# Little tiny hairs growing on sides and deco



## dam718 (Nov 25, 2013)

Howdy guys,

In my 36G I have what look like little tiny hairs growing on the sides of the tank and on the decorations.

Pretty sure this is some kind of algae... Aside from scraping it off with a cleaning pad, and using less light (I leave my lights on around 8-10 hrs per day) is there anything else I can do to curb this before it becomes an outbreak? Or should I even be worried about it?

I'd rather not put any "algae eaters" in the tank... Don't think my cichlids would like it very much! Not worth the risk...


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## chrisb01 (Apr 4, 2010)

Sounds like... exactly... hair algae. I don't see the lighting being an issue, unless the tank is near a window. If the tank gets light from outside, it doesn't have to be direct sunlight, then you are getting too much light; and turning off the aquarium lights might not help.

Let me ask you this question: What kind of Cichlids do you have?


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## dam718 (Nov 25, 2013)

Currently I have 3 yellow labs, 3 electric blue johanni, 1 blue kenyi, and 1 yellow auratus

They are all juveniles, about 1.5" in length. So the tank is big enough for them at their current size, but I plan to transplant them into a 55G in the very near future.

I have two Serpae Tetras in there as well which were in there while the tank was being cycled... The cichlids, surprisingly enough, don't mess with them at all... 

They will be moved to a 20G I have cycling at the moment as soon as it's ready for fish.

There may be a small amount of sunlight getting to the tank (not much at all) and all the windows are 100% UV filtered tinted windows.


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## hotwingz (Mar 3, 2013)

It sounds like too much light. When you feed your fish do you watch and make sure they eat it all. That your not over feeding. Poor water quality can help cause such things. Also what's your water change schedule? And adding an algae eater for this wouldn't help. But if you wanted you could add a bristle nose pleco to help keep the tank clean.


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## dam718 (Nov 25, 2013)

I do 50% weekly changes. Water chemistry is perfect, from what I can tell... I usually see Nitrates at ~20PPM just before the change. 0 Ammonia and 0 Nitrites...

When I feed, which is once per day, I shut off my filtration so the water movement dies. I add a little bit and let them gobble it up... I add very small pinches of food for three minutes. They eat everything I put in, and if anything starts to float down, one of them always snatches it up. 

I haven't been able to find a bristlenose pleco at any of the LFS around here. That said, I haven't been to all of them yet... Will a bristlenose be able to survive with a tank full of cichlids? I'm assuming yes, based on the serape tetras in the tank... The cichlids seem far more interested in chasing each other than they do in the tetras...


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## hotwingz (Mar 3, 2013)

Well than I would stick to straight up too much light. If you can get a timer and go with like 6 hours of light for a while, this will help your plants but not over kill to where the algae can get enough extra and it will die off slowly. As far as the bristle nose. A good amount of store in my area have them. I don't know anyone again on my area that doesn't have a bunch of them. I have probably a dozen of them. They don't get over 5-6" and they can be with non super aggressive cichlids. And they are some of the better cleaner uppers!


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## dam718 (Nov 25, 2013)

On a hunch, I called an LFS here called "Coral Fish Hawaii" to see if they could help me find a Bristlenose... I thought they were a saltwater marine fish only type of place, but wouldn't ya know they also have a very good variety of freshwater. They had two Bristlenose so I picked one up that was a tad bigger than my cichlids... 

They also had 2 beautiful synodontis eupterus catfish that I have researched to be compatible with cichlids, so I picked them up as well... They are the same size as the cichlids... These are just awesome looking fish, I couldn't pass them up...

That kind of locks me into a tank upgrade likely within the next six months... And I am alright with that!

Something else they do which is pretty cool... They had a big variety of filter media seeding in their display sump (Huge sump, about 300 gallons!) and they happened to have a seeded filter for the penguin 150 I have cycling on my 20G... Picked that up for $4. Cool place! I'm glad I gave them a call!


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## hotwingz (Mar 3, 2013)

Well it sounds like you have got it all straightend out! And it's always nice to have a LFS and not a big box store to go to. But $4! That's amazing!


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## dam718 (Nov 25, 2013)

I know, right? I think they cost more than $4 new, much less seeded... 

I'm tickled with these catfish... Never thought I would like a catfish... They look like little leopards. The cichlids were very curious about them when I introduced them into the tank after acclimation. But these little guys take absolutely no crap. My Kenyi (My wife calls him Gary) went in for a closer look and got bulldozed! Haha... Funny to watch... The cichlids are leaving them alone now... Lights are out and they are roaming around eating up everything... 

The bristlenose, on the other hand, he seems to have found something awfully sweet on the glass... He's been stuck there for a while... boring!


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## Raymond S. (Jan 11, 2013)

Some Pleco's "require" driftwood. Something about their digestion. Check this/w a person who knows which ones need it.
You didn't mention which type of light/bulbs you had but hair algae usually don't show up in less than med light levels
or the high end of the low level with long hrs of it. As long as there is any window(which is not closed/w curtains) in that
room, your fish don't need a light on for them. So if you want to view it after you come home from work while this 6 hr
period exist, you can just start it at like 4-10P.M. Just a possibility that you might like.


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## jrman83 (Jul 9, 2010)

Featherfin squeakers, huh?

How much light do you have? Type of fixture/bulbs/wattage? It could be a matter of too much light combined with your lighting period. Do you have plants? I didn't see you say this, but with cichlids most people don't waste their time with plants. Hair algae can show up at any lighting level, its just about a balance no matter what light you have.


