# Is this Brown hair algae



## Kensho (Oct 24, 2012)

The tank has been stable for the last month. 
Injected C02, lights BMLED 8 hours with 3 hours of an Finnex 6700 in the evening to even out plant growth (the single LED doesn't hit the red of the tank enough, and I haven't hung it yet), EI daily dosing. 

I did add a GH booster as the only variable I can think of.

This tank is two years old and BBA is what I usually get when things go out of sorts.


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## greaser84 (Feb 2, 2014)

Looks like some kind of hair algae. Is it stringy?


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## Kensho (Oct 24, 2012)

yes - it isn't really attached


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## erinbirdsong (Nov 15, 2013)

It is Cladophora and VERY HARD to get rid of... You need to do a 4-5 day blackout and get algaefix and manually remove it daily... I just battled it for 3 weeks and it killed almost my whole tank... 



Cladophora, Blanket Weed




Description

Cladophora is a branching, green filamentous algae. Feels a bit rough and sometimes a bit gritty.


Cause

Low CO2. Low nutrient levels.



Removal

Can be very stubborn and difficult to eradicate. Make sure your dosing is good and keep your CO2 levels high. Manually pull out every bit you can see until it stops growing. May take a while but should work eventually. Make sure water circulation is good. Overdosing Flourish Excel, EasyCarbo or TNC Carbon may clear it. Amano shrimp sometimes eat it.


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## Raymond S. (Dec 29, 2012)

Is it possible to get a closer picture ? I have Cladophora in one of my tanks.
What I see in this picture doesn't look like it. But for want of a closer picture I can't be sure yet. Cladophora has been in my tank going on three years and more or less intentional. I just control where I want it to grow in there.
That kind, in fact is very hard to completely remove. But in a conventional planted tank may be easier because of lack of wall space that it can cling to. The treatment that I use to control it by killing it when it come up in places I don't want it is Peroxide.
But that doesn't work as well on the walls. Peroxide is harmful to Riccia F.
But that in your picture(once again for lack of a closer picture) looks like hair algae.
It is from mostly too high a level of light and also lack of current. Too many light hrs(instead of too high of light) causes it also but much thinner and lighter color.
Cladophora is dark green. Hair algae can be any shade of green or light brown. The higher the light the brighter the green.
But you can tell the difference in those by this. Take hold of some of it/w tweezers and pull it out. Do this where it is on the bottom. If lots of the sub comes up/w it you are looking at Cladophora. Hair algae will(mostly) pull away from the sub without lifting much if any of it. Also if it's Cladophora and you try to pick it up/w your fingers it has texture to it while the hair algae will just feel like slime between your fingers.


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## latchdan (Sep 7, 2007)

Looks very similar to what I had, you can read about it in my post here.
http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/showthread.php?t=743945&highlight=

I ended up doing the one two punch method and it seemed to wiped it out, I literally tried everything nothing worked but I've been almost a week without it so I'm crossing my fingers.


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## Kathyy (Feb 22, 2010)

The sticky thread on this forum has a couple links to good info on types of algae. I looked here for info.

Clado is a tough green filamentous algae that is supposed to smell bad. 

I think your algae is Rhizo which is a nasty one as well although it looks like what my platies are noshing on constantly right now so I am not bothered by it.


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## Ben125 (Dec 16, 2014)

Kathyy said:


> I think your algae is Rhizo


Yep this. I had this bad in my tank last month. It was sign of neglect. I changed the water several times, vacuumed the tank thoroughly, trimmed my plants (my moss especially as it was a breeding ground for this stuff), and finally built a CO2 reactor to stabilize my CO2 levels.


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