# Green Spot Algae, Hair Algae



## Cam (Nov 9, 2009)

I have not posted here in a long while, but I need some techniques to remove this crap. I have some short green hair algae and tough green spot algae growing all over my tank.

I am able to easily clean the glass with a credit card, along with everything else, but I cant seem to get the hair algae to detach from my driftwood, or the spots to come off my plastic plants. Boiling does not help very much when it only gets some off.

Everything else is fine as it has been for the last five years with this tank, just wondering if there is an easy solution other than half an hour of scrubbing in hot water. Thanks


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## snyderguy (Feb 9, 2010)

This kind of thing takes a long time to get rid of. What I did was increase my water changes and I added more plants that outcompeted the algae for nutrients.


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## emc7 (Jul 23, 2005)

I saw something about squirting flourish excel or hydrogen peroxide directly on the stuff. But then you have dead hair algae attached to everything.


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## Homer (Sep 6, 2010)

i have a problem growing algae and getting snails to breed. What others want to get rid of im trying to get. I leave my 5 gallon light on for about 15 hours a day.


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## snyderguy (Feb 9, 2010)

homer, add some kind of liquid fertilizer. i think flourish excel is what it's called. should help ya out as far as algae goes


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## Homer (Sep 6, 2010)

snyderguy said:


> homer, add some kind of liquid fertilizer. i think flourish excel is what it's called. should help ya out as far as algae goes


sorry to hijack this thread but is fertilizer safe for snails. im trying to get a snail tank going and cant get the algae to grow.


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## snyderguy (Feb 9, 2010)

Not sure. Try googling it.


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## Homer (Sep 6, 2010)

i did google it and incase anyone was wondering, a lot contain copper so you might want to look out for that when looking for ferts.


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## Cam (Nov 9, 2009)

Oh lord, still nothing.


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## Homer (Sep 6, 2010)

Cam said:


> Oh lord, still nothing.


buy several algae eating fish or go extreme and take down the tank


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## iheartfish:) (Jan 19, 2011)

Lol, i find it funny how cam says "oh lord" and you all ignore her  :chuckle chuckle:


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## Chaos553 (Apr 2, 2007)

I've been in the same bind for a while as well. I haven't found a decent treatment, but I remember reading about something in regards to bleaching the tank itself (fish and plants removed obviously). I've never had the chance to do this process, but I'm going to highly assume it works because of the consistency of bleach. 

Have you had any kind of headway yet or are you still stuck?


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## Cam (Nov 9, 2009)

iheartfish:) said:


> Lol, i find it funny how cam says "oh lord" and you all ignore her  :chuckle chuckle:


HER? I am a male. How in the hell do you gather that info? You would not know that I guess..since you must be one of those new, un-knowledgable post spamming GUYS who think they help. LOL sorry if that messes with anybody 

Anyhow, somebody here mentioned to get algae eating fish. READ MY DAMN SIG!

I have had this tank setup for a LONG time with my second Plecostomus currently in there. Most plecostomus will only control one or two types of algae..as mine does not control green hair algae or green spot.

Just wanted some reasonable answers here and I guess this site IS in a rapid decline.


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## emc7 (Jul 23, 2005)

lol, if I had answers for this, my tanks would be pretty. rubberlip plecos can eat green spot, but even credit cards and bleach leave something like a hazy silica film on the inside of the glass. True SAE will eat hair algae and some goodeids and florida flagfish, but they don't do well with most 'community' tanks. I am going to dip all my plants, scrub all my ornaments and bleach my worst tank, but I keep putting it off. I've seen variations of this question on all the forums and all the answers are incomplete. Like H2O2 turns hair algae purple and it dies, but it comes back. Or squirting a double-dose of flourish excel with a syringe (same thing, it dies, but comes back). Overdose either and you kill fish. 

You attack it a differently in planted tanks. All about nutrient balance and out competing it. Just go search on plantedtank.net or similar site.

If I had the answer to this one, I'd bottle it and make my fortune. You are not going to get any sympathy from me for not getting an easy answer. 

Get serious about water changing and try to starve it, but the green cotton candy is still growing in a (fish-free) tank I stopped feeding 2 months ago.

As for this forum being in decline, its possible. I still can't chat and the lack of attempt to fix it turns me off supporting the site. There are lots of new people and fewer old-timers, but this seems to happen periodically to all sites. Its impossible to tell if it is 'a decline' or just a cyclical lull.


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## Cam (Nov 9, 2009)

I was looking for some one experienced from the good old days like you EMC, and yes I as well hope it is a lull in the community. I see less and less of the old guys on here all the time, including myself. I am somewhat glad I deleted my account from when I served a few months as a moderator and somewhat advisor, that was just a chaotic time to join I guess..back in late '06. Quit with that crap and made up this account using my real first name. (nickname)

As for the algae, I have been doing research on and off for about three years when I started getting it in this tank - still no definite answers besides some in-balance somewhere. Looks kinda funny having a hairy driftwood chunk and plants..with totally clean gravel and everything else. This temporary tank is a little small to add anything else to the mix, which is really to bad.

lol and yes, I was in a bad mood over the last week with helping a buddy move out.


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