I have a nasty green hair issue in a 36 bow front. I bought a few turbo snails and they quickly took care of half, then lost interest. I can easily reach it, is it ok to simply scrub it away with a toothbrush or something? I don't want to create a problem like I did when I started stabbing aphasia with a bamboo skewer.
Scrubbing Green Hair
- Thread starter rk4435
- Start date
Turbo snails (mexican) can plow through some algae but will stop sometimes for several days after eating heavily. Then they start up again. Give them some time to clear it all. Think about how much algae that is compared to the size of the actual snail. It is amazing they can clear it as fast as they do. If you get impatient just get another couple or a lawnmower blenny. Of course you can also remove some by hand. While waiting for it to be cleared you should probably give some thought about how it got so bad ie: nutrient levels/husbandry techniques.
As someone once wrote on here, too, "If they're not eating what you want them to, pick them up and put them on it. Remember, they work for you." 
Thanks for the advise guys. I picked a good deal of it away last night, then place the snails back on it. I tried placing them a couple of weeks ago with no luck. I believe it may be time to scrub away. I am upgrading to a 90 gallon tank soon and certainly do not want to carry the stuff along. I did cut the lighting back today to see if they may help as well.
Show us a pic. Is it regular GHA? If it's bryopsis, they may not be able to keep up with it. I ask because I have seen turbo snails clean a 29 that was just covered in days (11 turbos) and seen the same snails work at bryopsis for week. They'll clean it up good, but it's usually just fast at growing back for them IME
