# SpiroGyra Algae



## epicfish

There's a brief removal guide on http://www.theplantedtank.co.uk/algae.htm for spirogyra.

Good luck!


----------



## workn4frags

Thanks,
I saw that, but missed the part about the Rosy Barbs. 

Do you know if Amano Shrimp eats this stuff? I was told to try them also.

Thanks again


----------



## epicfish

I know amanos eat cladophora. I've never tried them with spirogyra. I DO know they will nip at plants if they get hungry enough. Probably worth a try if all else fails (lighting, fertilizer control, etc...)


----------



## workn4frags

I am going to try another Blackout with bigger h20 changes starting this weekend. Don't want to overdose excel as I have Erios and Toninas in this tank.

I really don't want Rosy Barbs in the tank either... 

Thanks


----------



## ZooTycoonMaster

Try sucking up some Flourish Excel in a syringe and squirt it on the affected area(s) with the filter off. Do this for a couple days until it dies; you can also get some Amano Shrimp to eat it once its dead.


----------



## workn4frags

I was told Excel did not work on this type of algae, have you seen this work? Sadly it is hitting my Erios and Toninas the most, and I was told they don't like Excel O.D.


----------



## epicfish

workn4frags said:


> I was told Excel did not work on this type of algae, have you seen this work? Sadly it is hitting my Erios and Toninas the most, and I was told they don't like Excel O.D.


I've also read that an Excel OD has only a negligible effect on spirogyra. Never hurts to try though on any spirogyra that's not sitting too close to any Tonina sp. or Eriocaulon sp.


----------



## imeridian

If we're working on the assumption that the hair algae I had was spirogyra, then Excel does seem to work fairly well at high dosages when combined with high dosage H2O2 also. I used 1ml/gal Excel and 2ml/gal H2O2 at the same time for two days, it incinerated any Excel sensitive plants like suBwassertang & riccia, but did not appear to negatively effect the fish; as always, use at your own risk. 

FWIW, the blackout/large water change process only served to exacerbate the problem in my tank. It was not until I vaporized the algae with chemical warfare and followed it up with substantially upping the CO2, did I have any success in beating it back.


----------



## workn4frags

I will try the Excel on some that is not on my Tonina/Erios and post back my experience.

I am also cutting back on the lights to about 5-6 hrs. and using only 2 of the 4 bulbs for awhile. If that doesn't work I will try another BlackOut with everything mentioned here. 
Amanos
Excel
RosyBarbs 
more H20 changes

Thanks for the help everyone.
Vince


----------



## CL

I had this in my 20 and indigo had it in his 75. It was so hard. I couldn't get it to go away with raised co2, excel, ammano's, sae's, h202 or manual removal. I took out a bunch of plants which got rid of it mostly. In the end I wound up breaking that tank down.


----------



## workn4frags

Well I took out a bunch of the SpiroGyra and placed it into a 2oz plastic cup, I added about 5ml of Excel and after about 4 hrs. it still looks as green as in the tank. I don't think Excel will do anything. 

I am going to try and raise the temp to about 82º for a couple days to see if that does anything. Just grasping at straws now.


----------



## MrJG

Much luck man. Sadly my 20 long is afflicted with this stuff too and its just nasty. 
Already done a complete tear down to clean/dip plants individually in H202 and Excel (albeit a rather quick dip for most things). Stuff just comes right back. I have toninas and pogostemons in the tank as well so I'd rather not nuke it with chemicals if possible. Going to get it cleaned up as much as possible this evening and try the blackout method then run lean on ferts and drop the lighting to like 2-3 hours a day after that before I give up.
Just kills me that everything is growing so well, dosing is on target, CO2 is stable @ ~30ppm but I can't shake it. I had it before the tear down but I more than likely made the problem worse by adding some fresh aquasoil back in during the re-scape. :iamwithst


----------



## workn4frags

MrJG said:


