Hair Algae?

I have a 10g tank with lots of plants in it (and fish too, obviously.) And it has a filter and heater and gravel and places to hide and the whole bit. It has fully cycled, I go to my local pet stores every few days to get it checked to make sure its okay. So i have room for a few more fish.

So recently i've had a problem with hair algae growing on all of my plants. Not quite an outburst of it, but a fair amount of it, so it looks pretty bad. Is there any fish that will reliably eat hair algae? i have one Otto catfish, but it stays near the bottom and the hair algae is mostly towards the top.

Hair Algae?

flying foxes will eat hair algea

Hair Algae?

There are very few fish that eat hair algae. I have a planted tank and I control it with Flourish Excel. It's a fertilizer and is not sold as an algae control but many people use it when they get the hair algae. It's great stuff.

Algae killers are quite bad for your tank, fish, plants, so I do not recommend them at all. I don't know anyone else who would either.

Hair Algae?

First of all flying fox get to big for a 10 gallons tank.

Flourish Excel. It is NOT a fertilizer, it is liquid CO2 supplement. I have try that and it do work to reduce the hair algae. You need to use 2 or 3 times it's recommended amount, which means you do it at your own risk.

But, before you add anything in your tank (fish or additve), I think something is in-balance in your tank. Out of control Algae is normally is an indicator of bad water quality due to overstock, overfeeding...etc. Check your water, for excess nitrates, phosphate or iron, because Hair algae thrives on them. Are you adding any fertilizer in your tank? If so, you may want to reduce the amount. In the mean time, you should physically remove the hair algae from you plant, that will help to control the hair algae until you fix the underline issue.

My SAE, Amamo shrimp and Cherry Red shrimp all go after the hair algae. For a 10 gallon tank, SAE is not a good choice. Without knowing what fish you have in your tank, I don't know will shrimp be OK.

Also, my hair algae total went away when I start add the DIY CO2 and improve my light. I think the extra CO2 and good light (not longer hour, but more watt) help the aquarium plant to use up all the excess nutrients and nothing left to feed the algae, then they die off. I think this is the same reason why Flourish Excel (liquid CO2) help to kill of hair algae.

One more thing, algae is normal for a healthy tank. Many fish snack on algae, so it is OK to have algae as long as it's not out of control. Also, it's never a good idea to get a fish just to clean algae. Fish produce waste, so at the end, they add to the problem and not solve it. Also, many fish as they grow up they will stop eating algae, unless you like the fish otherwise what are you going to do as they lost their functionality.

Hope this help