Question: How to deal with bright green, hair, filament, or beard algae ?

[discuspaul]

Need Help !

Not sure what it's called, but it's certainly a type of algae which grows mostly off the tops of plant leaves in long filament-like bright green threads.
Have tried to deal with it using a number of different approaches but can't get rid of it ! I'm controlling it, but can't make any real significant dent in it - & it's very unsightly (in my view) in my tank.

Here are the details :

44 gal. low to medium level planted/growout/show discus tank , w/java fern, some val, ludwigia, hygrophilia (spelling ?) all of which are doing very well, even @ 85 F. Fertlize once in a while - no CO2 - nutrients are more than sufficient, I'm sure, although I keep the tank exceptionally clean, with frequent W/C's, religious tank, substrate & filter media cleansing, etc. Substrate is fairly large dark gravel.

Hardly any other algae, to speak of, at any time in my tank.

Have no idea what the phosphate level is.

Light: 2 - T5 -24 watt. each, on for about 12 hours each day - no direct sunlight on tank.

Maintain excellent water parameters at all times - crystal clear water - nitrates always below 5 - filter media changed/cleansed frequently - at least weekly on regular basis. Use Boyd's Chemi-Pure & hi-density floss media - some carbon from time to time.

Ph - always maintained @ 7.0

As I said, all plants grow well - I have to keep trimming & pruning - probably more than I want to - just to get rid of this ugly hair algae growing from the uppermost plant leaves.

Anyone have any treatments/remedies to suggest ?
Have read a lot of info on the internet, but nothing seems to have helped at all yet.

[Adz1]

i would just pull it out at the same time as the religous water changes are being done.
just pull it off every time you do water change.

[2wheelsx2]

Amano shrimps eat it. And as Adrian suggests, pull it out during tank maintenance. Use an old toothbrush and twirl the stuff around the brush and pull it out.

[discuspaul]

Thanks, Adz1
Have tried that many times, but can't seem to remove much of it - you can't
pull it off - it adheres to plant leaves like it's strongly glued on - my best luck has been cutting it back with scissors as close to the leaves as possible, or lopping off the entire top part of the plant stems where it's mostly growing.
I've even tried removing the plants from the tank, & thoroughly brushing off the algae as best as I can, but that doesn't seem to help much either.
That's as much as I seem to able to "control" it, but it keeps coming back with a vengeance - it's back to it's former level within 24 hours !
Hopefully, others can suggest something that may work.
Emile (DiscusPaul)

[discuspaul]

Thanks to you too, 2wheelssX2
See my message to Adrian also. I can't remove it by trying to pull it off.
Also tried many times to twirl it off with a toothbrush - that gets some - but not nearly all - still leaves some - & it grows back very quickly.
Will keep trying.

[discuspaul]

P.S. to 2wheelsX2:
Thanks for mentioning the Amano Shrimp - I'd heard that before - so will try it & let you know.

[Mferko]

the discus should find them quite delicious

[neven]

if amano's wont touch it, then it'll likely be black beard algae (can also be red/brown/green). Theres a thread stickied in the planted tank section of this site

[discuspaul]

the discus should find them quite delicious

Yes, I'm aware of that.
At least for now, the juvie discus I have are not that large - & I have a source for Amano shrimp that are quite mature/large - well over 1".
So, temporarily at least, shouldn't be a problem - perhaps a good number of them can do away with this algae before nature takes it's course ?
They're not costly, so the experiment may be worthwhile.
May try it.

[2wheelsx2]

Amanos are bigger than big Cardinals, and many people keep Cardinals with Discus. There's always the chance of loosing some, but many keep Amanos in planted tanks. You see it all the time on SimplyDiscus and Plantedtank. It's well worth the risk. Amanos are cheap enough that you can risk a few anyway.