Algae ID assistance

Discussion in 'Plant Problems' started by DanielWard, Nov 23, 2016.

  1. DanielWard
    Offline

    DanielWard Algae harvester

    • APSA Member
    53%
    Joined:
    Dec 24, 2015
    Messages:
    63
    Likes Received:
    42
    Trophy Points:
    28
    Location:
    Cape Town
    Hi everyone!

    Below are some pics of my enemy. I am still playing around with different aspects of my tank in order to try and nail it however I am posting here to get your opinions on what type of algae it is.

    It's brown / grey, looks like spider webs, stringy, little bit slimy when out the tank, currently nailing my new carpet plants as well as slower growers such as my ferns and anubias. Tiny bit on my stem plants. Grows extremely fast. Whatever I remove in a day is back a few days later.

    [​IMG]
    [​IMG]

    After some research I found the following:

    Description: These are very general names for a wide variety of filamentous algae. Generally green and varying in length. I have listed some of the more popular filamentous algae under their own section on this page.

    Cause: A range of causes including low CO2, low nutrient levels and ammonia spikes. Nothing to do with excess iron as commonly thought.

    Removal: Can be very difficult to eradicate at times. A high plant mass with good CO2 and a good supply of nutrients along with constantly hassling the algae seems to pay off after a while. Removal by twisting around a toothbrush or similar. Overdosing Flourish Excel, EasyCarbo or TNC Carbon can help. Amano shrimps, Rosy barbs and mollies will often eat it.

    More specifically:

    Rhizoclonium:

    Description: Strands of fine green or brownish threads which are soft and slimy.
    Cause Low CO2 and poor water flow. Low nutrient levels. General lack of maintenance.
    Removal Increase CO2 levels and check nutrient dosing. Give the tank a good cleaning. Overdosing Excel, EasyCarbo or TNC Carbon should also clear it. Amano shrimp will eat it.
     
  2. wudze
    Offline

    wudze Aquascaper

    • APSA Member
    3%
    Joined:
    Nov 21, 2013
    Messages:
    894
    Likes Received:
    602
    Trophy Points:
    103
    Location:
    Welkom
    Looks like rhizo, sometimes it goes away on its own, but as the advice at the bottom of your post states a good cleaning will also help.
     
    DanielWard and Luis Embalo like this.
  3. Luis Embalo
    Offline

    Luis Embalo Valued Contributor

    • APSA Member
    23%
    Joined:
    Feb 11, 2010
    Messages:
    5,342
    Likes Received:
    1,184
    Trophy Points:
    223
    Location:
    Elsies River - Cape Town
    it looks too dark for Rhizoclonium.. I would go with a really bad case of BBA..

    take out as much as you can.. heavy dose of excel, localized, lights off for 3 days.. water change, no feeding the fish.. dose nutrients.. then lights on after 3 days only for 3 hours a day, and slowly increase an hour a day.. CO2, clean water and excel will clean it.
     
    DanielWard and Trev Pleco like this.
  4. Trev Pleco
    Offline

    Trev Pleco Algae destroyer

    • APSA Member
    23%
    Joined:
    Jun 27, 2010
    Messages:
    5,767
    Likes Received:
    1,760
    Trophy Points:
    223
    Location:
    Constantia, Cape Town
    take out shrimp before dosing !
     
    DanielWard likes this.
  5. wearsbunnyslippers
    Offline

    wearsbunnyslippers Administrator Staff Member

    • Super Admin
    23%
    Joined:
    Dec 29, 2007
    Messages:
    6,333
    Likes Received:
    1,122
    Trophy Points:
    223
    Location:
    Johannesburg South
    rhizo and BBA..
     
    Luis Embalo and DanielWard like this.
  6. DanielWard
    Offline

    DanielWard Algae harvester

    • APSA Member
    53%
    Joined:
    Dec 24, 2015
    Messages:
    63
    Likes Received:
    42
    Trophy Points:
    28
    Location:
    Cape Town
    Thanks all.

