Algae - Hair/Thread & Cladophora
February 29th, 2008At the last GWAPA meeting, I gave a presentation called Algae in the Planted Aquarium. While preparing for the presentation, I had to gather a lot of information from a number of different sources on the Internet. I’ve decided to declare this week Algae Week, and share that gathered information by posting about two types of algae each day. This is the final installment featuring Hair/Thread Algae & Cladophora.
Hair/Thread Algae
Hair/Thread Algae consists of long green filaments reaching as long as 30cm in length. It often mixes itself in among moss, and is sometimes grown purposely as an extra food supplement for tank inhabitants.
Cause:
- Excess iron levels - Concentrations >0.15ppm
Cure:
- Manual removal - Use toothbrush to remove as much as possible.
- Maintain proper water change schedule - weekly / bi-weekly changes.
- Rebalance Nutrients – Strive for the following nutrient levels: N (10-20ppm), P (0.5-2ppm), K (10-20ppm), Ca (10-30ppm), Mg (2-5ppm), Fe (.1ppm).
Cladophora
Cladophora is by far the toughest algae to remove from the aquarium. Forming green, tough, wool-like mats, it seems to favor intermingling itself into hairgrass, substrate, and hardscape items.
Causes:
- Marimo Balls - Being in the same family as these algae balls, they can sometimes introduce Cladophora to your aquarium.
- Healthy Conditions - Unfortunately, Cladophora seems to favor the same healthy water conditions that your plants require.
Cure:
- Manual removal - Use toothbrush/tweezers to remove as much as possible.
- Excel/H202 treatment - Use a syringe to spot treat problem areas.
- Luck - Very difficult to 100% remove.
Sources:
March 5th, 2008 at 11:40 pm
I had both of these show up recently in different tanks. The hair algae is getting to be a pain in the butt. It didn’t show up until I got new lights. However, if iron is the cause, that makes sense now. I don’t fertilize so I suspect it’s that my new lights must have the same wavelength as sunlight that frees organic iron. I have a “plant grow” bulb in one lamp that isn’t in the other and that’s the side that has the worst hair algae problem. On the plus, I can pull it out and feed it to the shrimp in the tank with the Cladophora. They don’t touch the Cladophora but love the hair algae. It’s very interesting.
March 6th, 2008 at 4:52 pm
I had a large hair algae outbreak when I got new, brighter, lights as well, and I believe it was due to the light forcing the plants to grow faster, causing nutrients to used up faster. Once used up, the plants could no longer grow, and hair algae prevailed. Since I’ve increased my dosing quantities, the hair algae has gone away.
March 6th, 2008 at 9:29 pm
Hm. That might be likely, but I’ve got mad growth on my swords, java moss and bacopa. I’ll be curious to see what happens in the near future. I have to tear the tank down to move it and I’m planning on changing the substate. A friend of mine gave me a bunch of clay-like additive that she had in her large tank and hated - she had a bunch of diggers so it never settled right - and I’ll be curious to see if that makes a difference in what algaes I get.