# Best way to get rid of hair algae



## mott (Nov 23, 2006)

You could give H2o2 a try.
I have wiped my tank clear of bba and gsa for the most part with H2o2.

My method is to spot treat with filters off for 20 minutes then do a big waterchange. After the WC turn your filters back on.

You can do a small test on a piece of hair algae if it starts t fizz and it looks like its pearling then it should kill it.

Btw I don't worry about overdosing because of the big WC after treating.
Just keep an eye on inhabitants.


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## DiscusIt'sWhats4DinneR (Apr 25, 2008)

mott,
is hydrogen peroxide really that harmless to fish that get too close?


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## fishbguy1 (Feb 29, 2008)

Turn filters off

Spot treat with hydrogen peroxide

Big water change

filters on?

Is it that easy?

Do I really have to turn the filters off? H2o2 turns into water if I'm not mistaken when t is exposed to light.


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## mott (Nov 23, 2006)

You know guys I'm not sure how harmful h2o2 is to fish I did hear that in huge doses it could burn the fishes gills. I was also led to believe that it can kill bacteria on contact, that is why I shut filters off when treating.


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## fishbguy1 (Feb 29, 2008)

okay...I'll try it when I finish mowing the lawn...lol


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## mott (Nov 23, 2006)

Keep us updated


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## fishbguy1 (Feb 29, 2008)

I took some of the algae out of the tank. and aquirted it with H2o2, but it didn't bubble or anything, so I didn't use it. I am getting some flourish excel tomorrow, so I'll try to do something with that.


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## @[email protected] (Oct 24, 2007)

the way to make sure algae doesnt reoccur, and get rid of it in the first place is nutrient control. hair algae (the long thin threads) needs a high amount of iron. they also like high light, but only because that releases the iron and makes it available. i reccomend lowering your iron dosing, or if you arent dosing it, add something to suck it up. any sponge plant would work. hornwort is my personal favorite. since i added hornwort to my 20L, the hair algae growth rate started to slow (slowing of growth rate means it grows less and less and less each day, where as slowing of growth means slowing and then stabilizing). the SAE helped too, but there was a definite change with hornwort.


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## mott (Nov 23, 2006)

fishbguy1 said:


> I took some of the algae out of the tank. and aquirted it with H2o2, but it didn't bubble or anything, so I didn't use it. I am getting some flourish excel tomorrow, so I'll try to do something with that.


Try a spot inside the tank, you might not see the bubbling otherwise.


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## fishbguy1 (Feb 29, 2008)

oh...okay...I'm still gonna try with excel first as it will be safe for my fish, good for the plants (well...some of them anyways) and I have heard alot of success stories from using excel.


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## mott (Nov 23, 2006)

I actually lost japonica shrimp spot treating with excel that is why I tried H2o2.
Excel does work though just be careful not to od on it and you will be ok.


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## neonmkr (May 16, 2008)

fishbguy1 said:


> oh...okay...I'm still gonna try with excel first as it will be safe for my fish, good for the plants (well...some of them anyways) and I have heard alot of success stories from using excel.


Excel worked for me. I spot treated until it was gone & now dose tank once a wk at regular rate.


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## @[email protected] (Oct 24, 2007)

fishbguy1 said:


> oh...okay...I'm still gonna try with excel first as it will be safe for my fish, good for the plants (well...some of them anyways) and I have heard alot of success stories from using excel.


im not trying to stop you, actually i think its a good idea, but excel is TOXIC. it is a toxic chemical to organisms in the kingdoms animalea (animals), plantea (plants), and protista (algae are in the kingdom of protists). in smaller doses it is not harmful, and plants are cabable of extracting the carbon from it, but if you give a plant more then it can handle it does damage. however, it is not as bad as the alternatives, but when spot treating, dont put more then the double dose into the tank per day.


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## fishbguy1 (Feb 29, 2008)

I only maybe dosed 1.5 times what I was supposed to.

I'm doing a water change tomorrow, then, after that, I'll spot treat again.


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## Lnb (Apr 15, 2008)

Tried Excel and it did reduce the amount of hair algae but never completely got rid of it.

Put in some amano shrimp about 6 in each of the 15g and 20l. All of it is now gone and if it decides to come back again, my little guys will be waiting.


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## thefishmanlives (May 20, 2008)

I like amano shrimp however they crawl out of my open top tank...sucks because they are such good algae eaters...Flag fish work well for hair algae but you need a few of them and dont feed them food for a while.


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## Lnb (Apr 15, 2008)

> I like amano shrimp however they crawl out of my open top tank...sucks because they are such good algae eaters...Flag fish work well for hair algae but you need a few of them and dont feed them food for a while.


I gave up looking for Flag fish.

*off topic*
I'm new to Amanos and these are my first but why would "aquatic" shrimp crawl out of a tank? Are they being chased, not enough cover?


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## thefishmanlives (May 20, 2008)

not sure, but this happened to me once, it happened to a friend of mine on 3 different occasions. I have no idea why they did it. perhaps they lost the will to live :icon_roll


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## @[email protected] (Oct 24, 2007)

my guess is something in the water was off and they tried to get away to a different body of water. 



thefishmanlives said:


> not sure, but this happened to me once, it happened to a friend of mine on 3 different occasions. I have no idea why they did it. perhaps they lost the will to live :icon_roll


lost the will to live? that happens to people suffering depression, not animals. it is pretty rare for an animal to get an emotional disorder.


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## fishbguy1 (Feb 29, 2008)

I thought about flagfish, but decided against it.

I've been wanting amanos and charry shrimps, but I can't find any amanos, and I don't want to pay for shipping. I would rather trade some plants for cherries. Same with amanos. but eventually, I will got some.


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