have bought a bristlenose placo, but all it is doing is eating the algae off of the drift wood decor I have in the middle of the tank. I have what they call green hair algae on gravel at bottom of tank.
2007-02-28 10:22:00 · 6 answers · asked by Anonymous in Pets ➔ Fish
get more flow in your tank, keep the water moving, via a powehead. Like the previous guy said keep the lights off, or try to have the light on when your home and thats it, i would keep the lights on a timer, so you won't have to turn them off manually. I would check nitrates, ammonia in your tank, possibly change the carbon on it, vacuum the gravel to keep it clean. try to take all the hair algae off manually, and try not to feed so much, keep it to a minimum. There seems to be too much organic waste, that is fueling the hair algae, if u like using products, chemi-clean seems to work well, but its not going to eliminate it fully if u don't keep the waste down. Chemi-clean in conjunction with water changes, filter changes and keeping the light off should help eliminate your problem with hair algae. Good luck!!
2007-02-28 10:42:02 · answer #1 · answered by Erick B 2 · 1⤊ 1⤋
All good suggestions, but the question you asked is what kind of fish eat hair algae. If you can find American flag fish they do a great job on hair algae as long as you don't feed them to much regular food. Another way to knock it down is to keep the light off. If you don't have plants in the tank the only time you really need the light on is if you are watching them or feeding them. Any of my tanks that don't have plants i.e. breeder, grow out, quarantine tanks the only light they get is room light. The fish are not bothered by it and I don't get algae blooms.
2007-03-01 00:26:35 · answer #2 · answered by james 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Pleco aren't the best algae eaters out there. They are omnivores by nature. A Siamese algae eater, or a Oto will get hair algae. Also molly, platty, and guppy like to snack on it. A apple or mystery snail may eat it, but may chow down on your plants. Honestly unless it's crowding out things why are you worried.
Note that your pleco is likely eating the driftwood;-)
2007-02-28 11:01:51 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
About the only effective strategy against hair algae is prevention. Change water once a week as usual. Don't overfeed. Keep the light turned off as much as possible if you don't have live plants.
2007-02-28 10:27:05 · answer #4 · answered by fish guy 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I agree with bleed, the first poster. You best bet is to control it by controlling the aglae's needs. You may consider incearsing your water changes to 35-40% per wek for a few weeks as well as keep the light off as much as possible. The addition of a few floating live plants will help as well.
MM
2007-02-28 10:33:29 · answer #5 · answered by magicman116 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Don't eat it yourself sure you are more inteeligent than some. But I am waiting to see what answer s in case it happens to me
2007-02-28 10:36:27 · answer #6 · answered by aftertherain24 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