andruboz
04-20-2003, 1:33 AM
it actually looks kinda cool. like its turned into an underwater african violet. [ my mother has killed dozens of them.]
but it will eventually kill the plant? how should i get rid of it? does something eat it?
tfish
04-20-2003, 10:08 PM
Hmmm, does it look like tiny little hairs growing on the leaves? If so, you may have Black Beard Algae. If you do, FREAK OUT! Just kidding...kind of. I had BBA and I like to refer to it as the ALGAE FROM HELL! I've had experience with other kinds of algae over the 10 or so years that I've had aquariums, but nothing like this! I couldn't get rid of the stuff! It started as tiny little hairs on the leaves of my sword plants. Then it became tiny little hairs on everything! Then the hairs grew in to cover the leaves on my sword, thereby preventing the plant from getting any light to its leaves and killing it leaf by leaf. The hairs got into my gravel and I had a mass of green gravel guck that could not be separated. It was a nightmare! I tried to scrape the stuff off -- wouldn't work. I tried to do a blackout. Nothing. I adjusted my CO2 and added some nutrients. That helped. I got siamese algea eaters and they finished the job, but that was after 2 months of fighting the stuff.
I could be wrong about you having BBA and I hope I am. If not, do a search on BBA on this forum and you'll find more info on how to combat the stuff.
GOOD LUCK! :)
andruboz
04-21-2003, 6:23 PM
a lfs guy told me it was probably from the low light. he said a bright [proper] spectrum light should knock it back down. he also mentioned crushed shells was a factor in a mbu puffer tank which makes sense as my tank is littered with crushed shells from a fahaka. so i'm not sure if i should just yank the plant for now or just prune the worst leaves and get the better light bulb in there asap.
will get a picture soon.