Algae On Plants

[mystus]

How do i clean algae off plant leaves?

 

[gregswimm]

try rubbing it off gently with your fingers

 

[Mza36]

from my experience, rubbing it off the leaves isnt so effective. and even then its only a real temporarily solution. id first try some otocinclus or algae shrimp

in my tank im having the same problem. i recently added an E. bleheri which grows pretty fast to try to outcompete the algae. i think i am going to find a nice crypt also. most of my plants right now are slow growing (java fern, anubias) and are more prone to get algae growth.

i would suggest putting more information down such as your tank size, wpg and light regiments to start so someone else more knowledgeable than myself could help you. good luck

 

[mystus]

from my experience, rubbing it off the leaves isnt so effective. and even then its only a real temporarily solution. id first try some otocinclus or algae shrimp

in my tank im having the same problem. i recently added an E. bleheri which grows pretty fast to try to outcompete the algae. i think i am going to find a nice crypt also. most of my plants right now are slow growing (java fern, anubias) and are more prone to get algae growth.

i would suggest putting more information down such as your tank size, wpg and light regiments to start so someone else more knowledgeable than myself could help you. good luck

Shoots was just at my lfs and at a sale but disided not to get the ottos . The algae is growing on my anubius the most and seems to have taken over one of the leaves. I tried scrubbing it with no success.

I have a 25 us gallon tank with a eclipse set on top. (not sure of the watts but I know I didnt change the lighting.

 

[RadaR]

The presence of algae is telling you that something is missing for the plants.
Can you ID the algae from this guide?
The guide will also tell you the cause and a method of treating the algae.

 

[mystus]

I couldn't find the algae but it looks like any other on the glass the tank.

 

[mystus]

http/s598.photobucket.com/albums/tt64/mystus808/Mobile%20Uploads/?action=view&current=1102091731.jpg&newest=1

heres what it looks like

 

[Bobtastic]

Looks closest to Black Brush Algae, BBA to me.

 

[RadaR]

I agree. BBA around the leaf edges and Green spot algae on the leaf surface area.
BBA is caused by low/unstable levels of CO2. Airstones contribute to this.
Greenspot algae is due to lack of phosphates.

 

[mystus]

I agree. BBA around the leaf edges and Green spot algae on the leaf surface area.
BBA is caused by low/unstable levels of CO2. Airstones contribute to this.
Greenspot algae is due to lack of phosphates.

SO i just can't change my water in the tank for a while?
I don't have a airstone and i don't use CO2 injestions.

 

[RadaR]

I agree. BBA around the leaf edges and Green spot algae on the leaf surface area.
BBA is caused by low/unstable levels of CO2. Airstones contribute to this.
Greenspot algae is due to lack of phosphates.

SO i just can't change my water in the tank for a while?
I don't have a airstone and i don't use CO2 injestions.

It depends on the lighting really. If it was low-ish, around 20-25w then yes, miss out water changes and make sure the surface isnt being broken. If the lighting is around 30-40w then you simply have too much and require co2 injection(if it were 2light tubes, you could turn 1 off).

 

[waterdrop]

Thanks RadaR for your clear comments in this thread. I have a small bit of the same two algaes as mystus.

Because of a couple of happenstance sales at a couple of shops I had been dosing Flourish N, P and K (from little bottles of the separate macros) along with the plain Flourish that has traces along with macros. When the N and P ran out I decided to keep going with just the K and plain and watch what happened. GSA has started to show up on the back glass. Your comments reinforce that this is probably due to the lowering of Phosphate supplements.

I also have been trying to play with light, circulation and Excel in this tank (28G/106L) to try and understand how to work on balancing these with each other thinking that I'll eventually add pressurized CO2 sometime off in the future but want to understand these first.

The tank came with one 15w strip light (which would have put me just about .5w/g) so I added a second 15w strip to put me barely over 1 w/g. I'm dosing 1 capful of Excel per day, which I think is closer to double dosing than single. I added a koralia to add additional circulation to the 5x or so that the eheim/spraybar are providing.

Still, I get BBA on a decoration and I think its due to either the CO2 being low, or due to it fluctuating (I change 50%/week. Do you think low CO2 or fluctuating CO2 is the bigger factor?) The lights are on 7 hrs per day (2.5 in am, 4.5 in pm.)

Unlike mystus, I also still get significant Diatom algae, despite the tank setup being almost 2 years old. My conclusion about this is that its almost entirely due to the lack of CO2, but I wonder if any of the other things are factors in addition to this lack of CO2?

(sorry mystus, hope this adds to your algae thread rather than clutters it up!)

~~waterdrop~~

 

[RadaR]

Certainly a tricky one, waterdrop.
Nothing at all jumps out at me indicating what could be the problem.
Everything sounds right. We KNOW that this algae is caused by unstable/low CO2 and I can't see how it's unstable due to it being a liquid additive not an injected gas. However, your tank is tellnig you it needs more Carbon so maybe you could try two doses per day? E.g 4ml twice a day (I definitely recommend using a little pipette rather than the cap). Hope fully this should counter the low and also the instability.
Btw, have you continued the N+P dosing now?

 

[waterdrop]

No, that little experiment is still going but I plan to place an order before long and end it.

Interesting about the carbon. I thought somehow the liquid carbon products provided carbon at a different stage of use by the plant than CO2. I'm also wanting to remember that there might be other problems if the Excel overdosing goes too high.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[RadaR]

Well it's a carbohydrate instead of CO2 so yes in thoery a different stage of use. But that plant is still getting the carbon. Hhm. tricky.
Aye, an overdose we don't want hence dosing a bit less, and more frequently. Advise from Tom Barr, never overdose with Excel, just dose more frequently.