    For anyone interested i'll keep posting here as the war continues.

    Basically it started once I added on the new light, Finnex Planted + 24/7 ( high light as the tank is only 30cm tall ). Quickly added pressurized c02 after that and started dosing Scape Complete.

    Almost positive it's due to the high light. After manually cleaning the tank it grows back after 2-3 days with a vengeance. Definitely not due to poor tank maintenance.

    At the moment I am doing 2 water changes a week with lots of manual cleaning. Double dosing Excel as well as increased my Scape dosage to bring it more in line with the high light and c02. Definitely not because of low c02 either, as a lot of the sites state as being the cause of Rhizo.

    Added in a molly just to help make the tank more sightly, she is eating the stuff like crazy.

    Going to keep my tank stable for the next 2 weeks and see how it goes. If no improvement i'll do a 3 day blackout and go from there.
     
  7. wearsbunnyslippers
    Offline

    wearsbunnyslippers Administrator Staff Member

    • Super Admin
    23%
    Joined:
    Dec 29, 2007
    Messages:
    6,333
    Likes Received:
    1,122
    Trophy Points:
    223
    Location:
    Johannesburg South
    rhizo will go away on its own eventually, BBA you going to have to sort out..
     
    Luis Embalo and DanielWard like this.
  8. Joshua Tree
    Offline

    Joshua Tree Valued Contributor

    • APSA Member
    23%
    Joined:
    Aug 15, 2012
    Messages:
    5,089
    Likes Received:
    1,626
    Trophy Points:
    223
    Location:
    Cape Town
    What is your substrate?
     
  9. DanielWard
    Offline

    DanielWard Algae harvester

    • APSA Member
    53%
    Joined:
    Dec 24, 2015
    Messages:
    63
    Likes Received:
    42
    Trophy Points:
    28
    Location:
    Cape Town
    Inert with tabs.
     
  10. mxz
    Offline

    mxz Noob

    • APSA Member
    90%
    Joined:
    Jun 7, 2011
    Messages:
    49
    Likes Received:
    21
    Trophy Points:
    18
    Location:
    Cape Town
    My 2 cents... Cut out Scape Complete, reduce light, and overdose Excel. I had a similar problem and this sorted it for me.
     
  11. Joshua Tree
    Offline

    Joshua Tree Valued Contributor

    • APSA Member
    23%
    Joined:
    Aug 15, 2012
    Messages:
    5,089
    Likes Received:
    1,626
    Trophy Points:
    223
    Location:
    Cape Town
    Inert what with what tabs?
     
  12. DanielWard
    Offline

    DanielWard Algae harvester

    • APSA Member
    53%
    Joined:
    Dec 24, 2015
    Messages:
    63
    Likes Received:
    42
    Trophy Points:
    28
    Location:
    Cape Town
    Fine gravel with flourish tabs.
     
  13. DanielWard
    Offline

    DanielWard Algae harvester

    • APSA Member
    53%
    Joined:
    Dec 24, 2015
    Messages:
    63
    Likes Received:
    42
    Trophy Points:
    28
    Location:
    Cape Town
    Have since done two big water changes with lot's of manual removal. Cut the Scape dosing down as I think it would be too much, started getting other algae as I think the phosphates were too high.

    Cleaned the filter out as well and did a bunch of trimming. Hoping that the plants take off more now but will monitor it closely.

    [​IMG]
    [​IMG]
     
    Chameleon2 and Joshua Tree like this.
  14. RoGe
    Offline

    RoGe Green fingers

    • APSA Member
    51%
    Joined:
    May 2, 2015
    Messages:
    418
    Likes Received:
    183
    Trophy Points:
    53
    Location:
    Pinetown
    Were you doing the daily Scape Complete dosing according to the instructions on the bottle? In my low tech it was too much and I started battling algae.. I'm now only dosing once or twice a week, but as I said, that's in my low tech..
     
