Furry Fringe On Plants

chickenlady · May 7, 2006

I've noticed that the plastic plants in my aquarium are developing a furry brown fringe? Is this some sort of algae - or are the platys trying to eat the plants and shredding them? I do give them vegetables to eat and I have one oto in the aquarium to eat the algae. I do regular weekly water changes and all my stats are safe (I have them checked by my local lfs).

I put the lights on at about 5pm until 11pm.

All the fish are fine - it's just the plastic plants that look fringed and fuzzy?

jpedersen024 · May 8, 2006

I have issues with this too. Sounds like black brush/ beard algae. My nemesis. :sly:

It's ugly, and it will spread. Your platies can't shred plastic, and they likely won't eat this type of algae either. My otos take nibbles here and there, but not enough to control... my best luck has been with amano shrimp. I have 2 in my smaller tank, and they've done a good job at cleaning it up. Can't put'em in my big tank though, as they'll get picked off pretty quickly!! :crazy:

You can try keeping the lights off for 3 days and see if it makes a difference. I've also had some luck with keeping my phosphates lower. Does you lfs test for that? As a last resort, you can take out the plants, bleach them, wash thoroughly and use dechlorinator before putting them back in of course. Maintenance might be a better plan for future occurances though.

Good luck!