> Much luck man. Sadly my 20 long is afflicted with this stuff too and its just nasty.
> Already done a complete tear down to clean/dip plants individually in H202 and Excel (albeit a rather quick dip for most things). Stuff just comes right back. I have toninas and pogostemons in the tank as well so I'd rather not nuke it with chemicals if possible. Going to get it cleaned up as much as possible this evening and try the blackout method then run lean on ferts and drop the lighting to like 2-3 hours a day after that before I give up.
> Just kills me that everything is growing so well, dosing is on target, CO2 is stable @ ~30ppm but I can't shake it. I had it before the tear down but I more than likely made the problem worse by adding some fresh aquasoil back in during the re-scape. :iamwithst


After the blackout I didn't think it worked, I have noticed that a large portion of it is gone. I am doing 50% R.O. h2o changes every 3 days now. dosing 50% less ferts, actually just potassium and cutting the lighting cycle back to 6 hours only running 2 of the bulbs. I get my Amanos this weekend and hope to see them help with this. The next step is the Rosy Barbs. 

I have taken some infected cuttings and placed them into a couple of really cycled nanos and the SpiroGyra algae is gone. I don't know if it's because of the maturity of the tanks or the Endlers picking at it. I know this thread needs some pics and I will work on that today.


----------



## MrJG

Yea someone mentioned amanos... I have 3 large amano tanks in this system along with a bunch of yellow neocardina sp . Either they are fed well enough or they can't keep up with it. 

Are you doing R/O just to cut down available nitrates etc with the water changes? 

As far as pics go I popped this one in my last journal update, so tired of seeing this stuff:


----------



## imeridian

Uhoh, that's what my algae looked like, I wish you the best of luck. It's the most difficult algae I've ever dealt with, and I think I've had them all except for clado.


----------



## MrJG

Yea its pretty gnarly so far. You should see me sterilizing my tools and such between working on tanks. It makes me cringe thinking about getting this in another tank due to cross contamination from me being stupid.


----------



## bsmith

What is your injection method for co2, why arent you dosing Nitrate, Potassium and Micros with that kind of light?


----------



## MrJG

workn4frags: As far as this having to do with tank maturity my 20 has been set up since Mid-'07 so its settled in pretty good. I think my problem may have started when I added in some boraras 'merah' and lost several of them never to find the bodies. Figured the shrimp would have taken care of them but who knows. That ammonia spike could have been the catalyst.. just as well it could have been any of the number of times that I've ripped up the tank and re-planted. With the height of the tank and plants that don't fare well being trimmed there isn't much way around that sadly. 

After talking with Imeridian briefly in the pt chatroom I decided against the blackout for the moment since for him it only worsened the problem. I did however combine a few of the methods in this thread which I started this evening.
Dropped lighting to 5 hours daily
Manual removal of as much as possible.
Cleaned filter pads
80% water change
cranked an airstone up 
1ml/g of excel - 20ml for me even though the tank is only probably holding 16 gallons or so
2ml/g of H202 - Stopped at 25ml on this just to be sure, I'll up it tomorrow given no ill effects 

During the water change I had to trim back the toninas and replant. I hated to do it but I threw away so many otherwise awesome crowns of belem and fluviatilis but still packed as many back in as I could when replanting. 

I'm going to repeat this process for the next 3-4 days and see if that has any impact. Right now the fish are still in the tank but I'm watching closely for any signs of being under duress, they seem fine so far but if anything crops up I have a temporary/hospital up and running already to transfer them over.

At this point I'm not worried about killing the toninas... while it would bite looking at this stuff festering in my tank daily is worse. If I can't get it under control in the next month or so I'll be tearing it down, scraping everything and starting from scratch anyway. 

Hope its cool to post my attack and updates in this thread. If one of us hits on something that works it'll make me very happy.


----------



## workn4frags

bsmith782 said:


> What is your injection method for co2, why arent you dosing Nitrate, Potassium and Micros with that kind of light?


It is pressurized co2.

It is a new set up and the AquaSoil is still cycling with slight ammonia spikes, I think this is what started the bloom. 

I have cut back on the light to 6hrs a day only running all 4 bulbs for 3hrs. I have 20 Amano's coming this weekend and I am thinking of Rosy Barbs. 

I did put some infected plants into a nano with Endler's and have seen them picking at it. I would rather have them instead of the Rosy Barbs.


