Currently, I am not doing water changes. The heater evaporates some and I add new.My fish seem are all healthy. I haven't had any fish get sick, lethargic and die. Water prameters look okay too.
But I've had hair algae problem for a while. For that, I started using a liquid fertilizer to help my other plants. I have sera phosvec clear and I got 2 nerite snails for cleaning but they don't seem to be eating hair algae.
I think my tank is already filled to it's limits. It's about 10 gallons/50 liters. I have 4 cherry barbs, 13 green neon tetras, 6 x-ray tetras, 2 nerites and 1 small veil tailed albino (golden) bristlenose. I don't want to add anything else and mess with it anymore but hair algae problem is only growing.
But the only solution seem to be adding new fish that would eat the algae. What should I do? I am not experienced enough to get any further with this problem.
Posted by That_Jackfruit_6385
5 Comments
Almost no fish eats hair algae. Get the water tested properly or buy a liquid testing kit. Test your tank water and the tap water and then you will find the culprit.
You need to manually remove hair algae as much as you can or it will take over the whole tank
Looks like you have the kind of water where top-offs will work out.
I would increase competition by plants. Barbs are already a decent option for algae-grazing.
I’d consider getting a digital pH meter and 250 mL graduated cylinder for calibration. Water without carbonate/alkalinity can drop as low as 3.5 pH without water changes, and many popular barbs start dying after 5 pH.
if youre not doing w/c im guessing the nitrate is higher than what your test is reading.
How long are your light on?
As others have mentioned, liquid test kit.
But especially since you are ferting with so few plants and even some of the ones you have are slow-growers, I would expect exactly what you are seeing. Lots of nutrients, nowhere for them to go. And add to that no water changes and…