Anyone know what this algae is and how I can’t treat it?

[Clovis]

15 g Fluval flex. Heavily planted. Just four pea puffers. 
 

 

[Colu]

Probably.hair algae

[Odd Duck]

I can’t quite tell if that’s hair algae or staghorn algae.  When you rub it between your fingers is it soft or does it feel kind of gritty?  Soft hair algae will be eaten by young Otocinclus and several other fish but otos can be tank mates for pea puffers.  Apparently adults are less reliable about eating it.

Staghorn algae is harder, literally.  It will feel gritty between your fingers.  Some Nerites will apparently eat it, but not many other snails (or fish) will.  Nerites also relish hair algae.  Amano shrimp will potentially eat both.  The staghorn algae is a lot more likely to get eaten (by either Nerites or Amanos) after a peroxide treatment.

You can use about 3 mls (of standard, 3% peroxide) per gallon of water in the tank, although I’ve heard up to 10 mls per gallon, but 3 mls per gallon is a LOT.  You shut off all filters because you want still water.  Pipette or syringe the peroxide directly onto the algae you want to kill (also works on hair algae or other types of algae), let it sit for 5-10 minutes, then turn your filters back on.

Personal experience has shown me that it’s very hard to keep algae under control in a pea puffer tank.  They are carnivores, so they naturally have potential for higher nitrates in the tank.  Plus they are very sloppy eaters, sometimes leaving half the snail in the shell or half a dead worm laying around, causing more nitrates.  They are limited in who they will tolerate as tankmates (unless you have your shoal in a large, busy community tank).  Last, they are beggars, triggering overfeeding by those of us in the Overfeeders Anonymous category.

My sympathies if your pea puffer addiction is like mine.

[Phantom240]

On 7/10/2021 at 11:26 AM, Odd Duck said:

 

Personal experience has shown me that it’s very hard to keep algae under control in a pea puffer tank.  They are carnivores, so they naturally have potential for higher nitrates in the tank.  Plus they are very sloppy eaters, sometimes leaving half the snail in the shell or half a dead worm laying around, causing more nitrates.  They are limited in who they will tolerate as tankmates (unless you have your shoal in a large, busy community tank).  Last, they are beggars, triggering overfeeding by those of us in the Overfeeders Anonymous category.

My sympathies if your pea puffer addiction is like mine.

Ugh truth. And I have my lone pea puffer in my 5gal desktop setup... It's probably the most high tech, since I decided to do everything in my power to use plants to fight algae. It works, but man, such a small tank is a hassle. 

[Jennifer V]

Looks like the beginnings of staghorn to me. @Odd Duckand @Phantom240 are so right -- the algae fight in a puffer tank is real. How long are you lights on? Do you have a timer? Are you dosing with any fertilizer? What are your tank parameters? 

[Clovis]

My lights are on timer for 6 hours per day. I dose fertilizer once a week and put in substrate pellets once in a while. 

[Jennifer V]

On 7/11/2021 at 8:36 AM, Clovis said:

My lights are on timer for 6 hours per day. I dose fertilizer once a week and put in substrate pellets once in a while. 

From what I understand, algae is a sign of a nutrient imbalance. I personally struggle with high nitrates because puffers are messy little eaters (ammonia = nitrates). Algae can set in when there is an abundance of nutrients. To combat that, I test and change the water at least once a week. I also only dose Easy Green every two weeks and my plants are doing great. I use a turkey baster and suck up all of the uneaten food right away after each feeding and manually remove the algae every couple of days. It seems to be working because I don't really have an algae issue anymore, and I had a staghorn problem at first. 

[Torrey]

@Clovis I have [almost] resolved my algae war in pretty much all my planted tanks by using Dr Diana Walstad's siesta method.

 

Plants grow better... algae does not. 

 

I still have algae on the back (I encourage it to help control nitrates) but it's now staying off my plants and hardscape.

I do have to clean the front glass once a week, but that's also where the light comes in, so...🤷‍♂️

It took almost 6 weeks to notice significant improvement, but combined with the other recommendations here, should make long term fish keeping easier. 

 

Good luck!

[eatyourpeas]

On 7/11/2021 at 8:58 AM, Jennifer V said:

From what I understand, algae is a sign of a nutrient imbalance.

I agree with @Jennifer V when it comes to puffer tanks. I control the algae in my pea puffer tanks by cutting down the light period by one hour until it is gone. I get a lot of natural light so during the longer days of Summer I normally only run the light for seven hours. I do not fertilize since the little poopyheads make so much waste the plants are quite happy.