----------



## workn4frags

MrJG said:


> After talking with Imeridian briefly in the pt chatroom I decided against the blackout for the moment since for him it only worsened the problem. I did however combine a few of the methods in this thread which I started this evening.
> Dropped lighting to 5 hours daily
> Manual removal of as much as possible.
> Cleaned filter pads
> 80% water change
> cranked an airstone up
> 1ml/g of excel - 20ml for me even though the tank is only probably holding 16 gallons or so
> 2ml/g of H202 - Stopped at 25ml on this just to be sure, I'll up it tomorrow given no ill effects
> 
> During the water change I had to trim back the toninas and replant. I hated to do it but I threw away so many otherwise awesome crowns of belem and fluviatilis but still packed as many back in as I could when replanting.
> 
> I'm going to repeat this process for the next 3-4 days and see if that has any impact. Right now the fish are still in the tank but I'm watching closely for any signs of being under duress, they seem fine so far but if anything crops up I have a temporary/hospital up and running already to transfer them over.
> 
> At this point I'm not worried about killing the toninas... while it would bite looking at this stuff festering in my tank daily is worse. If I can't get it under control in the next month or so I'll be tearing it down, scraping everything and starting from scratch anyway.
> 
> Hope its cool to post my attack and updates in this thread. If one of us hits on something that works it'll make me very happy.


Why the Airstone? 

Please post your results, I would like to find a method of cure for this pain in the **s algae. I just started dosing NPK again and if I notice an increase in the Spiro I will halt it and start up the daily h20 changes again. Along with some of the steps you posted.


----------



## MrJG

I think from everything I read the idea is to get the tank a little on the lean side.

The airstone just as a precaution to aerate the water more, I normally run it at night anyway. 

Just did the second round of dosing after another 40-50% water change. The stuff definitely looks like it took a hit from the first volley. Its swaying lifeless in the current now and looks much less robust. Decided to back off the H2O2 and only did 20ml this time in addition to 20ml of excel. Will report back again tomorrow.


----------



## workn4frags

Sounds good, looking fwd to the update.

How do the Tonina's look?


----------



## MrJG

Might be too early to tell I think but no visible melting or anything like that. I topped/replanted them right before I started the first major WC which probably wasn't the greatest idea but I only have so much height to work with. I like to keep them from growing funky.  Everything looks fine so far even the Fissidens... I'm crossing my fingers.


----------



## MrJG

Good news! 

The tank has been through 4 treatments since starting the battle on the 17th with one day off in there. One of the spots that had the most outbreak (other than the fissidens) was within a cluster of Lobelia small form, at this point I can barely see any places on the leaves where the stuff used to be. Its almost all gone but I'm going to do a few more treatments this week to try to completely eradicate it.

All fauna were left in the tank while these doses were applied. There didn't seem to be any outward signs of discomfort. 
Everything plant wise in the tank is doing great and didn't suffer any kind of ill effects and much the opposite I've seen a boost in healthy growth from all of the excel. These include:
Pogostemon 'erectus' + 'helferi'
Tonina 'belem', 'fluviatilis', and 'lago grande'
Peacock moss
Fissiden Fontanus
Lobelia Cardinalis small form
Lindernia

In fact the only issue I see from all of this chemical warfare is a slight bacterial bloom due to all the water changing. Imeridian's carpet bomb method even though it was born out of his frustration works quite well at least to initially combat this stuff back in place. Only time will tell if the stuff can/will make a comeback.

-----------------------------------------

A few notes that I've learned about this stuff followed by a day by day account of what I did...

From everything I read one of the main triggers for this type is an ammonia spike. Even though my tank has been set up since mid-'07 I did add some Boraras 'merah' to the tank a bit back (prior to having the outbreak) and lost 5-6 of them and never found the bodies. This could have been my trigger. In addition to that after nothing else worked I tore the whole tank down and re-scaped adding back in maybe 3-4 liters of new aquasoil. Obviously adding another ammonia spike to the existing problem only made it worse, even with semi daily water changes to control it as the packaging suggests. If your situation is different (i.e. brand new tank set up, cycling tank with aquasoil) then the main thing to take care of first is the excess ammonia. 

