White Hair Algae!

[TharBePirates]

So I just returned from a six day trip to find all of my tank buddies fine. Ariel is plump, Gyrados was happy to see me by the way he swam up, and the ghost shrimp have all shed and are bigger.

G-Man's 5 gal though is COVERED in white hair algae! All of the plants seem to be fine (the duckweed and riccia have actually propagated like crazy), but the gravel looks like there's been a blizzard and the glass has some green algae growing on it.

How do I get rid of this stuff? Is there anything that will eat it? Currently the tank has 1 betta and 4 ghost shrimp, but if I can I'll add anything to keep this stuff at bay because it's nasty looking.

[Oldfishlady]

Can you post a pic?

Best method to remove is with a clean tooth brush and twirl in around the hair algae for manual removal-tank is too small to add anything to eat it which is limited anyway...a razor blade (glass tank only) or a algae scrubber for the green spot along with a water change.

[TharBePirates]

Here are some pics of the tank-







I have a scraper for the glass.

[Oldfishlady]

It looks more like a fungus or mold-usually harmless but still need to be removed with a water change and sucking it out

You tank looks great by the way....

[TharBePirates]

Originally Posted by Oldfishlady

It looks more like a fungus or mold-usually harmless but still need to be removed with a water change and sucking it out

You tank looks great by the way....

Thanks!

Is there anything that may eat this stuff? I am removing it right now, but was wondering if there's something (ie, shrimp or even snails) that would keep it in check if it's a reoccurring thing.

[Oldfishlady]

In a 5gal you are limited to shrimp and snail and they usually don't eat enough of it to make a difference.......

Did you have someone feed the fish while you were gone and they overfed or use a feeder block-usually that is caused by decay of some type

[Alex09]

I had some gunk like that all over my driftwood in my 10 gal. Then I brought home the cories and it disappeared and never came back. Not sure if its the same stuff though. And you have a 5 gal which isn't really big enough to properly accomodate other fish :/

Really nice tank though!
Right now my tank is infested with blue-green algae and these little green spots on the glass. I hate it. I think Its because I have too much light... Yeah, algae sucks.