# What is this on my plant



## jeff5347 (Aug 15, 2011)

Ok so my planted little piece of nature is srpouting like crazy. I have aponogeton crispus and they have taken off. Just put a dwarf lily bulb in and awaiting its arrival. The only plant i didnt grow from a bulb is this naroow leaf (pretty sure thats what it is). The narrow leaf has gotten all these brown dots and brown stems and such all over the plant. There are new leaves starting to grow near the base. ALll my other plants a thriving and this is the only one that looks less than steller. I do 30% PWC changes 2x a week and have my DIY setup..been going for bout 2 weeks now a nd have about 2.6 watts of light per gallon. I noticed about 3 days ago i was getting brown algea (diatoms?) on the gravel and then put 2 and 2 together and think this is what is on the narrow leaf. How do i get this narrow leaf back to the beautiful green leaves it once had.
Oh and also as of Tuesday my water results if that matters:
Ph-7.4
NH3- 0
NO2- .25
NO3- .20


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## IslandRzrbk (Aug 14, 2011)

I got a plant from a petstore that had some spots like this (I didn't notice this when I bought them), and my LFS owner told me that it was probably just some green algae. He said that it's pretty hardy, but most algaecides will take care of it. I wanted to avoid the algaecide chemicals so I opted to buy a juvenile chinese algae eater and a candy-striped plecostomas since I was developed small algae on my glass as well. 

I also had an anubias that was looking really brown and I just thought it was poor lighting. I've had the chinese algae eater and candy-striped pleco for a little over a week and the brown stuff on the anubias is 95% gone and the although I did lose a few of the severely green-dotted leaves of the other plant, those the plant in general looks a lot better than it did. 

So in summary, I think those green dotted leaves are developing algae spots and MIGHT be done for, but if you are able to control the algae growth in general the leaves will either clear up or you'll be able to save the new leaves when they come up.


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## jrman83 (Jul 9, 2010)

That looks like BBA. A type of algae.


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## jeff5347 (Aug 15, 2011)

Thanks JR, I researched BA and it looks like I have brush algea, which im assuming is the same as BLack Beard. After reading a few things i decided to lessen how long th lights are on..11 hrs to 8.. should i drop that another hour also? 
I had my airation start right after the lights went out and off a little before they went on. The way i changed everything means that there will be no lights or bubbles for 3.5 hours in the morning and an hour at night. Should i reset the time for the bubbles to go on right when the lights go out and off right when the lights go on?

ALso i removed the anubius and trimmed every bit of infected leaf i could but i didnt do a bleach dip. I would rather the plant die then risk poisoning the fish. Also removed the 2 lava rocks that the anubius was attached to. Now it is attached to the fake mopiani trunk and i will see how it fairs as time goes on. I dont really see other signs of this algae except for a dot or 2 on one of my crispus. If that gets and inkling of starting i will uproot it and remove it from the tank. I was reading this could be due to low CO2 levels. I have a DIY CO2 and it has been producing a steady stream of CO2.. how much i dont know. 

Does anyone know any other ways to erradicate this algea..
oh and i read rainbow shrimp eat this stuff so tomorrow is off looking to see if i can find them


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## jrman83 (Jul 9, 2010)

For me, Flourish Excel has worked pretty darn good. I would make it where your bubble doesn't come on until your lights are out. If your lights are on, its off. This way it will help CO2 gas out of your tank when it is not needed during times when your light is off.


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