All this talk of ammonia and I honestly never tested the tank throughout any of this which is kind of a shame, it would have been nice to know what levels were present. The tank has Gold Rams, shrimp, tetras in it and I never saw any issues with them other than the loss of the boraras (which by the way was only a day or two after initially adding them). I have the feeling that this spike was relatively minor.

-------------------------------------------

While I do not advocate doing this type of chemical warfare on any tank with fish present those that have experienced this type of algae will know that its one of the harder ones to eradicate. After the algae takes hold it likes the same conditions that healthy growing plants do: good ferts, light, CO2, and generous tank flow. From what I've read lowering lighting period/intensity, reduction in dosing, or blackouts alone will not work and will only go to exacerbate the problem greatly. When you have this stuff the only thing saving you from a complete takeover is the presence of a stock of mid-heavily planted healthy growing plants. 
Using this method was basically the last stand for me before completely tearing down the tank, nuking everything with bleach, and tossing all plants/hardscape items. 

Tank subject:

Mature tank - set up since '07
20G long - containing roughly 16-18 gallons of water after substrate/hardscape
1x65W current PC lighting
XP1 canister
DIY CO2 distributed via glass spiral diffuser (diligently maintained)
ADA AS amazonia

During the method below I have ceased all NPK fertilization and only added macros, ca, and a little epsom salts back in after the water changes to reconstitute our low-0 GH/KH water slightly. I did this as most how-tos I read on removing spirogyra recommended to do so. 

Method

Day 1:
Dropped lighting to 5 hours daily
Manual removal of as much as possible.
Cleaned filter pads - generous cleaning of canister while attempting to preserve as much biological filtration as possible
80% water change
cranked an airstone up for the first 24 hours
1ml/g of excel - 20ml for me even though the tank is only probably holding 16 gallons or so
2ml/g of H202 - Stopped at 25ml on this just to be sure, I'll up it tomorrow given no ill effects

24 hours after the initial attack there was no new growth of the algae and the strands that were present had a definite change in texture and health. The remaining strands while still there were swaying in the current much easier than pre-dosing. 

Day 2:
50% water change
changed the airstone back to only running during night power cycle
1ml/g of excel - 20ml for me 
1ml/g of H202 - Again 20ml for me. Since the initial dosing had such great effect I didn't see the need for doubling the dose especially knowing I was going to continue the process for several weeks.

24 hours after second attack the algae is starting to recede. Strands are roughly half the length of the previous day and still showing the "dead and lifeless" look flowing in the current. No new algae growth. 

Day 3:
off

Day 4:
Since things seemed to be progressing I skipped the water change on this day.
1ml/g of excel - 20ml 
1ml/g of H202 - 20ml

No new algae growth, still receding.

Day 5:
50% water change
1ml/g of excel - 20ml
1ml/g of H202 - 20ml

No new algae growth, still receding.

Day 6:
That brings us to today which I'm going to be giving the tank a day off to settle a bit. 

I plan on repeating the process on MWF until I'm satisfied that I no longer see any new growth. Until then I'll be maintaining the lighting period at 5 hours and will probably begin dosing again at half EI levels to see if this initiates any new algae growth. My main concern at this point is the tennis ball sized growth of Fissidens Fontanus and the fact that the algae had invaded it pretty severely. I imagine if it does crop back up again it'll be there first and I'll have to remove/dispose of that. I'll try to get some comparison pics up of that infected section since we have a good image of the "infected and pre-treated" growth already.

Sorry for the hella long post but I thought it might be beneficial for those who are unfortunately experiencing this stuff.


----------



## MrJG

A few pics of the carnage to show the improvements. Keep in mind that I had a pretty major outbreak that if left uncleaned for 48 hours or so would leave columns of this stuff growing up from the most affected areas. I was on/in just about everything. 

Pre-treated section









Treated section:









Treated image of the stand of Lobelia, it was almost a ball of algae surrounding all of this to the point where it was almost impossible to manually remove:









Pieces of receding Spirogyra remnants, this is all that remains of the infestation:









I'm hoping that with another week of treatments the tank can be totally free. I'll be keeping this updated for those interested.


