# Brown Fuzzy Algae - need help



## Complexity (Jan 30, 2008)

Hard to say. My first thought was staghorn algae because of the color, but later pics made me think of clado because of the texture. But it could just be a hair algae.

What's the texture feel like? Does it feel mushy or like wire or what? How hard is it to remove from whatever it's attached to? Have you tried squirting H2O2 or Excel on it to see how it responds?

Here are a couple of algae sites that may be helpful. You might be able to figure out what you have by reading the different descriptions. Once it's identified, then you can work on controlling it.

http://www.aquariumalgae.blogspot.com/ <-- good pictures lower part of page
http://www.theplantedtank.co.uk/algae.htm <-- click the pics for a better look


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## swat_75 (Aug 28, 2011)

Hey, 
I squirted it 2 times with h202 but it didnt respond, nothing happened.
Here, http://www.theplantedtank.co.uk/algae.htm, i identified it as Rhizoclonium.










I have ottos and Amanos but they dont eat it.
I think this can only be an external cause, i think it is because of my mh bulbs...

Waiting for help


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## swat_75 (Aug 28, 2011)

I have 2x150w Mh and 2x54w T5.
Can you advise me about the period of lightning that i should have?


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## Kathyy (Feb 22, 2010)

Try what your site suggests, clean the tank, some steps would include rinse out the filter media, put prefilters on the filter intakes and rinse them out often, vacuum the substrate, remove unhealthy leaves. You might look into getting a powerhead and point it where you see debris collecting.

I would stick to the T5s and try 6-7 hours for right now. When the tank gets all cleaned up you can extend the lighting period to 8 hours and then go for a mid day burst with the MHs.


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## Complexity (Jan 30, 2008)

If you have rhizo, let me offer my condolences. This is a tough algae to get rid of.

Step 1: Physical removal. Clean out as much as you can. If you can take something out of the tank to bleach and scrub, then by all means do it as this will reduce the amount of rhizo you have to treat inside the tank itself. If it's entangled in a plant that you can trim, then trim the plant and throw the rhizo away. If you can't remove a clump of rhizo, at least pull, yank, cut out what you can, leaving only a stub. Physically remove as much of the stuff as you can. Be sure to do a thorough water change to get what's thrown into the water column and keep your filter pads changed out.

Step 2: Crank up your CO2. Get it up to 30ppm. It's helpful to have a pH controller so you can keep the CO2 levels stable day and night. What I have done in the past is slowly cranked it up to the point the fish began showing signs of stress, then took it down a notch. I did that to fight BBA. You can do the same for rhizo. If you don't have a pH controller, at least try your best. If you have your CO2 running on a timer with the lights, then you're making the CO2 levels rise and drop every day which isn't the best when fighting algae.

Step 3: Cut the lights. Rhizo loves light. In fact, that's supposed to be one of the causes. If you're running 4 bulbs at any time, then knock it down to 2 bulbs. Cut your photoperiod down as low as your plants can survive. This is temporary; you'll increase your photoperiod later. For now, go as low as you can get away with, but don't ruin your plants or you could encourage other kinds of algae.

Step 4: Kill the rhizo with excel. You can safely use excel with CO2. When you do the treatment, turn off your filters so the excel won't be blown away from the area you're treating. Use a syringe to target the excel directly onto the rhizo. Use the amount listed on the bottle for after a water change, but no more. You'll have to repeat this many times until you've killed it out throughout the tank.

I've won the battle over difficult algae so I know it can be done. The main thing is to first create an environment that discourages the algae from growing any further and then kill out what's already there. With persistence, you'll get on top of things.

Oh, and regarding the amano shrimp eating it. They generally eat the dead rhizo after you've killed it with excel, but not the living rhizo. They clean up the mess once you've killed it.


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## Centromochlus (May 19, 2008)

I'm having issues with this same type of algae in my 60-P... Bubbles Aquarium calls it "brown hair algae". I guess that might be a synonym of Rhizoclonium? Siamese algae eaters and amano shrimp apparently eat this stuff.


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## Complexity (Jan 30, 2008)

AzFishKid said:


> I'm having issues with this same type of algae in my 60-P... Bubbles Aquarium calls it "brown hair algae". I guess that might be a synonym of Rhizoclonium? Siamese algae eaters and amano shrimp apparently eat this stuff.


"brown hair algae" sounds like Black Beard Algae, and siamese algae eaters (SAEs) are well known for eating it. I think amanos will only eat it once it's dead, but SAEs will eat it when it's alive.


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## swat_75 (Aug 28, 2011)

Hey everyone,
Thanks For your help.
I will turn on my T5 for 6 hours and my mh for 0 hours.
I`m going to clean up the tank and my filter.
In other forum, someone identified this algae as a new type of diatom, they told me exaclty to reduce the light.

Let`s wait, in some days i will give news.

Many Thanks for all your help!


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## Complexity (Jan 30, 2008)

If it's just diatoms, then there's nothing to do. Diatoms run their course and go away on their own. They're often caused by excess silica in the water, such as when starting a new cichlid tank in which silica sand is used.

Having said all that, diatoms are not fuzzy or hairy or anything else of that nature. And they are not caused by light. Something seems amiss with this diagnosis of a "new" kind of diatom. Did they offer any resource such as webpages that discussed this new kind of diatom? Surely, there has to be some way in which they learned of its existence and was able to diagnose it as indeed a new type of diatom.


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## swat_75 (Aug 28, 2011)

Hey everyone,
I have good news, i have reduced the light to 6 hours and now the algae is starting to disapear.
I`m still fertilizing with EI.
Lets wait...


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## hnabhi (Jan 6, 2012)

Hi swat_75,
I have the same algae growing in my tank and seems to be uncontrollable..
I have posted a thread on it here: http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/algae/160240-id-algae-please-how-control.html

Is your problem solved now?how did you tackle it.. please help

Thanks


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## swat_75 (Aug 28, 2011)

The problem is solved now, the algae has totally disapeared.
Reduce the light seems to be the solution.


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## Centromochlus (May 19, 2008)

Complexity said:


> "brown hair algae" sounds like Black Beard Algae, and siamese algae eaters (SAEs) are well known for eating it. I think amanos will only eat it once it's dead, but SAEs will eat it when it's alive.


No, definitely not BBA. 
It's the same stuff that the OP had... i guess it's just another name for Rhizoclonium.
Look near the bottom of the page: http://bubblesaquarium.com/images/home mid_photo/Article on Algae/freshwater_algae.htm


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## hnabhi (Jan 6, 2012)

@AzFishKid - Bingo! thats the same algae I have in my tank... Will introduce some SAE and see if that will help me tackle it.

@swat_75 - i have already reduced the lighting to 5 hrs only.. but still no imptove,emt


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## swat_75 (Aug 28, 2011)

Hey everyone,
I have news, inicially the algae had totally disapeared.
I was only with 7 hours t5 so I added 1 hour of mh.
After 4 days the algae apeared again, this only concluded that the problem was from the mh bulbs, so i bought new ones, they arrive tomorrow.
After a litle research i finaly know what was the algae name, is another type of diatom that you can see in this threat : http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/algae/84947-brown-diatom-id-pics.html
This makes sence because the diatoms can be induced by old bulbs.
Tomorrow i will have new ones,

Let`s wait.


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