# algae or fungus or what else?



## max88 (Aug 6, 2009)

Can anyone help ID what's attached to the val. Thanks.


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## chriscro (Dec 3, 2010)

its hair algae...
usualy comes black/brown ive only seen once whiteish grey

basically evaluate your lighting cycle #1
check your fert schedule and the types of fert your using #2
do you hace any algae eating buddies? snails/fish./shrimp #3
if you can clean as much off the plants as possible #4
co2 does help to reduce algae #5

good luck all us planted tankers have this problem


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## max88 (Aug 6, 2009)

48W T5HO lighting 8 hrs/day on timer #1
Miracle-Gro Shake n' Feed 19-6-12 as fert #2
14 algae eating shrimps but I may be over feeding so they leave algae alone #3
I've tried #4
DIY CO2 #5

I will do more #4 on next maintenance. Thanks for your advise/info.


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## chriscro (Dec 3, 2010)

how many gallons??
and dimensons?


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## max88 (Aug 6, 2009)

20G (24L 12W 16H)

by the way I have reduced feeding. 40% water change weekly.


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## Beijing08 (Jul 19, 2010)

Looks like staghorn algae. Hair algae is never grey coloured. Hair also typically appears on mosses first. Staghorn, on the other hand, grows along the edges of leaves
The branchy growth gives it away.

Bump up ur co2 levels and spot treat affected areas with excel. Staghorn turns red after a few doses - sign of dieing off


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## Darkblade48 (Jan 28, 2008)

max88 said:


> 48W T5HO lighting 8 hrs/day on timer #1
> Miracle-Gro Shake n' Feed 19-6-12 as fert #2
> 14 algae eating shrimps but I may be over feeding so they leave algae alone #3
> I've tried #4
> ...


This is a lot of light for your aquarium.

You need to be dosing more regularly, and with proper fertilizers. Terrestrial fertilizers tend to add nitrogen in the form of urea, which will encourage some types of algae. It is better to use KNO3 as a nitrogen source.

For your CO2, you will need to also ensure that you have a steady 30 ppm (i.e. check with a drop checker using a 4 dkH reference solution) to fight off algae.

You can use Excel to kill off the algae that is present, but unless you take care of the underlying problems, it will simply come back.


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