Old leaves on Anubius have algea....should I trim or leave?

[gfink]

My Anubius have been doing well in my low light tank. Many new leaves have grown, and one even flowered.

My old leaves (at least 4-6 months) have algea all over the surface. Should these leaves stay, or should I prune them?

 

[travis simonson]

If you cannot clean the algae off by rubbing the leaf lightly with your finger then I would recommend pruning it. Anubias has such long-lived leaves that it is difficult to keep them algae free as they age. Keeping your PO4 levels in the 1.0-2.0 range will help reduce or eliminate algal growth on older leaves.

 

[gfink]

Any advice on how to prune? Should I cut close to the rhizome or leave a little stem? Should I trim the entire plant at once (could be 4 leaves or almost 40%) or one or two leaves a week and let the plant recover?

I do have some nice sharp pruning scissors ready to go.

Thanks!

 

[travis simonson]

I normally leave a little stem when I trim my Anubias because new leaves seem to fission off of the base of the stems. Anubias are very tolerant of pruning and will recover even from a bare rhizome as long as it is fat and healthy so, since you're only trimming 40% or so, I would go ahead and remove all of the affected leaves.

 

[Zezmo]

I get some algae on my middle leaves, the lower ones seen to "clean up" on thier own as they are more in the shade of the upper leaves. I suppose it somewhat depends on what kind of algae you are getting on them.

As for trimming, I have been able to get some pretty small peices to grow. I am talking a bare rhizome less than an inch long, and have it slowly grow back into a very nice plant.

 

[Pygmaeus]

I sometimes can salvage my anubias by throwing them for a day or two in a tank with a bushynose pleco and cherry shrimps (Neocardina denticulata). The pleco does a good job of cleaning the surface of the leaves while the shrimp make short work of the algae growing on the leaf's edges.

I would leave the shrimp in my larger tank all the time but these guys do not realize what a tasty treat they are to my larger fish and don't even try to defend themselves. They are however perhaps the best algae eating shrimp I've had!

 

[travis simonson]

I sometimes can salvage my anubias by throwing them for a day or two in a tank with a bushynose pleco and cherry shrimps (Neocardina denticulata). The pleco does a good job of cleaning the surface of the leaves while the shrimp make short work of the algae growing on the leaf's edges.

Good point Pygmaeus. Nerite snails also do a great job of cleaning the leaves of plants (well bigger heavier leaves like Anubias and Crypts anyway) of algae. You can get them at www.azgardens.com.