Fur Coat

I've just noticed that the two pieces of bogwood in my Goldies tank have what looks like a fur coat over them.

I am presuming it is an algae of some sort, it is short brown 'hairs' that can be seen clearly moving in the water current.

I am getting to the point where I revert back to no planting or live stuff in the tank, and leave the lights off for longer periods to get rid of the algae - it is the only thing that has worked in the past, unless anyone has any ideas on how to stop it.

Any ideas anyone?

edit - Just looked it up and I think It might be the beginnings of this -
http://www.aquaticscape.com/articles/algae/bba1.jpg

Looks like I have got to blitz the tank after all

That looks gross Diana, best to get ri of it before it gets worse I would think. Good Luck

Ewwwww it looks like a dead rat

That is currently plaguing my little tank. I have blitzed it like 3 times but it keeps coming back. Deffo get rid of it as its awful!

Well thanks for the reassurance Matt . I've just given the tank a really good clean and thrown out all the live plants and bogwood that were in it, washed it all and done nearly a 100% water change.

Just noticed though that some of the gravel has it covering it so I might have to replace that, I'll see how it goes. Fingers crossed!

No probs on the reassurance

I'm going to do my 4th blitz tomorrow and i hope its going to go. I'm going to re-scape the tank though so i can do a good clean up!

Is it a coldwater or tropical tank Matt. I haven't had any algae probs (touches wood) in my trop tank, but the goldies have been a pain!

Mines in my tropical tank. This type of algae called Black brush algae is actually more common on tank equipment. Its the first one on this page: http://www.theplantedtank.co.uk/algae.htm

It says that it can help to increase the tank flow. This is my problem as my filter is bad!

Matty wrote:

Mines in my tropical tank. This type of algae called Black brush algae is actually more common on tank equipment. Its the first one on this page: http://www.theplantedtank.co.uk/algae.htm

It says that it can help to increase the tank flow. This is my problem as my filter is bad!

Did you notice that if you overdose the tank with Excel it will clear t up - that might be worth a try for you matt

YAY! Another thing to buy!! I think overdosing with Excel clears most algae up. What Excel should i get? There are so many types!

It just says on the link you gave that overdosing with Flourish Excel will clear it up usually.

I guess i will get Flourish Excel then

That looks horrible stuff, like a yetti!!

Well I can confirm that overdosing Flourish Excel does work as it cleared up a nasty dose of grey hair algae in the 90L tank for me. I kept the tank lights off for three days and added a daily double dose of Excel to the tank and that got rid of it for me. Also, at each water change, I sprayed the plants with the mixture given at the bottom of that page for a couple of weeks afterwards and the hair algae has never returned.

AFAIK, the appearance of this algae usually coincides with the addition of live plants and can be due to a lack of CO2 so, when you have cleared it up, Diana - a twice weekly normal dose of Excel should keep it at bay as that's what's worked for me.

Too late Mary. I blitzed the tank, got rid of all the live plants - some of which had algae on them and have gone back to being fake! I can get back to controlling the lighting a bit better and hopefully keep all algae at bay.

The fish dont seem to mind, and I do occassionally put some of the excess floating plants in there for them to nibble on so they are not completely deprived of all things natural