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What is this and how do I get rid of it!

2K views 24 replies 11 participants last post by  fplata 
#1 ·
In the picture I have included, I have hair like algae growing out of my xmas moss. I wasn't sure if it was staghorn, hair algae, or something else. How do I get rid of said algae?

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#3 ·
hmm, that is a long strain of algae. It's one of the worst kinds to get rid of because usually it will take half your stuff away when you try to eradicate it.

It's hair from a girl lol - or so it seems in the picture.. I get tons of cat hair and g/f hair stuck in my flame/java moss all the time.
 
#8 ·
Possible the start of cladophora. I had a tank that had cladophora. It started just like that a few hair like strands. Then a week or two later boom everywhere. Grab a few strands and rubb them in your fingers and smell. Cladophora has a nasty almost sewage smell to it. This is just an idea. I'm no algae pro. Im just going by my own experiences.
 
#9 ·
I had thread algae like you before. API algaefix works great against these but please read up before committing to that. Issue with algaes like hair algae is they can thrive in the same conditions as plants. Overtime, good stable CO2 and flow will allow plants to outcompete, though I never was able to beat it that way (mainly since at the time I had poor understanding of planted tanks). However, algaefix got rid of it and I havent seen it back in the past 4 months.
 
#11 ·
I had a bad hair algae outbreak about a year ago and it did look a bit like your photos when it started. I first noticed it in my rocks that I had covered in java moss. Within two week it choked and killed half my moss. I bought some amano shrimp and they made quick work of the problem. Not sure if thats the same problem you have, Im no pro in this hobby.
I also get cat/girlfriend hair in my tank, and that one thing that my amanos wont touch.
 
#16 ·
This kind-of brings back my theory of it's just human hair. The RCS wont much care for hair algae but Amano and sometimes otos love to chow on it.

I still say do the toothpick test and see if it clings like algae when you swirl your toothpick around it. If it doesn't cling quickly, then it's human hair and you have nothing to worry about.

If it is a type of algae, you can do spot dosing with a q-tip and excel and see if that kills the strain.
 
#17 ·
Well it wasn't hair. It's some form of algae. Just got to figure out how to get rid of it permanently. Here's some new clearer pictures.

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