White on anacharis

K

kendrid

AC Members
Mar 6, 2009
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I noticed a white powder on my anacharis. The aquarium is two weeks old and cycled with Stability (readings are 0/0/5-10ish).

The powder easily rubs off and the fish ate it. Is this a fungus from overfeeding or something worse?



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I found this:
http://www.plantgeek.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2026&highlight=white+powder

which may or may not be it. I have very hard water.

Thanks!
 
Last edited:
Looks more like uneaten food settling on the leaves, kendrid. What food(s) are you feeding?
 
Flakes and we just got dried bloodworms this past weekend and have fed them one time with the worms. It is only on the anacharis so if it was food I would think it would be on the other broadleaf plants I have but maybe not?

Someone else at plantgeek thinks it is carbonate precipitate and I did find more info. I am going to clean this weekend, suck it off of the anacharis and lower the amount of food we are feeding and see what happens.

http://www.thekrib.com/Plants/CO2/decalcification.html
The sandy layer on the leaves is calcium carbonate. Anacharis ( called
Egeria densa in M=FChlberg.s book) is capable of utilizing the bicarbonate
ion. It takes in bicarbonate, HCO3-, keeps the CO2, and leaves behind OH-.
In strong light, this process can create enough alkalinity at the leaf
surface to precipitate calcium carbonate, CaCO3. As long as your pH is OK,
I wouldn't worry, but you should keep close watch on the pH. I once saw
that my zebra fish in a tank with 3 T12 fluorescents and a lot of Anacharis
looked a little sick. I took the pH and found it to be 9.6. I added some
CO2 and the zebras looked a lot happier. Plants like Elodea, Najas,
Vallisneria, and ceratophyllum that can utilize the bicarbonate ion can
raise the pH in well-lit aquaria to almost lethal levels for fish.
Click to expand...
 
All of the stems and it's only on the anacharis. The rest of the tank and plants have diatoms here and there.

They are growing like weeds in my water. They are 2.5 weeks old and a couple have grown out of the tank.
 
If you have low CO2 and the water has recently shot up in pH, then it could be calcium deposits from biogenic decalcification.
 
I don't have a ph test kit (yet). I'll try to get one after work but I won't know what my baseline was.
 
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