----------



## workn4frags

MrJG,

Thanks for the update, it looks like I will be trying this method on my 40g. I seemed to have slowed down some of it with the blackout but I am starting to see it reappear again.

I will follow your dosing regimen and get post back here also. I need to order some more Excel and get some Peroxide.


----------



## MrJG

2 weeks in and the tank is still clean with no sign of re-infestation. I did notice that my peacock moss isn't looking the greatest but it should bounce back, other than that everything else is fine. 
I have brought the lighting period back up to 7 hours daily and I'm back to dosing regularly.

Will report on any nastiness returning but it looks promising so far.


----------



## workn4frags

That is great news, I should have my Excel in the next day or so and will be starting this treatment. I will also post before and after pics, and report any news.


----------



## Ghazanfar Ghori

Some info that might be helpful.
http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/algae/85300-algae-fun.html


----------



## oldpunk78

i just found out i have Spirogyra in my tank. woo hoo! 

i also just went through this thread and thought i would share what is happening with my tank. 

i read somewhere that Spirogyra thrives in the same conditions plants do. so... i guess that sucks, lol.

anyway, about seven months ago i sent up my 1st planted tank(29g). eco complete substrate, 48 watts t5ho lighting, low flow fluval filter, and minimal ferts(just seachem nitrigen, phosphorous, and comprehensive + excel). add to mix some diy co2.

those first six months i experienced diatoms(badly, then went away), bga(which i managed to get rid of by using 'blue-green algae remover' and fixing some N and flow issues) and lastly, staghorn and maybe some bba(i think just staghorn - i had the two confused). never at any time did i have Spirogyra. 

tore it down.

set it back up again with everything the same except this time i used aquasoil and am dosing potassium and iron (along with the before mentioned ferts.) 

the only algae so far is Spirogyra and a little diatom which i was expecting at first. i am having some success with spot dosing excel. 

so i guess what i should of learned here is that perhaps i'm dosing too much potassium and maybe iron? 

any thoughts?

all i can think of is stop dosing the potassium and iron and keep up the spot dosing with the excel.


----------



## sunfire99

I can add myself to the list of unfortunate victims as well.:icon_frow I began the treatment outlined in this thread and will post results. 1mL Excel per gallon, starting with 1.5mL of H202, 5 hrs lighting, no ferts, CO2 running normally and water changes daily. My tank is new, and on the tail end of a cycle, so I'm hoping just finishing the ammonia/nitrite cycle will help get rid of this stuff.


----------



## markalot

Have you tried Platys? I had this forever in a 15 gallon and after moving 3 female platys into it the algae is gone. Of course something else might have changed, but I didn't purposely change anything except adding the fish.


----------



## sunfire99

markalot said:


> Have you tried Platys? I had this forever in a 15 gallon and after moving 3 female platys into it the algae is gone. Of course something else might have changed, but I didn't purposely change anything except adding the fish.


I haven't tried them yet. I just found I had it and today began treatment to try to get it in check. I did read in a number of places that Platys will eat it if made hungry. If no change after a few days doing this, I'll have to think about adding some.


----------



## plantbrain

Blackout for 3 days and good basic conditions, water changes took care of two local cases pretty effectively.

Regards, 
tom barr


----------



## sunfire99

plantbrain said:


> Blackout for 3 days and good basic conditions, water changes took care of two local cases pretty effectively.
> 
> Regards,
> tom barr


Thanks for the info. After even more reading about it, I blacked out this morning, and planned to leave it that way for a few days. My only concern is some stems that were just put into the tank. The threads I have are already shorter after 48 hours of treatments though, so I was hoping a blackout would finish it off without additional chemicals. Any opinion on the chemicals, if I should keep using them or not?


