What will eat Staghorn Algae?

I've got a pretty bad case of Staghorn Algae growing and want to find a
natural method of getting rid of it.

I have a variety of community fish in this 180G planted tank:
Danios
Mollies
Serpae Tetras
Buenos Ares Tetras
Neon Tetras
Kuhli Loaches
Swordfish
Clown Loaches
Clown Pleco
Gold Nugget Pleco
Common Pleco
Hatchet Fish

Of all of these, I have only seen the one male sailfin Mollie that I
have really tearing into the algae. The swordfish will occasionally nip
at it, but don't seem to make a dent.

I've heard that SAE's, Mollies, Rosy Barbs and Cherry Bards will eat
this stuff. Has anyone any experience with any fish or invertebrate
that will eat Staghorn Algae?

Thank you,
Kevin S.

Would anyone be able to respond to this post? The algae is getting
really bad and taking over a lot of my plants despite my best efforts
to remove it physically.

I've read that doubling the dose of Seachem's Flourish Excel for a few
days will get rid of it. I've seen success with that in my little 2.5G
betta tank (the algae turned orange and appears to be dying off) but
with my 180G tank which is pretty heavily planted, I'm having a hard
time figuring out how much to put in, especially since I already inject
C02.

Any advice from the group would be greatly appreciated.

-Kevin

KStringer wrote:
Would anyone be able to respond to this post? The algae is getting
really bad and taking over a lot of my plants despite my best efforts
to remove it physically.

I've read that doubling the dose of Seachem's Flourish Excel for a few
days will get rid of it. I've seen success with that in my little 2.5G
betta tank (the algae turned orange and appears to be dying off) but
with my 180G tank which is pretty heavily planted, I'm having a hard
time figuring out how much to put in, especially since I already inject
C02.

Any advice from the group would be greatly appreciated.

-Kevin


Apart from encouraging the plant growth to take over from the algae,
which you are doing, some other ideas would be to black out the tank for
2-3 days or to try some more/different algae eaters - I find my otos eat
most algae in my tank but I'm not sure that I've had Staghorn Algae but
seem to had most types - or just pulling it out by hand. One google
search I did seemed to suggest bleaching - bit extreme - here's the link
anyway as it seemed to have some useful stuff:-

http://www.fishprofiles.net/faq/algae.asp

Gill

KStringer wrote:
Would anyone be able to respond to this post? The algae is getting
really bad and taking over a lot of my plants despite my best efforts
to remove it physically.

I can't say for certain that it was actually staghorn, but prior to
having (true) SAEs, I had something that looked like staghorn, and after
I got some, it pretty much disappeared. I can't be 100% certain the two
events are correlated, but they just might be. YMMV, etc.

http://www.aquatic-gardeners.org/cyprinid.html

Thanks, I appreciate the post and the advice. I tried to purchase an
SAE but I think I got of the other fish that look very similar to an
SAE. It sure doesn't seem to be interested in the staghorn algae. When
you mention your Otos, what is the full name of that type of fish? I'm
not familiar with the abbreviated name.

KStringer wrote:
Thanks, I appreciate the post and the advice. I tried to purchase an
SAE but I think I got of the other fish that look very similar to an
SAE. It sure doesn't seem to be interested in the staghorn algae. When
you mention your Otos, what is the full name of that type of fish? I'm
not familiar with the abbreviated name.


Otocinclus - here's a link to give more info:-

http://www.thetropicaltank.co.uk/Fishindx/oto-affi.htm

Not sure if they'll eat the staghorn algae but they certainly polish
algae off my plant leaves :-)

Gill

Sad to say, that is exactly what I got under the guise of an SAE. I
think I will have some strong words with one of the folks that works at
my LFS...

It appears that my doubling the dose of Flourish Excel in addition to
the CO2 injection and ferts for the plants seems to be working. Most of
the stuff has turned an orangish color and seems to be dying off.
There's some stubborn patches, but I'm rooting those out by hand for
the time being. I'll have to see if I can find a real SAE as an
additional measure if possible.

Thanks again for the advice!

-Kevin

In article . com,
KStringer wrote:
I've got a pretty bad case of Staghorn Algae growing and want to find a
natural method of getting rid of it.

Fertilize the tank properly. It'll vanish.

I tried for 7 years to find things that would eat it as fast as it
would grow. There is no fiush that can even remotey keep up any
anybody see this meely has a bordeeline case of it.

I sear it increased in voracity with each flagfish I aded.

Normal (ie, barr) fertilizezaion will get rid of it quickly.
say, a week. Flourish Excel kills it in about 2-3 days.

So does peroxide but at a dose high enough to kill everything
else too. Don't use it.

--
Need Mercedes parts ? - http://parts.mbz.org
Richard Sexton | Mercedes stuff: http://mbz.org
1970 280SE, 72 280SE | Home page: http://rs79.vrx.net
633CSi 250SE/C 300SD | http://aquaria.net http://killi.net

In article .com,
KStringer wrote:
I've read that doubling the dose of Seachem's Flourish Excel for a few
days will get rid of it. I've seen success with that in my little 2.5G
betta tank (the algae turned orange and appears to be dying off) but
with my 180G tank which is pretty heavily planted, I'm having a hard
time figuring out how much to put in, especially since I already inject
C02.

Follow the directions on the label. Really. Ignore the fact you
already have CO2, per SeaChems advice (pers coms.)

--
Need Mercedes parts ? - http://parts.mbz.org
Richard Sexton | Mercedes stuff: http://mbz.org
1970 280SE, 72 280SE | Home page: http://rs79.vrx.net
633CSi 250SE/C 300SD | http://aquaria.net http://killi.net