when i set my tank up i had staghorn, i liked it, till it got too much.
never had an algae issue before, so while the staghorn was relatively little, it was growing branches on the snails and all was good, till it got too much.

time passed, had hair algae, have cladophora algae, i hate clado.

my views of algae have changed now, ... now i see it as free food.

i've infected my tank with green water (want to get some clams and various freshwater zooplankton going) waiting for it to get really green instead of just slightly foggy.

want thread algae back. sounds like the universal food were any true omnivore is concerned. a universal food for everything.

nothing eats cladophora, so i hate the stuff, .. i have noticed today it seems to be dying off, at least starting to, ... i hope to see this continue till it's all gone. ... might be related to the greenwater culture in the tank starting, might be related to the PH climbing, might be related to an ammonia levels that i wasn't aware of that are now under control, ... either way it's dying off, i don't know why, i'm happy about it.

i'm neutral about staghorn, it does seem to be showing up again, ... some things eat it, so if it really sets in i'm going to get see if it's food or nusance and how to deal with it. ... last time i think it started with the new tank (i rushed it), i moved, had too many changes to identify anything, it all dissapeared. ... kinda simular to the clado, i don't know why it's dying, i'm not complaining though.

---

yes, i saw your thread on algae scaping, it was interesting , i wouldn't have used clado for it myself though, but staghorn does not grow thick enough 

i'm trying to find various red algaes i'd like in the tank though, ... sadly nothing  i don't know if the snails have kept it from really showing up or if it just hasn't established itself in the tank at all

Edit:
just remembered, have green spot algae, ... i think, ... was never a big problem to me, if it covers a wall of the tank that is facing a wall, all the better, if it's covering a wall of the tank i want to see in or that is letting in daylight, i want i can scrape it off those walls, ... no problem


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## auban (Jun 23, 2012)

i almost forgot, if you want to make algae grow on a snails shell like mine, you have to dissolve the protein coating first. thats the coating on the outside of the shell that gives it the slick shiny look. it prevents calcium from being deposited on the shell and also prevents the shell from dissolving. since one of the algae types i have in my tanks grows on a calcified base, it will grow on the snails shell as long as the protein coating isnt there. i found this out after overdosing my tank with CO2 for a while and then converting it into an algae tank. the CO2 produced a strong enough acid to begin dissolving the snails shell.

i would imagine that i could just abrade a line into a normal snails shell and then expose it to the algae. then the algae would only grow on the line, ergo, mohawk.

this should work for larger snails too.


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## psalm18.2 (Oct 16, 2010)

Wow, a tank just for algae interesting.


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## psalm18.2 (Oct 16, 2010)

One question. How do you get the algae if you don't have a source? Can it be started on it's own?


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## auban (Jun 23, 2012)

you have to get some from somewhere. 

there is always some kind of algae, but it usually wont be the kind you want.

i went looking for the stuff i have now.


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## Betta132 (Nov 29, 2012)

Hmm... I just got a nice big ramshorn snail... Do you suppose just scratching the shell in a line would cause algae to grow on the scratch?


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## mr.bigglesworth (Jul 6, 2012)

I have snails like these on my saltwater tank! Btw is that algae marimo algae? If so, I'll buy that algae off you for 50$! Its valuable!

Sent from Petguide.com Free App


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## concepts88 (Oct 4, 2012)

Ask the op for source. He has tons? This is an epidemic. 



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## Big O (Jun 28, 2011)

Cyanider said:


> I wish my snails had sweet hair!


RITE!
Man if you can breed those, I would buy them, serious!:icon_smil
Good stuff,

big o


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## Flear (Jul 10, 2013)

clado is brittle, it stinks, grows fast & fluffy, all traits that Aegagropila linnaei (Marimo Moss Ball) does not have

from wiki:
Extensive DNA research in 2002 returned the name to Aegagropila linnaei. The presence of chitin in the cell walls makes it distinct from the genus Cladophora.

my marimo balls don't even attach to the substrate that they're resting on.


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## auban (Jun 23, 2012)

the algae i have is clado. not exactly something most people want in their tanks.


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## Flear (Jul 10, 2013)

tell me about it 
can't stand clado 
all i can do is pull out a handful every few days or so to keep it down in the tank, ... else i think it gets hard for the fish to swim around if i let it go wild


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## psalm18.2 (Oct 16, 2010)

So the LFS has green algae growing on rocks in their plant tank. All I'd have to do is take one home and grow it? How could I ID what kind it is?

Or would I be better off taking a rock, putting it in a glass jar, and sitting under high light until algae appears?


