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Plant with weird black things on it

2K views 7 replies 4 participants last post by  Aprocot 
#1 ·
i had a fish die of a parisite infetion earlier today. i was just down stairs looking at my main aquirium and i noticed a plant that was just the stems(the fish love to eat this plant) had this funny looking black stuff sticking to it. i cheked my other plants(bought at the same time and store from the same tank) and they didn't have any of the black things on it. i was wondering if some one could tell me what they are and if they are the souce of the parisite. i do have pictures but i am unsure how to post them
 
#2 ·
A photo would help us, but I suspect it is probably a type of algae. Does it look like a tuft of fur, as in the attached photo? This is beard or brush algae, which can be dark green to black. It grows on anything. I have some on most of the wood and some of the rocks in my aquaria. It will also grow on plant leaves, and is difficult to remove; if there is really a lot of it on a plant leaf I remove the leaf to slow down its spread. Like all algae, it is a natural part of the aquatic environment, but can get out of control through too much light and excess nutrients. Regular weekly partial water changes help to reduce nitrates in an aquarium and this will help to limit algae. I don't think any fish will eat beard algae.

The algae itself is not a problem for any fish, but parasites can "hitch a ride" into your aquarium on any wet object, including plants, wood or rocks if they come from a tank with fish in it and remain wet from tank to tank.
 

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#3 · (Edited)
The Crossocheilus Siamensis (true siamese algae eater) are the only fish that I know of that will eat BBA. I keep them and I can confirm that this is absolutely true fact. :) The trick is finding them and making sure you're getting the correct species.
Alot of LFS's don't stock them and sometimes (often!) they are misidentified. The true and false siamese algae eater look very similar, as does the flying fox. Often they will come to the LFS misidentified, confusing the issue further.
The last one that I purchased was a very small specimen. Upon closer inspection in QT I realized I had a Garra taeniata. I took it back and was told, "well, they came in labeled as SAE". I them explained to him how to id the fish(es). I walked back over to the tank and in the batch of false SAE I spotted a true SAE. I had the guy net it out and took him home.
The true SAE works triple time in consuming all algae. About two weeks after adding them to my display tank the algae was nowhere to be seen. I've been told to aquire them as juveniles because as adults their consumption rate of algae lessens. They are awesome cleaning machines and make very peaceful tankmates. They are big time jumpers and the tank needs to be completely covered.

If it's BBA in your tank it's one tough algae to get rid of. I kept trying to get rid of it manually, through adjusted lighting periods and messing with my fert routine, and was making little headway. It wasn't until I added my SAE that I got rid of it. What size tank, lighting and fert routine (if any)?
 
#4 ·
Hi Kym, I hadn't read (unless I've forgotten it in my advancing years:roll:) that the SAE would eat brush/beard algae; that's good to know. They do get a bit large though, around 5-6 inches I believe(?) and as you correctly point out, are often mis-identified in stores. As you can see if you look at some of the photos of my tanks, there is brush algae on the wood, but as long as it remains as it is I don't bother; I just keep it off the plants by removing leaves when it gets a bit thick on them. I did have a real mess once, around 1997/8 it was, undoubtedly due to excess light and nutrients; with some persistence pulling it off the wood and rocks every water change and chucking many thickly-covered plant leaves, it eventually settled down. Byron.
 
#5 ·
Yes, they report the adult size as 5" to 6". My tank is large enough to support this size. Right now they are 3" tank and I'll be curious to see the size they eventually reach. They occasionally school with my Denison barbs which I find quite amusing. The juvie I've got in QT is just a little over an inch. It'll be two more weeks until QT is over and I can put him in the display tank. I'll add him during a late evening and hope that the two that are in there now "accept" him and not take to bullying him. Like you I had a terrible algae infestation and these fish kicked it back in no time. But, as you say, the tank has got to be large enough to accomodate them. I can't stand the sight of BBA. It seems that every algae free planted tank I've seen contains these fish.


I'm not sure on the size of Aprocot's tank so the SAE may not be an option. There's always lighting & fert schedules to play with, along with manually removing the most infected leaves that'll work to contain the algae. Did I already mention that I can't stand BBA?? :)
 
#7 ·
my tank has an SAE and it cleared my black brush out, but it does get big and it prefers fish food over algae. Moreover, they're super active and can be quick so they can scare other fish easily. As for the black bump, that doesnt look like algae. the image is too blurry for me to tell what it is but id just get rid of areas that have it, like trim off infected leaves and stems and just let it be.
 
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