This non-branching green filamentous algae is called Spirogyra (Silk Algae, Water Silk ). This algae doesn't appear in polluted water systems but in ones that are eutrophic, rich in nutrients (liquid ferts, CO2 and light).It grows very fast, forming long, entangled strands. I would personally call this one the "spaghetti algae" :-) , the way it look to me.I am not sure algae eaters will eat Spirogyra. This aquarium of mine has Otocinclus and Neritina Zebra snail, and they are not showing any interest in eating it.I have removed this algae manually, very easy really.
None of my plants are showing deficiency symptoms. I wouldn't say that some of the nutrients were missing, but rather they were overdosed. In this case I didn't do water change in more that a month, but did continue dosing liquid carbon every week.
There is one problem I have caused (I assume). Since the beginning of this set-up I have used the Estimative Index fertilising regime, dosing 2/3 times a week N,P,K, traces and liquid Carbon (Easy Carbo).But instead of performing 50% weekly water change, I did only 25% weekly (and sometimes every second week). After some time the system was so rich in nutrients favoring this sort of algae. Lesson learned. Reset the system with large (weekly) water changes,always.
Photos by Dusko Bojic.
