Hair algae choking off guppy grass?

[Bill Smith]

Hey gang, I have a problem I could use some help with: My guppy grass in one of my nano-ponds is being overtaken with green hair algae. The algae seems to be choking off the grass:

I really need the grass to be more accessible to guppy fry, but the hair algae is so entangling. I can't pull the algae off the stemps of the grass without breaking it all up. There are also a couple small water hyacinths eating up nitrates.

I know the typical approach of managing the balance of light vs. nutrients, but I'm not sure which way to take it, because the two plants seem so similar to me. Is mantaining the 20ppm Easy Green target still the best approach here? Or is there a particular nutrient that gives guppy grass the edge over the algae? Should I pull the hyacinths to give the grass a better chance?

The pond only gets 1-2 hours of direct sunlight each day.

Thank you!

Bill

 

[Alesha]

I've been getting a little hair algae on my java moss, & have the same issue:  if you pull one, the other comes out with it. 

Yesterday, I "trimmed" my java moss back, quite a bit, cleaning out any dead patches or stems that had any BBA. So far, I haven't seen any new hair algae. We also treated with Easy Green.

Maybe just a good triming, treat with ferts & your guppy grass will have a new growth spurt, & thereby use up all the nutrients so the algae has nothing left to grow with.

And maybe someone better- equipped with plant knowledge had that answer about which nutrients grow which plant. 😏 

[RovingGinger]

I struggle with this same issue, although I haven’t seen it actually kill or choke off guppy grass growth. So far I have just given up on clumps of guppy grass and it does grow back fast. The same issue is worse with java moss.
 

Guppy grass just also seems to break whenever you look at it wrong, so I basically accept that any cleaning or tending to guppy grass will inevitably involve replanting a lot of guppy grass pieces. Hoping for a better solution as well! 

[Ben Ellison]

I would recommend  Amano shrimp or ottos. Cherry shrimp would  also be another  option.  When ever I place any plants that have algae on them my shrimp flock to it and clean it in about 24 hours.