# i have staghorn...



## mistergreen (Dec 9, 2006)

ammonia or unstable CO2 triggers staghorn. Your antibiotic probably killed the good bacteria (nitrifying) and the ammonia isn't getting converted to NO2->NO3...

You probably need to re-cycle your tank.


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## waterfaller1 (Jul 5, 2006)

Well..we finally have something in common.:icon_roll
I attack this stuff with a vengeance! It's only in one tank thank goodness. The other day my driftwood broke out with it bad. I took it out and scrubbed it. I can usually find some every day, and pick it out with tweezers. Disturbing the substrate,replanting, seems to be a trigger. I have become an eagle eye for this algae. At least it can be manually removed, but it's a pain.


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## @[email protected] (Oct 24, 2007)

i was sure my ammonia was fine (fish dont show signs of stress, neither does my amano shrimp). but i will do a test today just to be sure. if thats all, then thats great, since that will pretty much correct itself. 

i used to manually remove hair algae, and it went SO much easier. i pulled out 2 of the few healthy crypt leaves since their stems were more brittle then the algae.
disturbing the substrate isnt much of a problem for me, since i vacuum it with every water change.


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## Complexity (Jan 30, 2008)

I had staghorn once. It's not that bad.

Manually remove all of the staghorn algae even if it means trimming plants even further.

Do water changes to remove ammonia. Keep them up while testing the ammonia, nitrite and nitrate levels until you know your tank is cycled again.

Add nutrient absorbing plants, if possible. Hornwort is a good choice.

What triggered my bought of hornwort was my being too aggressive in vacuuming the substrate coupled with some plants dying. Basically, it triggered a mini-cycle which is when staghorn can come in.

I think the mass trimming coupled with dying plants (and the possibility the meds you used killed off some of your good bacteria) has caused your tank to mini-cycle, allowing the staghorn a chance to grow.

It is a very easy algae to get rid of. Prune it out, do water changes, watch for your tank to fully cycle, and add plants when possible. Fertilize as needed to help the plants grow.

Once I pruned my staghorn out and did what I advised above, it never came back. Manual removal and ensuring healthy water is the key.


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## Complexity (Jan 30, 2008)

@[email protected] said:


> ... since i vacuum it with every water change.


Be careful to not over vacuum. That's what caused my staghorn. I used to be too anal about wanting my tanks clean to the point I was actually causing more harm than good.

Just swish the vacuum along the top of the substrate to lift up anything laying on the very top. If the swishing pulls something into the water, then catch it with the vacuum. Otherwise, leave it. If you actually vacuum the substrate itself, just hover over it instead. Do not disturb the substrate itself. If you're getting the substrate itself into the vacuum tube, then you're going too deep.

It took me awhile to stop vacuuming so well. However, I'm finally learning that when it comes to vacuuming a planted tank, "less is more". Now I barely vacuum at all, catching only the areas in which my pleco lives and poops his little heart out. I mainly do water changes with only a tiny bit of vacuuming.


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## @[email protected] (Oct 24, 2007)

just tested my ammonia, its 0.
i tested my nitrates yesterday and they were 5 (so i added a bit of flourish N). 
its not a minicycle.

i have hornwort. i swear by it. it killed my hair algae in this tank 2 years ago.


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## Complexity (Jan 30, 2008)

Your tank may have already finished the mini-cycle. Now all that's left is to cut out the staghorn algae.

I don't think it's just the lack of the tank being cycled, but has something to do with the dying plants. At least that's what we both have in common. Maybe there's something else in the water that triggers the staghorn other than ammonia? Not sure. My tank was cycled, as well, but I figured I just cleaned it too vigorously.

Just cut out the staghorn and see if that stops it. Do a water change after cutting it out to get rid of any staghorn that broke loose when you were cutting it out.


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## @[email protected] (Oct 24, 2007)

its difficult to "cut out" since its mostly in my riccia. i will just wait and get rid of it if it trys to spread elsewhere. hopefully my riccia will grow faster then the algae and i can then cut the healthy tops off the riccia, and redo the stones with that part, and throw out the infected lower portions.


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## Complexity (Jan 30, 2008)

Yikes, no fun when it's in riccia.

I know H2O2 kills riccia, but what about Excel? Can it kill staghorn while not harming the riccia? I've never heard much about killing out staghorn so I don't know if Excel would work at all.

Another option is to shave the riccia very low. Riccia will come back, but maybe you can cut it low enough to get rid of the staghorn?


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## @[email protected] (Oct 24, 2007)

cant. all my riccia floated up a few weeks ago leaving brownish clear nearly-dead riccia. anyway i was too busy waiting for byopsy and culture results from the vet to clean it up. so the tops of the riccia algaefied, but the bottoms that were next to dead recovered and are growing back. so i threw out the tops, but i only have a thin layer of live riccia.
the only way to save the riccia and not have to throw it out and buy some again, is to just let it grow. 

i dose excel, but riccia is a very thin and primitive plant, i think anything that will kill algae will actually kill the riccia first.


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## @[email protected] (Oct 24, 2007)

just noticed something. my SAE is stuffed silly. he looks so fat. 
at least somebody is enjoying the algea.


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## Complexity (Jan 30, 2008)

I have some riccia I'd love to send you, but it's thinned out a lot and has been exposed to BBA. Now that's an algae you really don't want!

I'm planning on moving my 10 new SAEs into my 75g tank to help with the BBA. Let's hope they get as fat as yours!

Good luck on the staghorn with the riccia.


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## @[email protected] (Oct 24, 2007)

heh, no thanks. i had BBA once. i had a very light dusting of it, but it took me a full year of CO2, excel ODing, and trimming to get rid of it. it still pops up every few monthes in my moss (only a strand or two) and i just cut that frond of moss off and thats it. i dont want to risk another BBA infestation by giving it reinforcements. 

yeah, SAE are great fish. there is no better fish to help fight algae. 

thanks. i think it will start going away, if it was just the plant mass reduction. 
im planning on redoing the tank in 2 monthes anyway, id just like to be able to use a few of these plants, and sell the rest, as oppose to throwing it all out.


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## Complexity (Jan 30, 2008)

I'm refusing to sell any of my trimmings until I feel reasonably certain the BBA is gone. I had to throw out a large amount of Hygro 'Sunset'. Killed me to just toss it. But there's no way I could even risk giving BBA to someone else. My conscious couldn't handle it.

Of all the algae I've had, and I've had just about all of them by now, I think BBA is the worst.


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## Gatekeeper (Feb 20, 2007)

Look at you all bronze.... WOOO HOOO. Snappy looking.


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## KDahlin (Mar 12, 2007)

FYI, Excel works well spot treating staghorn. It turns the staghorn bright red.


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## Complexity (Jan 30, 2008)

Bright red? That would be fun to see!


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## @[email protected] (Oct 24, 2007)

gmccreedy said:


> Look at you all bronze.... WOOO HOOO. Snappy looking.


 heh, yeah. lol



KDahlin said:


> FYI, Excel works well spot treating staghorn. It turns the staghorn bright red.


really?
thats good. i still have a bunch of excel from my BBA days.


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