[squishylittlefishies]

Hey! I have a pretty well planted 10g aquarium. It has lucky bamboo, two big crypts, Anubias nana, some sprigs of hair grass and tons of Marimo, but I'm having a problem with algae that only exists on the leaves of my anacharis plants.
I have no algae of any sort growing elsewhere in my tank. I have lots of algae eating fish and good water quality I think. This is the very first time since startup over 2 years ago that I have ever encountered Any type if algea- amazingly enough.
So, to describe this stuff... It is growing most on the anacharis that is floating on the surface. That doesn't really suprise me since it is close to the light. It is also growing on the leaves of the big bunch that I have planted in the side of my tank. The really strange thing is that it is not really growing on the parts of the plant thAt are yellowish or dying, but is abundant only on the very brightest greenest leaves. The algae is kind of long and hairy, but it is not soft like I expected, it is very strong. I can't break the algae off of the leaves with my hands or a toothbrush. If I am able to grip it hard enough to remove it the entire leaf is pulled off with it! The stuff is super strong! It is hairy and kind of fluffy looking but definately not whispy looking. In colour it is a very dark, actually a nice colour of green.
Last night I went through and broke off the sections of the plant with the most algae but that was so hard for me because those are the nicest pieces of the plant! I couldn't bear to throw them away so I just put the segments in a Seperate box of water for quarantine...a guess. I also took out all of the dying leaves to reduce nutrient buildup but the reason I had not done that before is that on all of my anacharis plants they have a green part, and also a brown dead looking part but that is where the roots grow from. So I only took out some of it because I won't remove all the roots...
Anyway, can someone please tell me what this algea is and how to conquer it? Thank you!!!

 

[squishylittlefishies]

Here pictures. Sorry they're not very good,I took them on my phone haha. First picture just shows the algae. It doesn't really look like the algae is growing on the leaves, almost like it is growing OUT of the leaves...(????)
Second pic is super bad I'm really sorry but I used it because you can sort of see the color of the algae. See how it is like a vibrant, dark, blue-green sort of color. Very pretty actually hahaha

 

[squishylittlefishies]

Sorry the first picture never went... Let's try again...:roll:

 

[squishylittlefishies]

Bump
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[rexpepper651]

black bread i have this. cannot get rid of it for the life of me. good luck.

 

[squishylittlefishies]

Could be, but it seems to be longer, and not growing in as dense of a pattern as black beard would... I'll still keep that in mind though, thanks.
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[Flear]

my guess would be cladophora algae

pretty at that stage, ... it can smother your plants in huge fluffy looking balls of blue-green algae.

to date i have not heard of any reliable control for clado.

ride it out, trim it back, otherwise don't care out it (sounds strange)
take care of your plants, in time your plants health will out compete the algae and it will disappear, just ride it out till then

Edit:
very different from "blue-green algae" also known as cyano bacteria
i was just talking about the color.

 

[squishylittlefishies]

Looks like that could be it...I can't find a good picture of it though, do you know any good sites that talk about this algae? Thanks!
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[squishylittlefishies]

Bump bump bump
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[beaslbob]

Try planting the anacharis in the tank instead of floating.

this stuff is really hard to get rid of. but killing the lights and suspending feeding (and doseing also) can get rid of it. But it may take some time like a week or two.

my .02

 

[squishylittlefishies]

*panic!*
I wasn't really worried about it, but I cut the lights and stuff and all seemed well, but now it has started growing on my crypt leaves, and the Anubias, and bamboo leaves! Arrrggg!! I've been pulling out all the leaves with algae on them and completely cutting. The light for half of the day, but if I keep pulling out leaves left and right like this my planted tank will be no more
The only place it's not growing is my java fern haha
Any more ideas or thoughts?
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[Flear]

what is your ammonia at ?

 

[squishylittlefishies]

I'm not sure, I really should check though. I've been doing lots of water changes but my tank is overstocked, I'm upgrading to a 20g this week hopefully. My test kit is for saltwater reef tanks...can I still use it for the freshwater too?
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[squishylittlefishies]

I just tested based one some online fw API cards, so the results are a bit iffy. Ut I'm coming out around
0.5 ammonia
0 nitrite
5.0 nitrate.
That seems relatively ok... I'll keep doing water changes every day for a while
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[Flear]

i've heard before that staghorn algae 'likes' ammonia

i've got experience that says yes this is accurate. twice i've had this algae appear when ammonia was an issue, ...

first because i jumped the gun on putting fish in the tank before it completed it's cycle
second when i had a ph shift that shifted abundant ammonium into ammonia.

in both cases as it got under control staghorn algae dissapeared.

i am deeply sorry about my reference to cladophoria algae, (it's been what my tank has been battling for awhile now)

 

[squishylittlefishies]

Oh yeah, that's probably it. Upgrading this week...yaaaay!!
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[Flear]

could ignore water changes for a bit, or slow down

as your nitrogen cycle bacteria develops it will handle the ammonia for you

keep your pH ... wherever your PH is
below 6.5 you've got no ammonia to speak off, ... even if you pour pure ammonia in the tank (hypothetical & theoretical here), ... the PH will convert it to a non-toxic ammonium

if you've got pH higher (say 7.0 or higher) ammonia will be converted through the nitrogen cycle

regardless, just keep it stable and i think things should solve themselves, ... it's when it fluctuates that there are problems.

as the ph rises the ammonia rises and bacteria are not in place to deal with it, ... as it falls, those bacteria may die off, then as it rises again once more they're not at a population to help your tank out

just keep your pH stable and that's good