Brown Roots on Floating Plants

[cupofjoel]

I'm sort of new to floating plants. As I'm growing my plants to cover the surface of my tank I noticed that several have really dark brown and fuzzy roots while others are thin and clean looking. I'm assuming a couple of things:

1-These are the plants that are absorbing more things from the water than the other floating plants
2-These are more mature than the newer plants

Thoughts?

FYI these are SALVINIA NATANS / FLOATING FERNS

 

[Colin_T]

older roots with dirt and algae on them.

 

[Byron]

Can you post a photo?

 

[cupofjoel]

There are even darker and fuzzier ones!

 

[seangee]

Those look fine to me. The fuzziness is tiny "hairs" on the roots. Your fish will love foraging in them. My cories spend as much time up there as they do in the substrate.

 

[Byron]

There are even darker and fuzzier ones!

OK, that is exactly what I was expecting. The brown is organics that collect on the roots. Edit: After seeing @seangee post, I should clarify this...the "organics" is the sort of hazy fuzzy cottony brown, which you can see on some of the roots but not all of them.

I had an absolutely terrible bout of this in two tanks a couple years back, and then it appeared again in one tank last autumn. I ended up tearing down the tanks, though not suggesting this, but in my case the initial two tanks were torn down and given away as I was downsizing prior to my move in May 2019. The more recent outbreak was in a tank that had some chunks of wood from one of the older tanks, so it may have carried over. I never could track down why, as the fish load in these tanks was minimal to say the least, and I feed very sparingly, and I was very thorough in my cleaning of the substrate in these tanks, as well as the filter.

Clean off as much as you can with a siphon. I don't know what else I can offer. It is organics, and these can sometimes be high in "x" tank for no obvious reason. I discussed this with Neale Monks at the time, and we simply could not pin down the culprit.

 

[cupofjoel]

OK, that is exactly what I was expecting. The brown is organics that collect on the roots. Edit: After seeing @seangee post, I should clarify this...the "organics" is the sort of hazy fuzzy cottony brown, which you can see on some of the roots but not all of them.

I had an absolutely terrible bout of this in two tanks a couple years back, and then it appeared again in one tank last autumn. I ended up tearing down the tanks, though not suggesting this, but in my case the initial two tanks were torn down and given away as I was downsizing prior to my move in May 2019. The more recent outbreak was in a tank that had some chunks of wood from one of the older tanks, so it may have carried over. I never could track down why, as the fish load in these tanks was minimal to say the least, and I feed very sparingly, and I was very thorough in my cleaning of the substrate in these tanks, as well as the filter.

Clean off as much as you can with a siphon. I don't know what else I can offer. It is organics, and these can sometimes be high in "x" tank for no obvious reason. I discussed this with Neale Monks at the time, and we simply could not pin down the culprit.

So it's not good for my tank?

I've been actually getting rid of the plants that have the dark brown roots as the newer ones are growing. Soon my tank won't have any of the plants that have the dark brown roots.

 

[seangee]

When I started the frogbit I regulalry trimmed the roots which made the plants grow much quicker originally. I no longer to this but when I thin them out I always remove the older and bigger plants. They were fuzzy for the first few months and then cleared up. Although unlike Byron's tanks mine do not have a minimal fish load

 

[Byron]

So it's not good for my tank?

I've been actually getting rid of the plants that have the dark brown roots as the newer ones are growing. Soon my tank won't have any of the plants that have the dark brown roots.

It is a question of degree, and in re-reading I may have left you with fear. I don't see anything to worry about, but just recognize what it is and hopefully it won't become as problematic as it did for me.