Blackish yuck hair like Algee (Question from kids)

[Hdoubleu]

Hi guys - Our class fishtank has a yucky black hair like algee growing in it and we are worried it will be bad for our fish. We have a Betta called Zeus a Bristle nose called Mr Bris. They live with some Cardinal Tetras in our 40l tank. We have an underground filter system. The stuff is growing all over the filter, Mr Bris' log, the heater and our floating plant. When one of us cleaned the tank this morning the water coming out smelt like when you tip a vase that has had dead flowers in it out.

Do you have any ideas on how we can fix this as we are very attachted to Zeus and Mr Bris and we are concerned.

Miss Hdoubleu's Class

[myfishybuisness]

good to see young kids getting involed :thup: , also you could try treating double dose with a product called "flourish excel" over a few treatments it should turn red and die, but if you want to keep it down i suggest buying a blackline flying fox,they will eat the young algae growth, but will not eat the older stuff ,so get on top of it first with flourish excel and then maybe add a blackline flying fox

[Caryl]

Sounds like you have black beard algae.

This type of algae appears as short hairs, usually a couple of cm long closely packed together. Appears dark green, black, or dark red. It usually grows on plant leaves, and sometimes on decorations/substrate. It is usually found around the edges of plant leaves.

Causes -

A) Low CO2 levels

B) High PO4 levels

Solutions -

1) Increase the CO2 levels through a co2 system or using flourish excel (a carbon supplement)

2) Lower po4 levels, by doing a 40% water change, adjusting the po4 dosing to your tank or increasing your KNO3 levels

3) Using Flourish Excel, especially above the recommended amount.

As stated above, the most effective way of treating this algae is to increase co2 levels in the tank. It could be that you are not able to invest in a pressurised setup, so try DIY co2.

As also suggested, another successful way of getting rid of this algae is to use Seachems Flourish Excel. This contains an isomer of glutaraldehyde which is a colourless liquid with a pungent odour used to sterilize medical and dental equipment. Dosing this has been successful for many aquarists and is probably the easiest way to get rid of this algae.

[Hdoubleu]

Great - Miss Hdoubleu will buy some florish excel this weekend. We have been doing a 40% water change each week - can we do it more than once a week to help our fish out?

Will any of this harm our Betta as we really love him (and Mr Bris - you should hear us when he makes an appearance from under his log)

[Ice222]

The algae won't harm the fish, it's just not very nice to look at, but the flourish excel can. It's not that the product is bad, I use it myself, but when you add CO2, it changes some of the water chemistry (particularly the PH) and that can put the fish in shock when things change too suddenly. You might want to try the normal dose first and see if that helps, and slowly add more, up to double the does if needed later if the fish seem okay. Or get a PH testing kit (more on that below).

Also, your teacher might have already went to buy the excel, but diy CO2 can be a great science project since it is cheap and easy to do (search for "DIY CO2" in the DIY section and you'll get heaps of info). Most of the necessarily Items can be found at home and the ingredients are all very safe. The only thing is you might have to make the mixture again if you want to keep the algae away, and like the Flourish Excel, you want to make sure you are not adding too much at once. Another good science project related to the CO2 is PH testing, it's related because if you test the water before and after using any CO2, you can see whether the PH has dropped too much. It's quite fun since many different liquids will come up with different coloured results using the test, and you can try it with things like lemon juice or baking soda added to water.