Hair Algae Strikes Back (Cladophora)

Sadly just after my Vesicularia sp. “Christmas“ (“Christmas Tree Moss”) got going, so did the hair algae growing on it. I have been trying to keep it under control, but it is winning the battle at present.

After a bit of digging around for info, I haven’t really come up with any obvious cause, other than it may be a lack of nutrients – as I have been only adding a very small amount of ferts. This kind of makes sense as the fast growing Echinodorus Amazonicus (“Amazon Sword”) is also showing signs of a lack of nutrients.

Suggestions for removal extend from pulling it out with a toothbrush/comb ( what I have been trying so far) to taking the whole lot out and bleaching it. That is a last resort as it wont be a simple case of taking the whole piece of drift wood out that it is attached too, as a large amount of that wood is buried in the substrate.

What I am going to attempt is a real heavy session with toothbrush and comb – then introduce some Amano Shrimp (which were on the plan anyway – and are known to munch on this stuff) and start adding more ferts… so it could get worse! 😦

Day 56 – Water Change

Week 8 – 2 Months to the day since I set up the tank!

This week I had to undertake some serious trimming of the Echinodorus Tenellus (“Pygmy Chain Sword”), as they were growing far too long and not giving me the “plain” look that I was after on the left side of the tank. I had let them grow out for a while to make sure they were well rooted, but this week it was time for a cut.

As every week, all the plants have grown further and appear healthy, EXCEPT the Echinodorus Amazonicus (“Amazon Sword”) which is starting to look decidedly unhealthy. Up until now this had been the fastest grower and never looked anything other than tip top, but now the leaves are browning and getting holed. This may be due to the fact that all the nutrients are being used in the tank, so I have started adding some liquid fertilizer. The liquid fertilizer I am using is Ferka Aquatilizer and I shall start out with 1 pump a day.

The Riccia is now looking pretty healthy and green again – but since cutting it back 3 weeks ago I am now seeing a constant stream of bits floating out and generally littering the tank. I am unsure as to what to do with the Riccia as I fear it will not grow back if I cut it again and in any case there is too much of it to be cutting every week or two. On top of that the blades of it that float around the tank are a real nuisance to keep cleaning out, they get well stuck in the Dwarf Hairgrass.

You may also just be able to see that the algae growing on the Vesicularia sp. “Christmas“ (“Christmas Tree Moss”) is becoming a bigger problem – I will need to investigate what to do about this, as the moss underneath is getting smothered.

New Tank Diatom

Well it had to happen. I don’t think many tanks make it past the first couple of months without and outbreak of diatoms – AKA Brown Algae. This bacterial growth covers rocks, substrate and most anything really with a brown dusty slime. You can see in the photo that the rock that was only one week ago pretty light and clean is now growing brown diatoms.

Usually this stuff goes away after the tank settles down a bit more – if it persists too long I will see if there is anything more dubious going on.

Compsopogon sp. – Staghorn Algae

I have a dirty secret I have not been totally honest about. I have had staghorn algae in the tank for a couple of weeks, and now the truth is out.

The thing is, I was under the impression that staghorn algae was green and what I saw initially was a very light brown colour. It started growing on the Vesicularia sp. “Christmas“ (“Christmas Tree Moss”) approximately two weeks ago, which makes it about 2 weeks after I set up the tank. It essentially looks like a very fine mass of cotton wool and like I said was initially a very light brown colour.

After some reading up I have learnt that staghorn alage prefers a high ammonia and nitrate environment with low CO² – which pretty much summarises the exact conditions of my tank two weeks ago. The fact that it was sitting on a non-growing and slightly decaying layer of moss probably provided some handy nutrients also.

Last week I used a toothbrush to comb a patch of it up and out of the tank whilst I was siphoning to avoid and small bits floating away. The area where I did that has shown no signs of new growth since, but there was still another area that I did not comb out last week.

This remaining patch has been turning darker ever since, which is probably a sign that it is dying. It turned from the very light brown to orange to a kind of dark red over the last week and if this is truly a sign of its decline then it makes sense. I have increased the CO² in that period and now that the tank is cycled there is no ammonia and much less nitrate for it. Helping further the Vesicularia sp. “Christmas“ (“Christmas Tree Moss”) is finally showing fairly healthy growth which will be taking the nutrients away from the staghorn algae.

Yesterday I could bare looking at the remaining patch no longer, so that too was combed out with a toothbrush. I wil keep an eye on it, but hopefully that little episode is over.