    Clare likes this.
  15. Luis Embalo
    Offline

    Luis Embalo Valued Contributor

    • APSA Member
    23%
    Joined:
    Feb 11, 2010
    Messages:
    5,342
    Likes Received:
    1,184
    Trophy Points:
    223
    Location:
    Elsies River - Cape Town
    you actually believe algae is due to too much ferts?
     
  16. Paul
    Offline

    Paul Plant menace

    • APSA Member
    77%
    Joined:
    Jul 31, 2015
    Messages:
    1,144
    Likes Received:
    415
    Trophy Points:
    93
    Location:
    Capetown
    No never. i dose to the very max with my ferts and never had any algae problems.
     
  17. DanielWard
    Offline

    DanielWard Algae harvester

    • APSA Member
    53%
    Joined:
    Dec 24, 2015
    Messages:
    63
    Likes Received:
    42
    Trophy Points:
    28
    Location:
    Cape Town
    I'm not 100% sure on the ferts causing algae, iv'e read multiple times that too much phophates can cause certain types of algae. Reading up is one thing however and actually experimenting with the different factors is another and that's when I really started learning.

    Things are a lot more under control now, thanks for the input everyone! All about finding the balance between lights, ferts and CO2 and it's different from one tank to another. Looks like iv'e got the right amount of ferts sorted now, slightly more than what the bottle suggested.

    So to sum up:

    I have quite a high light tank so I upped my CO2 as well as my ferts.
    Two big water changes weekly with lots of manual removal of algae.
    Light cleaning of the canister filter ( it had quite a lot of debris in it due to it not being a very old setup )

    Will keep posting here if any issues arise for some more advice and suggestions.

    Have a great week all.
     
  18. Clare
    Offline

    Clare Aquascaper

    • APSA Member
    23%
    Joined:
    Jun 28, 2011
    Messages:
    1,498
    Likes Received:
    651
    Trophy Points:
    123
    Location:
    Mooiriver, KZN
    I doubt it, Luis but in low-medium light / planted tech setups, you got to watch the phosphates during the summer - it encourages green algae bloom. I believe it's more of an hygiene issue as in my case - my tank was very dirty when I did a massive clean up over the weekend and man, it was filthy. Even the canister filter was as dirty as hell. I blame the snails and poor circulation. So a rescape was in order for my tank and so far, so good, I'm hoping my massive clean-up has solved the issue and fixing the circulation problem on top of that. BBA was growing on the tips of my plants and every time I put my hands in, I felt like I was being shocked - the water was way too acidic too, if I remember correctly my pH testing kit was showing around 7.8 which was way too high.

    With phosphates, I get a lot of green spot algae on the glass - nothing I can do except scrub it off periodically and keep an eye on the phosphates dosage as well as circulation and make sure I dont have any obstructions in the way as well.

    I have another question that has been burning in my mind for a while - we have fungi that grows on dead things such as wood and so on. Maybe we should treat BBA the same way? Because so far, I've seen BBA grow on dead things - specially on wood and on inanimate objects such as intake and outake filter pipes, gravel, etc... Even on plants that are dying off. I've seen it in my own tanks too.
     
  19. Joshua Tree
    Offline

    Joshua Tree Valued Contributor

    • APSA Member
    23%
    Joined:
    Aug 15, 2012
    Messages:
    5,089
    Likes Received:
    1,626
    Trophy Points:
    223
    Location:
    Cape Town
    If one of the elements of your dosing is too high wouldn't that cause algae of one type or another?
     
  20. Luis Embalo
    Offline

    Luis Embalo Valued Contributor

    • APSA Member
    23%
    Joined:
    Feb 11, 2010
    Messages:
    5,342
    Likes Received:
    1,184
    Trophy Points:
    223
    Location:
    Elsies River - Cape Town
    No.

    Issues are:
    - dirty tank
    - overfeeding fish
    - unstable CO2 delivery
    - too much light
    - not enough nutrients

    Nutrients in the water has never caused me algae.
     
    Chameleon2 likes this.

Share This Page