# MASSIVE hair algae infestation



## mnemenoi (May 28, 2012)

Blackout and manual removal. I'd suggest a timer in the future to avoid any issues. Dosing Excel or hydrogen peroxide spot treatment can work as well.


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## steven p (Jun 22, 2012)

Physical removal then kill the current, spot treat with peroxide... Its the only method that works for me... Or you can pick out strands of the stuff daily for weeks... 

Also, Siamese algae eaters and amanos, also some live bearers and some "shark" fish like rainbow sharks may eat it.


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## gSTiTcH (Feb 21, 2013)

I've never had peroxide work on hair algae. BBA, sure.

I've also never had the stuff grow on glass...


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## OrangeAugust (Jul 26, 2012)

I have Amanos but only 3 in a 55 gallon, so they can't keep it under control. I also have Otos, but they won't eat hair algae, would they?
gSTiTcH- You've never had it grow off the glass? Interesting. It's definitely hair algae because it's bright green and the the threads of it are up to a foot long.


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## Tanman19az (May 14, 2011)

I've battled with this stuff and I am finding manual removal is the best bet. I tried removing plants and putting them in a bucket of algae fix and water. Kills both the plant and the algae and I even tried a low dose method.


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## nyxkitten (Jul 24, 2012)

I used algaefix on my 5 gallon and transfer the plants over and the hair algae is gone in three days. But depends on how much you have too.

Oh don't use if you have shrimp. Does not kill pond snails or mystery snails. Not sure if it will kill shrimp. Haven't used with fish but supposedly it doesn't harm fish.

I transferred because I have shrimp with hair algae on plants.


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## gSTiTcH (Feb 21, 2013)

Nope. I've had GSA on the glass, but never Hair Algae.


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## acitydweller (Dec 28, 2011)

There's different schools of thought on how to approach this. ive come at it from different angles, though it pains me to ever have to repeat the process. 15-30 second dip in algaefix, scissors to cut through the algae at the densest spots. manual extraction with tweezers for fine leaf plants, extraction by finger for stronger stems. Mosses were mostly destroyed and eventually were damaged beyond recovery when spot and drip treating with peroxide and algaefix. GHA is a pain. eventually doing the two punch method may be the only way.


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