This is the new-ish bane of my life.

1. what is it?

2. how can i kill it?

I dislike it so much, i even bought algae-rid, phoszorb and nitrazorb today. :shock:

Did I mention how much I hate this stuff?

It feels like slimy fishing line and is pretty strong like.

I will try hydrogen peroxide tomorrow.

This is the new-ish bane of my life.

1. what is it?

2. how can i kill it?

I dislike it so much, i even bought algae-rid, phoszorb and nitrazorb today. :shock:

Did I mention how much I hate this stuff?

It feels like slimy fishing line and is pretty strong like.

I will try hydrogen peroxide tomorrow.

It looks very similar to an algae I used to get, which responded well to a blackout.

sorry, i should have mentioned that a blackout is not on option on this tank.

I have some plants in there that I cannot take chances with.

Is that what it looks like with the naked eye or have you used a really good camera with a good lens?

that's how it looks with the naked eye. its pretty gross huh? :lol:

halfdose api algaefix had it in my planted when the t5s went on for the first time cant remember what its called though

someone told me it is staghorn algae. seems right.

dosed with algae rid now, so hopefully it will go and never return.

how long did it take to go away?

This algae is also an indication of calcium / magnesium imbalance. Are you fertilising with magnesium (eg. epsom salts) ?

This algae is also an indication of calcium / magnesium imbalance. Are you fertilising with magnesium (eg. epsom salts) ?

nopes. not using that.

Ive added co2 to the tank with a modified powerhead with holes thingy, and algae rid.

the algae rid took about 3-5days and its never returned :bounce:

the algae rid took about 3-5days and its never returned :bounce:

awesome, its day 2 now and some of the smaller algae has disappeared, fingers crossed this will be gone too. if not, ill take out my pruning scissors and get rid of it.

Are there any side effects to the algae rid?

too much of it and your fish are dead. :-? :-? :lol:

its one of those last resort options for me. next time ill try that wheat barley thingymagigeedee thing.

Yesterday was the first time I've resorted to algae remover stuff too....

I get this layer of black algae everywhere, even inside my powerhead where I don't imagine it gets much light!

I just let it grow for a while (figure might as well let it remove whatever phosphates/ excess nitrates I had) and then huge water change with manual scrubbing of the sides to get as much of it off as I could.

Looking good so far...

And, it was an excuse to get me a new catfish anywho!

So I've tried algae rid and it is not working.- I re-dosed everyday instead of every 3 days. I manually removed a lot of the algae and it seems to have re grown in new places.

any other magical remedies?

SAE worked to get rid of mine and I had heaps of the stuff.

It is dying I think. 1 bottle of algae rid, 1 big bag of phoszorb and another big bag of nitra zorb.

lots of flourish excel, a new co2 diffusor - and its finally going I think.

gah.

UPDATE

Nope. Not dying.

I have ordered some H2O2 (hydrogen peroxide) and when that arrives i will have to treat the tank.

So far I have tried 2 bottles of algae rid and commercial algae remover to no avail. I mean this algae gets stuck to the plastic and grows off it!

The peroxide will no doubt kill a lot of my plants, but i do not think I have much of a choice now.

I just hope the fish will be unaffected.

this is the second day that the tank has been in a black out - my first black out ever. it does not seem to be having an effect on the algae.

If it helps, after i had set up my new tank, i left water in my old tank with like 2 java ferns and some rocks/wood with no light, filter, or heater, or substrate... a little bit that looked like this turned up on my java fern.

There may be some factors in there that will help u kill it. Could be something other than algae.... Not sure what tho.

I had a bad algae outbreak 18 months ago when I added injected CO2 to a heavily stocked 200L tank (including 3 species of catfish, loaches and blue rams). I completely got rid of all algae in two weeks by doing the following: 1ml Flourish excel per 15L tank water each day. In addition, add 1ml of flourish comprehensive per 40L tank water each day. It was a heavily stocked tank with no losses and the plants got a real foothold which helped. All the algae turned red within a week and then I removed the badly affected leaves. This tank has not had any algae since then.

This treatment will make your tank cloudy and you will need to remove carbon as it will absorb some of the aldehydes but if you try it you will be a convert.

ive gone through a litre of flourish

tank had CO2 on it, also to no avail.

that was a waste of excel and now im unsure where I can get the 2L bottles from at a reasonable price.

Is this of any help?

http://www.aquaticplantcentral.com/foru ... dvice.html

Did you add enough? Also, you can add the flourish with a syringe so you can direct it at badly affected areas. You need the trace nutrients to get the plants using all the excess nutrients as well.

yeah, i added a lot more than what is considered safe. used a 10mL syringe and did maybe 40mL per day until the litre that I had was used up.

Now my plan is to do this:

http://www.malawicichlidhomepage.com/aq ... xide2.html

and if that does not work i will have to shell out for a UV steriliser.

if that does not work, ill have to start from scratch.

Did you remove all chemical filtration before treating? The excel really will work but not if you are removing it with carbon. Also, what sort of other fertilisers were you using? Maybe you have an excess of gross nutrients.

Peroxide is pretty extreme in that it oxidises all cells, alive or dead. You don't need to kill all your plants. If you are going that extreme you might as well uproot them and put them in a dilute bleach solution for 5 minutes then rinse them and replant them. I guarantee it will kill all algae and it will not hurt any of the plants (unless you totally fry them with a super concentrated solution). I always do this to all plants I buy and sell.

BTW, it will not rescue any leaves that have been internally damaged from algal spores though (but it will kill the algal spores).

EDIT: typo