Black Stuff On Plants

[tennis4you]

I have some black stuff (not fuzzy or stringy at all) on some of my plants. It is in my 125g tank which is lightly plants, just less than 2 watts per gallon. Anyone know what could be causing that? Is it algae?

 

[Colin_T]

If it wipes off in sheets and feels slimy then it is blue green algae (Cyanobacter bacteria). This stuff grows on excess nutrients and low oxygen levels. It also grows extremely rapidly. You can remove it one day and it is back the next. Old lights with incorrect colour spectrum can also encourage it.
Do daily water changes and gravel cleans and try to syphon it out. Increase water movement in the tank preferably with a couple of airstones. This will increase the oxygen in the lower parts of the tank. With some work and perseverance you should be able to get rid of it.

 

[tennis4you]

The lights are actually new lights, just a few weeks old so they are not old bulbs.

I need to get more plants to work on those nutrients, I want more plants anyways. Are there any plants that suck up nutrients more than others?

I will try more often water changes too. Weird enough the algae all over one plant and very little on others right now.

Thanks!

 

[Colin_T]

most floating plants like duckweed suck up nutrients pretty quickly. But you have to remove the surplus plants in order to reduce the nutrients from the tank. If the plants die and break down they release the nutrients back into the water.
Hygrophilla species and Ambulia are pretty quick growers too. As is Elodia.

 

[Themuleous]

Blacking out the tank for three days is a good stop gap measure.

i) 50% water change and clean the filter

ii) completely blackout the tank with newspaper or whatever.

iii) Turn of the lights and any co2 system

iv) leave for three days. NO peeking, don't even feed the fish, ANY light that is allowed to get into the tank stops this method working.

v) after the three days, 50% water change and clean the filter.

As I said this is a stop gap measure. Ultimately good plant grow and preventing NH3 and NO2 getting into the tank is the key to controlling algae.

Sam

 

[groovitudedude]

Blacking out the tank for three days is a good stop gap measure.

i) 50% water change and clean the filter

ii) completely blackout the tank with newspaper or whatever.

iii) Turn of the lights and any co2 system

iv) leave for three days. NO peeking, don't even feed the fish, ANY light that is allowed to get into the tank stops this method working.

v) after the three days, 50% water change and clean the filter.

As I said this is a stop gap measure. Ultimately good plant grow and preventing NH3 and NO2 getting into the tank is the key to controlling algae.

Sam

If you clean out the entire filter system and do a 50% water change, you are just begging for an ammonia spike.

 

[Themuleous]

I wont say that necessarily, if you use tank water it should be fine. I always clean the whole of the filter when I do it and its never been a problem in any of my tanks.

Sam

 

[tennis4you]

It's not a problem with my other tanks but they are not canister filters. I think I over-cleaned last time and I reset the cycle and that sucked. I would prefer to do a long term fix. I am new at this, I finally feel like I have the fish thing under good control, but the plants are kicking my butt!

 

[groovitudedude]

I wont say that necessarily, if you use tank water it should be fine. I always clean the whole of the filter when I do it and its never been a problem in any of my tanks.

Sam

The filter material is what is needed, not used tank water. You can still get an ammonia spike. And even if you didn't get an ammonia spike, you should have clarified to use tank water. Where was it on your original post? "Water Change" usually means new water last time I checked.

 

[tennis4you]

No need to get mean in here. I would hope that most aquarium lovers would know to use tank water to clean any filter.

 

[Themuleous]

The filter material is what is needed, not used tank water. You can still get an ammonia spike. And even if you didn't get an ammonia spike, you should have clarified to use tank water. Where was it on your original post? "Water Change" usually means new water last time I checked.

It might, but even 'new water' should be dechlorinated.

Cleaning the filter media with tank water and NOT tap water is one of the first things you learn in this hobby of ours. OK I could have said that but quite frankly if you don't know that then your problems are greater than sorting out a spot of BGA.

I have NEVER experienced a NH3 spike when cleaning the filter media when using tank water and Ive been in the hobby for over 5 years.

Please in future be less aggressive in your posts, there is absolutely no need to be so blatantly and overtly aggressive. We are ALL here to learn. If you have something to add that I have miss or that is not clear then by all means post, I don't profess to getting it right every time but there is no need for posting just to be point out where people have gone wrong. I suggest you learn how to behave on a friendly, family forum like this.

Tennis4you - my apologies if I might have made you think that you should use tap water to clean the filter, of course you should not. I also apologies for the way this thread has turned out, it is a shame that some people feel it necessary to be an idiot.

In answer to the long term question of how to deal with BGA, good water movement is often the key as is lots of healthy plants.

Sam

 

[tennis4you]

The filter material is what is needed, not used tank water. You

Tennis4you - my apologies if I might have made you think that you should use tap water to clean the filter, of course you should not. I also apologies for the way this thread has turned out, it is a shame that some people feel it necessary to an idiot.

Sam

I run a large tennis forum, I know how it goes.

And I am more than aware that all filters should be cleaned with tank water.

 

[Themuleous]

Cool

The thing with the black out method is that it kills the vast majority of the bacteria, and the 50% water change at the end it to remove the resulting nutrients that will be floating around the tank.

Sam

 

[groovitudedude]

Sorry if I came off as rude.

And yes, I do know that you need to use dechlorinator....

You should have clarified that, seeing as not everybody that reads on the family forum here knows everything that you do in your five years of keeping fish (seriously, no sarcasm here)





Oh yeah, and sorry that I "...feel it necessary to be an idiot."?

 

[Themuleous]

Crossed wires, no harm done hopefully. Its difficult to get the impression right sometimes when you've only got words to use.

Trouble is I cant put everything into every post or I'd spend my whole day writing 'use tank water to clean the filter...dechlorinate the tap water...etc, etc.' you have to draw the line somewhere and assume that people know at least a little bit about running a tank!

Sam