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## dam718 (Nov 25, 2013)

The bulb is a 17W Full Spectrum T8

Should the room not be exposed to any natural sunlight at all? I don't have a room in my house that ISN'T exposed to natural sunlight, unless I keep the tank in a closet??

It doesn't get hit directly from the windows, but there is ambient light all over the house.

I do have one plant in there but I need to take it out... It's getting chewed up pretty bad... 

So the Bristlenose was dead this morning when I got up... He wasn't missing any fins, and didn't look like he had been harassed at all. Strange... Aren't Pleco's supposed to be pretty hardy fish? Water conditions are good (0 Ammonia/0 Nitrites/10-15 Nitrates)... 

Guess it was stress?


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## jrman83 (Jul 9, 2010)

I would just say to cut back to 6hrs a day for 2-3wks and see if it has an effect on it. It always takes longer for the bad to go away than it does to show up.


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## dam718 (Nov 25, 2013)

luckily the algae at this point is very small, like fine dust particles... The only way I noticed was wiping off a water spot from the outside and I noticed these tiny little hairs swaying back and forth on the glass inside the tank.

Is it beneficial at all to just scrub it away? Or will it just keep coming back?


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## jrman83 (Jul 9, 2010)

You may have to scrub it away. Most algae that is already growing is tough to make go away. Best practice is to manually remove and then take measures to prevent it showing again.


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## hotwingz (Mar 3, 2013)

How did you introduce the BN to the tank? And what a your pH like? That could have been your issue there. He might have gotten pH shock.


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## dam718 (Nov 25, 2013)

My Ph is at 7.8 from the tap, so I don't alter it for the Cichlids and they have acclimated well. 

Depending on where you look, this is the high end of the Ph range for the Bristlenose, some sites have it as 7.6, some at 7.8... I drip acclimated (30 minute drip) and he was rather active before he died... Really seemed quite healthy, and then dead... strange...

I do drip acclimation, so I had him in a 1 gallon pitcher... Had him in 1 quart of the tank water from LFS, and drip for 30 minutes, which gives me about 2 quarts of water. I let him sit in the pitcher for another 10-15 minutes, and then (for lack of better terms) pour him into the tank... 

Is there a better way to introduce him into the tank after drip acclimation other than just pouring the water in? Should I put him in a breeder box first?


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## hotwingz (Mar 3, 2013)

Well your doing it right. I might let it set longer. But this is a method most have great success with. I usually poor a small amount of tank water into the bag a brought the fish home in and float the bag for 30+ minutes. Make sure temp is right and they have gotten a little adjusted to the water chem. I like to do an extra WC if I know I'm bringing home fish. Just for a little extra help!


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## coralbandit (Jul 29, 2012)

dam718 said:


> I do drip acclimation, so I had him in a 1 gallon pitcher... Had him in 1 quart of the tank water from LFS, and drip for 30 minutes, which gives me about 2 quarts of water. I let him sit in the pitcher for another 10-15 minutes, and then (for lack of better terms) pour him into the tank...
> 
> Is there a better way to introduce him into the tank after drip acclimation other than just pouring the water in? Should I put him in a breeder box first?


Drip acclimation is the best method,but you missed one of it's best features.You "poured " all the water into your tank.
Never add water from other systems.It is a good way to introduce unwanted things.Once the drip is complete,simply net your fish and place in tank.Sometimes I drip longer for more sensative fish,and sometimes I net them from bucket and float them in the tank in a specimen container(filled with only tank water) so they can see where ther going.
Again,because it is important;Never add water from other systems to your tank.


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## dam718 (Nov 25, 2013)

coralbandit said:


> Drip acclimation is the best method,but you missed one of it's best features.You "poured " all the water into your tank.
> Never add water from other systems.It is a good way to introduce unwanted things.Once the drip is complete,simply net your fish and place in tank.Sometimes I drip longer for more sensative fish,and sometimes I net them from bucket and float them in the tank in a specimen container(filled with only tank water) so they can see where ther going.
> Again,because it is important;Never add water from other systems to your tank.


Thanks for the pointer... I had considered netting him and putting him in the tank, but I was thinking this would create unnecessary stress. Pretty sure I won't be adding any more fish to this tank, but I'll keep this in mind for when I stock my sons 20G.


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## dam718 (Nov 25, 2013)

Alright, so today I grabbed a magnetic algae scrubber (best invention ever!) and got all the algae off the glass, rinsed all my plants in tank water, pulled my live plant out, and did a thorough gravel vac job. Moved my intake to the other side of the tank so my canister hoses don't cross and cut about a foot of excess hose from the supply and return lines... Got some algae wafers for the Pleco (since I basically just eliminated his food source), and lastly swapped out my light with a 50/50 17W T8 lamp... Got the new light mainly for aesthetics... The blue hue of the 50/50 vs. the full spectrum light I had before really makes the colors of the cichlids pop! 

Also did a 60% water change... Left the rock/cave formation alone, so it still has some algae growth (very minor) but the two catfish and pleco live all over that thing and seem to be doing some nice work cleaning it up.

Getting a light timer for free... That should help with only having the light on for "x" hours per day...


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## hotwingz (Mar 3, 2013)

Ya the blue light really helps with colors of your fish. Especially cichlids. The timer will really help with keeping the algae under control. All my tanks that I had issues with now have timers and I don't have the same issues any longer.


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