Black Growth on Plants

[Nelson]

For some time I've had a black unsigtly covering on my plants, particularly the swords.  I remove the leaves when they get too infested and they're very "crispy" to the touch.  I dose once a week, sometimes twice.  Any idea what this stuff is and more importantly how I can get rid of it?  Thanks

[BigDaddy]

It it hairlike?  Or more like a black mat covering?

[Nelson]

It it hairlike?  Or more like a black mat covering?

Not hairlike BigDaddy...more of a covering and a bit slimy.  Here's a couple of pics that may help.

[BigDaddy]

My ruffled swords are lookin' okay (other than the algae).

You said you dose once a week.  What are you dosing and how much?

I know during initial break in... when I was dosing traces and shouldn't have been, I got the lovely black smudge.  The otos worked away at it, but once things got more established, it disappeared.

[Toss]

Hi Nelson

Maybe sometype of fungus. When I used to work at SP, we treat other type fungus with this white tablet, I think they call it E.M. tablet, and they disappear in a couple day. Try to cut a few infested leave, put them in the jar with 1/2 EM tablet and see if it works. Good luck Nelson.

Enrico

[Nelson]

My ruffled swords are lookin' okay (other than the algae).

You said you dose once a week.  What are you dosing and how much?

I know during initial break in... when I was dosing traces and shouldn't have been, I got the lovely black smudge.  The otos worked away at it, but once things got more established, it disappeared.

BigDaddy......Ruffles Swords?  I thought they were Amazon Swords.  Know my plants like I know my fish :?

Actually I put two capfulls of Flourish after both weekly water changes.  Occasionally I'll put a capfull of Flourish Iron in the infested tanks.  The Ottos in the 65 can't keep up to it.  

Toss.....I'll pick up some E.M. tablet tomorrow.  No shortage of infested leaves to try it out with :wink:

[Nelson]

Hi Nelson

Maybe sometype of fungus. When I used to work at SP, we treat other type fungus with this white tablet, I think they call it E.M. tablet, and they disappear in a couple day. Try to cut a few infested leave, put them in the jar with 1/2 EM tablet and see if it works. Good luck Nelson.

Enrico

Checked out EM TAblets on the BA site and the med is for fish parasites etc.  Likely wouldn't work for plant ailments.  Back to the drawing board :wink:

[BigDaddy]

Never use meds for algae problems.  Not worth it and you can get rid of algae for free... way pay money to do it.

Are those the swords I gave you Nelson?  I thought they were.  If so, those are Echinodorus martii (a.k.a. Ruffled Sword)

What type and how much lighting have you got over that 65 Nelson?  Is it a 4 foot 5, or a 3 footer?  And what are your nitrate and CO2 readings?

The big three with algae comes down to lighting, nitrate and CO2, in that order.  Let me know.

[Nelson]

Never use meds for algae problems.  Not worth it and you can get rid of algae for free... way pay money to do it.

Are those the swords I gave you Nelson?  I thought they were.  If so, those are Echinodorus martii (a.k.a. Ruffled Sword)

What type and how much lighting have you got over that 65 Nelson?  Is it a 4 foot 5, or a 3 footer?  And what are your nitrate and CO2 readings?

The pics I provided I'm almost sure are Amazon Swords...the Ruffles are in another tank and also have the black stuff on them.

The big three with algae comes down to lighting, nitrate and CO2, in that order.  Let me know.

I've got at least 3 wpg in the two most infected tanks.  CO2 in the 65 but not in the 120 yet.  Will be getting that manifold hooked up to the cylinder this week to feed pressurized CO2 to the rest of the tanks.  Nitrites are at 0 in both tanks and Ph is 7.03 in the 120 and 7.1 in the 65.

[Julie]

I get the same algae on swords in my 55(the lighting is insufficient  at .50watt/gallon)

Julie

[BigDaddy]

Nelson:

Here's what I need from the 65 (the 120 would be nice)

pH
kH
NO3

You gave me nitrItes, not nitrAtes.  Plus, without your kH value, I can't measure how much dissolved CO2 is in the 65.

CO2 in the 125 is not REQUIRED... but in the 65 it probably is.

Let me know.

[BigDaddy]

I get the same algae on swords in my 55(the lighting is insufficient  at .50watt/gallon)

Julie

Eek.... don't be surprised if you loose those swords Julie.  Swords are not low light plants.

As an experiment, I took one of my Ruffled swords and planted it in a 33 gallon tank with a 20 Watt bulb over it (.6 WPG) and lots of indirect sunlight.  The thing went almost totally brown within a couple of weeks.  I transplanted it and put it in a small tank with lots of light (less water for the light to penetrate and more light reaching the bottom) and trimmed all but about two leaves off (better to have the plant direct energy towards new growth instead of attempting to repair damaged foliage).  It's taken me the better part of a month to see the plant starting to recover.

[Julie]

Yes...I've lost all of them except one very ugly looking one.
Could the black stuff covering the leaves be attributed to lack of light and therefore very little or no growth?

Julie

[Sailfin]

I get the same algae on swords in my 55(the lighting is insufficient  at .50watt/gallon)

Julie

I would have to agree with this.    I don't know what the black fungus is, when I tried to rub it off, it damaged the plant....when I left the light on for a longer period of time, it went away

[aidensmomma2000]

Ive had this - actually in a 55g with poor lighting aswell! Hmmmm....

[Nelson]

Ive had this - actually in a 55g with poor lighting aswell! Hmmmm....

Strange, the tanks I have the most problem with have 3wpg :?