Algae on Anubias Leaves

Slappy*McFish said:
The algae doesn't rub off? I ask because it looks like diatoms or dinoflagellates to me.
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i agree....or, at least it doesnt look like bba to me.
i used to have bba...but no more!!!!

anubias are prone to algae due to their slow growth. your options include moving them to a shaded part of the tank, moving them to a different tank, lowering your lighting.

you can 'leave' h202 in your tank because well...it is water with a little extra oxygen attached to it. if you keep your lights on and your filter on for several hours all the h202 will gass-out


how big is your tank?
 
The tank is 26 gals. But with 3.5" of gravel, plants, wood, and rock it is probably around 22 gals.
I used a little H2O2 on the leaves and it seems to have helped some. I keep dosing the leaves with Excel with the amount that is suggested on the Seachem ferts. chart.
I also don't think that it is BBA. It is more like GDA just a lot darker and it doesn't come off easily (if at all) with a toothbrush.
I'll keep treating it once a week with H2O2 and each day with Excel to see what will happen to the algae.
 
the original pictures posted by the OP doesn't look like BBA to me. not sure what it is, but BBA has a more hairy/fluffy look to it (the one in the OP's picture looks more flat and slimy)
 
spunjin said:
I have been using excel on it and it has lightened up but it has only reappeared like this in the photo since I upgraded the light from 30W to 55W. I may just clip all the covered leaves off.
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the problem here seems to be you created a new chemistry in the tank with your lights. you need to find your equilibrium again. there is something your lacking more than likely in your dosing.

as for the critters my nerites rarely (if ever) make it to the leaves of my anubias. i have to put them on it for them to do anything and they still seem to leave before they do anything considerable. my amanos don't seem to like being near any of my anubias either. they also don't eat bba. ramshorns however i find will reproduce on that very same leave and when they are hatched will clean most of it off before they scatter to other areas. i know it's funny people claim they won't but for me they absolutely do. if you do not get your equilibrium in time though they will take over your tank.

direct h2o2 (peroxide) in very small doses added directly on the source should kill it little by little. the same goes for flourish excel. you want to be very careful with excel if you have any vals in there though. if you have enough nitrates in your tank a couple floating plants should also help. if you cannot read any nitrates you may want to consider dosing it to balance your phosphates (?) or it may be potassium (i get them mixed up sometimes). start very slow and build it up over a week or 2 to keep your little guys from going into shock and dieing.

so now that i've explored all the dangerous ways to kill it i will suggest a very safe proven way to do so also. just keep in mind these are temporary fixes and the dosing schedule and amounts should keep it away once you get them right. okay enough fluff... the problem started once you upped the lights... the obvious here is the lights are the difference... do a 3 day blackout or lower the time they are on. maybe let them come on after natural light has had some time to get to the tank and turn them off before the sun has gone down. even raise the height on your lights to produce the same amount of light in the tank as before. then you could lower them a little every week until it comes back. once it's back raise it to the last level and reset with a blackout. once you've done that and there is none left you can get a much better idea if that amount of light will produce it again.

also bba on anubias, lace java fern and apons looks exactly like that.

i find this page very useful and it helped me rid my tank of holy leaves as in the first reply on this thread:
http://www.csd.net/~cgadd/aqua/art_plant_nutrient.htm

good luck... this is not fun no matter how much help you get!
 
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Thanks for taking the time to write that, Dun. The link has a good table to hint to problems. I'll test my nitrates and phosphates and post a photo today so we can see how everything is going so far.
 
no problem... just trying to give back as i've learned alot around here.
 
I plan for nerite snails and/or amano shrimp for my tanks so that I can have an algae crew. I love they way they look, so I would have them anyway. I don't condone getting a creature just to clean up for yourself or avoid WCs, etc. I'm not saying that's what you are doing, just clarifying for anyone who is reading this in the future.

Anyway, I have had amanos in my 20g long for a few months, and they are doing okay on most of the algae, but this type that I also have on my anubias isn't seeming to be touched. I recently added some zebra nerites, so I am waiting to see what they do. I find that nerites are awesome for algae, but they do take some time, depending on the size of tank/how many you have/how much algae there is, to fully clean everything off and keep it in check.
 
Here are two new photos, one without and one with the flash.
The nitrate level is 20 ppm and the phosphate level is about 0.5 ppm.
You can see in the second photo a little GDA on the glass in the back and on the front glass.
DSCN4322.JPG
DSCN4323.JPG

DSCN4322.JPG DSCN4323.JPG
 
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