Algae On Anubias

[ian]

Its a real pain in the rear, every water change (weekly), i have to really clean my Anubias leaves, they get covered in a black looking algae. They used to last the week, but i changed the water 2 nights ago and they are caked in the stuff already. The thing is its not effecting my other plants (Amazon swords, Java fearns, Moss balls) I have reduced lighting and tried re positioning the plants. Is there any other way of keeping the leaves clean?

I feed weekly with a P@H fert and monthly with a tetra fert. No C02.

 

[MartinS]

I had the same problem - started dosing with EasyCarbo, and it went away. If you haven't used it or tried it, it's great for getting rid of the black algae, if dosed correctly.
Martin

 

[Nick16]

easy carbo would be one option (spot dosing) but then again its better to find the cause so you are not just chucking money at it.

At a guess i would say your algae sounds like BBA.
ALGAE GUIDE


i suggest you manually remove the effected leaves, and up the flow in your tank (getting a korlaia perhaps)
this should clear it up, if it doesnt, you may have to look into getting 2 SAE's (make sure you get the TRUE ones) or getting a bottle of easycarbo or excel and spot dosing with a pipette.
Perhaps combine the last idea with a three day blackout if it really is causing a pain. (wrap the tank in bin liners so its TOTALLY dark) If you do spot dose, make sure you dont overdose too much and kill any fish/inverts.
when the algae is dying from this method it will go random colours. Often red or white.

 

[theshadowinc]

I have ran into this issue more than once, honestly I added 3 ottos to my tank to help me out with the issues since they have entered and its recently they are doing a not to bad job but the problem I have is I have driftwood so classified as hardscape its always the first effected by any type of algue and this rule applies to anubias I have found. Really the only method to get rid of it is turn co2 higher and scrape it clean, I think everyone runs into this problem usually its from a new setup but I have run into doing a water change and all of a sudden boom algue bloom right after or the next day my co2 takes care of it not spreading but have to manually remove it, I am hoping my ottos will help with this. The other method would be to use eaither a flying fox fish or a SAE they both eat that algue

 

[ian]

thanks guys, it does look like BBA. I'll give those tips a try, i'll let ya know what happens. As for water flow, i have a U2. I use the spray bar. Would you start using the undercurrent bar or the top bar without the venturi blowing of the 02? The top appears to give more flow.