----------



## sunfire99

Thought I'd post an update. Almost 48 hours of blackout and today being the third day of heavy doses of Excel/H202 and the algae has receded about 75% so far. I'll continue blackout through tomorrow and dose Excel/H202 tomorrow. On Tuesday, I plan to give the tank 5 or 6 hours of light, some fertilizers and CO2, then continue that for a few days watching to see how the Spyrogyra behaves. What there is left of the threads seem to be lifeless as was posted in this thread before. All plants and fish seem to be doing well with no signs of plants dying (other than the Corkscrew Vals melting) or fish discomfort. Looks like I did burn one patch of Blyxa where I heavily spot treated but that can be trimmed out later.


----------



## sunfire99

As of today, I can't find any of this crap left where it had been. There is a small amount of totally dead threads clinging to a rock but it is brown and falling apart and only about 1/2" long. I actually used a magnifying glass to have a good look for it where it had popped up, and absolutely no sign of it except that dead patch. My thanks to those who posted their experiences in this thread. That treatment seems harsh but worked for me as well. roud:


----------



## oldpunk78

i though i might as well share what happened with my case.

i stopped the potassium and iron. no black out. excel as normal. 

it's all gone. 

did i get lucky?


----------



## Retzius

I'll add myself to the list, just saw spirogyra a few days ago. 

Tank ada 90p has been setup for two weeks with aquasoil. Probable cause is an ammonia spike from the soil. Plan to use the methods here. Hopefully I can eradicate it. Going to pick up some excel.


----------



## Bonefish

All aboard the spirogyra train! Toot toot!

My 1.5 gallon has an infestation. I thought my first blackout zapped it, but there must have been some left-- it to regenerated with vigor. It's crazy how fast this stuff grows back. Most of the algae is in my HC and on the aquasoil.

I'm going to try another 80% H20 change tonight + manual removal followed by 3 day blackout with Excel overdosing. After that, 5 hr photoperiod until I'm sure it's gone. I've got some cherry shrimp coming in a few days, and I think I'll throw an Amano in with them.

Fingers crossed.


----------



## Bonefish

Update: Spirogyra is the Lex Luthor of algae. After blackout #2 + 1 ml Excel/gallon, there's still algae in the tank! I'm going to keep going with 1 ml Excel/gallon, reduced photoperiod, and no K/Fe for the next week. If that doesn't work, I'm surrendering.


----------



## F22

Has anyone ever just tried adding some type of african cichlid to graze on it until it is gone. I would imagine tropheus or pseudotropheus would make short work of it.


----------



## Retzius

Update: I found the cure!!! :hihi:

On Monday I added two small flagfish and as soon as I added them they started eating the Spirogyra algae. The next day when the lights came on at least 50% of the algae was gone. 

So if your having troubles and the chemical warfare is not helping try a few flagfish. I watch these guys yank the threads and gobble up really long strands like spaghetti with my own eyes. Also, don't feed your flagfish. Mine have not eaten since I got them on Monday.


----------



## nkambae

*what he said*

I had spyro in my 55 until I added flagfish and they did seem to enjoy eating it. No more spyro since their addition.

stu


----------



## Bonefish

Well, the H2O2 and Excel treatment along with not dosing K/Fe seems to have zapped most of my algae. I can't confirm with 100% certainty that my algae really was spirogyra, but it looked and behaved like it.

Also added an Amano shrimp and cherry shrimp today, which (I hope) will eliminate any remaining algae.


----------



## snoop-a-loop

Well I have had this algae for quite some time now...its not really taking over the tank but thats only because I manually keep getting rid of it almost every day. I will be trying some of the methods used on here, the only problem is that it is in my 72 gallon so 1ml/gallon will add up quite fast. If that treatment doesn't work I will be getting a flagfish or two. And finally if that does not work I will do a 2 week blackout (not sure what I am going to do with my fish). This algae is very very frustrating, makes me want to completely start over but I don't think that will fly with my wife/cash flow haha.


----------



## bsmith

Does anyone else find that Fissidens is a great place for this algae to reside?


----------



## max chavez

Hey all,

It appears that I have some spirogyra that is confined to a free mass of flame moss. Any thoughts on how to best treat it out of the tank?

Thanks


----------



## MrJG

I'm pretty sure the method that I posted for eradicating this stuff will toast most mosses. You could maybe try a more diluted solution of Excel and peroxide over a longer period. 

