Can aquarium silk plants get mold?

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MonkeyMonk86

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Feb 23, 2014
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Location
Chicago, Il.
I've treated 2 silk plants with algae killer b/c I had a problem with diatoms ( brown algae). I cleaned them 2-3 different times.

I ran phosguard and found the primary source of the diatoms, which was my lava rock.

I removed the lava rock and I continued to run the phosguard for 1-2 weeks replacing every 4 days with new phosguard.

This last week the 2 silk plants got dark grey spots that grew bigger each day and more leaves got affected.

I generally only run my lights 6-8hrs. Finnex planted plus light.

I removed them today and soaked them in vinegar for a few hours. No effect.

I put them in Clorox water and the spots were gone in 15 minutes.

I now have them soaking in super Prime water.

There is no other algae in my tank or on my deco or on my real plants.

I am low dosing Excell. And last week ferts, too.

I did have 1 day where small amount of some kind of green algae was on an ornament b/c I ran the lights more than usual 2 consecutive days.
I cleaned it off and it didn't come back.

Is it possible that silk plants are treated to resist mold and that the algae kill destroyed that protection? Can silk plants get mold in an aquarium? Googling is not producing any answers.



(Friend of Bill W., One day at a time)
 
Edited:

It's an algae. I found it in an ornament.

Will Excell get rid of black tar algae? How much should I use?


(Friend of Bill W., One day at a time)
 
Maybe just stop using those silk plants? That's probably better than accidentally overdosing Excel and harming your real plants or fish.
 
Thanks for your suggestion but
I don't get out or travel. My only new scenery is my tank and I trade out the faux plants often. I do have some real plants, but I would never give up the flexibility and versitlity of half faux.

Also, I spent a fortune on real plants. Used 3 types of snail kill methods and got snails. Stripped & boiled everything and threw out plants. (Severe shellfish/ mollusk allergy; Goggels required just to feed fish.)

Started buying snail free to find that several are terrarium, not aquarium plants. So very limited in choices and only get to Petsmart maybe once a month for 15 minutes b/c I'm limited to 4 hrs/week to get everything outside the house done like groceries, bank, pharmacy... Etc.


(Friend of Bill W., One day at a time)
 
Stop using silk plants. They can start and hold onto fish diseases. I hate live plants in freshwater so I went to plastic. They get old and loose color and are not cheap. Now I go to Hobby Lobby and find all plastic plants. They are way too big, but they have wire in the stems. Cut them to size and put a fishing weight on the end. They look much more real, and you can toss and replace cheaply.
 
Just out of curiosity have you considered replacing your light too? The Planted+ puts out a solid par for a tank without many live plants (just a few if I recall correctly?) and that will just lead to more algae if there is no regular carbon source being introduced to the aquarium daily.
 
I agree about the light. It sounds like you've had a lot of algae battles. I don't know a lot about plants but it sounds like you don't have enough to use Excel.

I treated "silk" plants for algae several times. Bleach works. The good news is they're polyester and can take it. Polyester is plastic too, just woven instead of a smooth surface.

Petsmart has started labeling their packets of plants as aquatic or semi aquatic. And I'm pretty sure all of the ones hanging above the display in plastic gel pack envelopes are aquatic while the semi aquatic are only in tubes below. The ones in the gel packs are a great value, they'll grow quickly.

But live plants bring on many situations that are difficult to control, and to respond to quickly when you don't go to the fish store every day. That's a neat idea to rescale often with faux plants to keep the scenery changing! I bet the fish behavior also changes a little with different layouts.

Have you considered Otocinclus for the brown algae? They're diatom hogs, it's amazing. I understand they eat many other algae too. They are delicate but I have success even at PetSmart when I buy only those that have been in the store more than a week, drip acclimate them, and keep 6 or more in a tank with lots of hiding spots.



Sent from my iPhone with three hands tied behind my back.
 
I do not think the algae starts on the silk plants, but once its in the silk its hard to get rid of without harming the silk. But silk plants can transfer diseases from one fish to another rapidly. They are just not a good choice.
 
I do not think the algae starts on the silk plants, but once its in the silk its hard to get rid of without harming the silk. But silk plants can transfer diseases from one fish to another rapidly. They are just not a good choice.


Out of interest could you expand on why silk plants transfer disease rapidly? Are you thinking a trap for organic matter or something which encourages bacteria/fungus?
 
Both actually. And I was told this by someone very knowledgeable of this subject. I did not understand everything he said about it, but his reference was that it is a material, and that I probably wouldn't question why if we were talking about cotton. It just absorbs, holds and transfers stuff.
 
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