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## Flear (Jul 10, 2013)

algae in our aquariums is distinguished by general appearance usually.

thread & hair algae (same stuff) it's long, thin strands that grow in the tank, you can see how the water if flowing if your curious, ... "algae eaters" are usually referring to fish & critters that eat this stuff, ... possibly this stuff only. (doesn't mean they'll touch anything else - unless otherwise stated)

staghorn and cladophora algae grow similar to each other, they're both branchy and fluffy like, one is a nice green and it stinks (clado), the other is only "greenish", it's not quite as bushy, it's tougher, doesn't stink, ... things will actually eat this (staghorn)

it all just turns into looks. and for the most part this is close enough for figuring out how to deal with it, what works & what doesn't.

if your after something specific, inquire with friends, chop it up, tear it up, throw it in your tank... then it's like a viral infection. your tank will have that always forever after, you may be able to get rid of the appearance, but never be fully rid of it. if the conditions are right and nothing is present to keep a particular algae in check it will spread like wildfire.

---

if your not going to be so gung-ho, whatever sample you obtain would be great growing in aquarium water by the window.


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## psalm18.2 (Oct 16, 2010)

OK. I got this rock from my LFS. Can you ID the algae?








This is in a snail only, window tank. I want algae on all the rocks.


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## auban (Jun 23, 2012)

Flear said:


> algae in our aquariums is distinguished by general appearance usually.
> 
> thread & hair algae (same stuff) it's long, thin strands that grow in the tank, you can see how the water if flowing if your curious, ... "algae eaters" are usually referring to fish & critters that eat this stuff, ... possibly this stuff only. (doesn't mean they'll touch anything else - unless otherwise stated)
> 
> ...


+1 on everything, except that clado stinks.

while im sure some of it does, there are a lot of different species of clado. the stuff i have doesnt have much of a smell to it at all. its kinda like categorizing all primates as having a prehensile tail. 

the clado i have is pretty tough stuff, but my shrimp happily eat it. they wont eat the larger older strands, but they will eat new growth. over time, the affect is a nicely trimmed patch of algae that can end up looking kinda like flat marimo algae patches.

without something to keep it trimmed, however, it takes over everything. the algae on the snail is actually a kind of BBA. the strands never get very long. 
if you look at the front of the snail you can see a little staghorn algae. some of the snails i have only have this kind. most of them are pond snails, and it can look kinda funny sometimes when the staghorn grows a nice big clump on their backs.


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## denske (Feb 20, 2013)

You gotta post a shot of this algae tank.


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## ipkiss (Aug 9, 2011)

This is impressive. It reminds me of the algae scrubber that I'm getting going in my non planted goldfish tank to control nitrates. Love the snail with the algae!


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## auban (Jun 23, 2012)

denske said:


> You gotta post a shot of this algae tank.


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## auban (Jun 23, 2012)

this is the tank the snail came from. the only actual plant is hornwort and some wayward duckweed. i dont really know why i have hornwort in there... seemed like a good idea at the time. the shrimp seem to like crawling around on it.


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## wicca27 (May 3, 2009)

i had bad marimo algae. never again will i own a moss ball. they loved my tank and ended up covering all my drift wood and collecting all the food when i fed the fish. the moss ball is not really moss but a type of clado algae. once that stuff likes a tank you cant get rid of it and it will start killing plants. 2 years i fought with it. since i am moving when the plants came out i bleached the tank and have 2 more to bleach before im done. i also have to get all new sponges cause they were totally covered in it and bleached all the rocks. not sure what i will do with the drift wood cause i dont want it in my tanks. yeah it looked nice for a while but then it took over all the drift wood and made it look really bad.


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## Em85 (Apr 16, 2009)

Deirdre said:


>


:icon_lol:

+1 for cha-cha-cha chia pet snail


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## ipkiss (Aug 9, 2011)

auban said:


> this is the tank the snail came from. the only actual plant is hornwort and some wayward duckweed. i dont really know why i have hornwort in there... seemed like a good idea at the time. the shrimp seem to like crawling around on it.



how does your hornwort not get overgrown with algae?


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## Asu1776 (Mar 5, 2013)

Haha! When I saw your snail I laughed out loud. I never knew they could grow algae on their shells. Oh man, that is so funny!!! Thanks for sharing.


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## DarkCobra (Jun 22, 2004)

The only thing funnier than algae on a snail - walking into the kitchen to find your girlfriend, who was recently introduced to how well a Magic Eraser works to remove algae from acrylic, is cleaning all the snails with one. :icon_lol:


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## auban (Jun 23, 2012)

DarkCobra said:


> The only thing funnier than algae on a snail - walking into the kitchen to find your girlfriend, who was recently introduced to how well a Magic Eraser works to remove algae from acrylic, is cleaning all the snails with one. :icon_lol:


i have actually done this.... :icon_eek:


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## Nathaniel (Nov 30, 2013)

Love your green fuzzy snail! My pond snails get algae on them outside, but never like that!


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