I didn't have any problems with Fissidens for some reason but as long as you avoid direct contact or a very close to pure dose of excel right on it you might be able to get it to pull through.


----------



## max chavez

So, I had some flame moss that I wasn't that attached to, with a medium infestation of spiro. I stumbled across this self-proclaimed 'unorthodox' method, and figured I'd give it a shot. 

_"What you need are some bleach, water, moss, and algae. Mix about 5% bleach solution with 95% water in a container. Throw in the moss. Throw in the algae. Stirr them around in the bleach solution, and wait for 2 minutes. If the algae is soft algae, it should be 'bleached' by then. If it's the tougher Black Brush Algae(BBA), or Hair Algae, they should turn to a pale colour and would die later. Take out the moss and rinse a few times to make sure that the residual chlorine has been remove. Alternatively, you could dump the moss into another container and add in some anti-chlorine solution. After this treatment, your moss will be as good as new. "_

I mixed a 4% bleach solution, soaked the moss for 2 min. Rinsed in 3 changes of tap water immediately, followed by 2 one hour soaks in a 1 gal bucket with dechlor. The algae strands did appear a very pale lime green, while the moss looks as vibrant as ever. When manually removing the algae, it did appear a little more brittle than before. We'll see what happens in the next few days...


----------



## plantbrain

sunfire99 said:


> As of today, I can't find any of this crap left where it had been. There is a small amount of totally dead threads clinging to a rock but it is brown and falling apart and only about 1/2" long. I actually used a magnifying glass to have a good look for it where it had popped up, and absolutely no sign of it except that dead patch. My thanks to those who posted their experiences in this thread. That treatment seems harsh but worked for me as well. roud:


Note, this does not solve the root problem.

Why you had algae to begin with

Regards, 
Tom Barr


----------



## prjct92eh2

This seems to be the definitive Spirogyra experience thread, so I figured I would chime in. I had a case in both my 38 gallon and 10 gallon tanks. Both were brought on by a mini cycle caused by me removing too much bio material (whole carpet of HC in the 10 gallon, and mechanical filters in the 38). I tried everything to get rid of it: reduced K/Fe did nothing, reduced photo period/intensity did nothing but slow plant growth, 2 day blackouts hit it hard, but nobody likes looking at a black tarp instead of a tank :tongue: Tried an Excel and H202 regimen, caused green water. Needless to say this was over about 6 months and I was getting really frustrated with the hobby in general. Finally I gave in and bought Tetra Algae Control. It says on the bottle it's safe for fish and plants, but not inverts, and since my angel fish ate my amanos in the 38, i figured I'd try it out. Did my weekly 50% water change, manual removal of the stringy crap and dosed the recommended drop per gallon. Within 3 days any remaining Spirogyra was turning grayish and looking really weak. Continued dosing the stuff every other day at a drop per gallon and by the next weeks water change all but a small bit of the stuff is gone. I'm now 2.5 weeks post treatment and the plants are thriving now that the Spirogyra isn't blocking their light. I'm back to normal EI dosing and the tanks look great. So that's my 2 cents. If you are at wits end like I was and don't have inverts you may want to give that stuff a try. roud:


----------



## chad320

bsmith said:


> Does anyone else find that Fissidens is a great place for this algae to reside?


Thats exactly why I got rid of my fissidens. Too lazy to keep fighting it off. I won the 1st battle and the 2nd time was too much work.


----------



## flowerfishs

That's a lot useful information. I wonder how people treat the SpiroGyra Algae now, since this thread is very old.

Chemical or fish?


----------



## sumer

After fighting it for almost 5 months, I think now I understand it.
It mostly attacks plants with needle-ly leaves (As Tom pointed out).
It becomes aggressive if dead fish goes unnoticed. (Maybe ammonia burst helps it)
Cutting on ferts doesnt help.
It hates sudden light fluctuations. (I made my light go off for half an hour twice during 7 hour photoperiod randomly)
I think it's spores go and settle down in the filter. Clean your filter every 45-50 days.
Spot excel dosing helps.
Florida flagfish and hungry guppies eat it.


----------

