Black Stuff growing on my plants!!!

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Hagermanfd

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Jan 19, 2007
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I have a java fern in my 55 gallon tank, it has been set up for about 8 months now, all my parameters are good, water temp is 76 and i noticed that i am getting these black spots, on my java fern as well as the other taller plant in the pictures. I have been getting a lot of algae as well, green, brown, and even black when inside the tank, i keep wiping it off every few days but i cant seem to stop it. So is my plant dying, and what can i do to get rid of the algae growth?

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soobie

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Apr 29, 2007
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Sue
I'll agree with both the previous posters. The round, evenly spaced dark spots are the java fern spore sites, and they are harmless to your tank. Just the fern's way of reproducing. The dark smudgy spots, however, are algae, as jm1212 said.
 

Sammie7

Get funky wit it!
May 28, 2006
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Florida
I don't think that's algae at all, but it's hard to tell with a blurry photo. My java fern has black smudges on it, but it's not algae it's just black spots on the leaves. This happens to java ferns often, more so than other plants anyway. But, yes, I agree that the small black bumps under the leaves are sporangia/spores, and any hairy black things under the leaves are roots from baby java ferns forming on the mother plant from the sporangia.
 

tyella

My heaven has a beer volcano - FSM
Feb 18, 2005
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Columbia, Missouri
Yeah, I agree that on the Java Ferns you've got some spores going on. Leave the Java Fern alone for a while and eventually you'll get babies on the ends of the dying leaves. They'll have "roots" dangling from them (actually not roots, but fibers used for attaching to substrate). Pluck the babies from the leaves and then snip the old leaves off and discard. Let the babies float around or tie to a rock or driftwood and you're propagating aquatic plants.
 
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