Somethings wrong with plants? Help! - Aquarium Advice

nemokeeper · 01-10-2004, 09:55 PM

My plants are not looking well, they have a rusty brown colour on them. I have attached photo. HISTORY: They were planted 3 weeks ago, a week and half ago we upgraded from a single 15w bulb to 2 - 20 w bulbs.(Life-glo2 and a Flora-Glo) I also added fertilizer a week ago. 4 days ago I added 3 tsp of aquarium salt to the 20 gallon tank to treat "ich" and raised temp to 81. Anyone know what this could be?

Fruitbat · 01-10-2004, 11:47 PM

Looks to me like you have a nice, healthy growth of diatoms on your plants. I notice from your signature that you don't have any sort of algae-eating fish or inverts in your aquarium. You might consider picking up an Otocinclus or two. I've got a Farlowella in my 26 gallon that just LOVES diatoms and does a remarkable job of working over the leaves of my Aponogeton ulvaceus...eating pretty much any kind of algae it encounters. I don't know how effective a Farlowella would be on the type of plants in your picture because the leaves are small. Otocinclus might be a better choice. You might also consider some type of snail (Ramshorn snails work well).

nemokeeper · 01-11-2004, 10:32 PM

Thanks Fruitbat
Please forgive me I am new to this hobby. Diantoms? Is that a type of algae? I know you mention algae eaters. Just bought two clown loaches today, they seem to be paying some attention to the plants and driftwood. You mention a Ramshorn snail, is this type different from the ones I hear people trying to get rid of?

MantisX · 01-11-2004, 10:49 PM

Its not settled dirt is it? I get that alot in my tank with the laterite in it. If its algae, maybe the lights are on too long since you upgraded? Im not sure, but doesnt some salts eat at plants? Too much fertilizer?

Fruitbat · 01-12-2004, 12:02 AM

Diatoms are unicellular organisms that form beautiful (though microsopic) shells composed primarily of silicon. Their presence in an aquarium is usually (though not always) an indicator of excess silicates in the water or of low light levels.

Ramshorn snails are NOT the typical pond snails that are such pests in many people's aquariums but like the pond snail, the Ramshorn snails CAN become overpopulated in an aquarium. Their shells are coiled like the horn of a ram.

Your clown loaches, though magnificent fish, won't help much with diatoms.

jsoong · 01-12-2004, 12:07 AM

Diatoms are kinds of brown algae, common in new tanks, they give way to green algae over time. (Mine did went away without any help from me).

Salt will cause some plants to turn brown, some are more sensitive then others. Although at 3 teaspoons in 20 [acronym:9498d73b1f="Gallon"]gal[/acronym:9498d73b1f], that is not much. When I treated for ich, I was up to 3 tablespoon per 10 [acronym:9498d73b1f="Gallon"]gal[/acronym:9498d73b1f]. My plants sulked & dropped some leaves, but bounced right back when the salt level dropped.

nemokeeper · 01-12-2004, 08:33 AM

One thing I did not mention is that I left the lights on for 18 hours when I fisrt upgraded the lights, but have cut it back to 13 hours now.

madasafish · 01-18-2004, 03:32 AM

Late in the game, I know, but... For ich, you need to turn up the heat higher than that... 84-5 minimum...

01-10-2004, 09:55 PM	#1
nemokeeper Aquarium Advice Regular Join Date: Dec 2003 Location: Ontario Canada Posts: 75 Images: 1	Somethings wrong with plants? Help! My plants are not looking well, they have a rusty brown colour on them. I have attached photo. HISTORY: They were planted 3 weeks ago, a week and half ago we upgraded from a single 15w bulb to 2 - 20 w bulbs.(Life-glo2 and a Flora-Glo) I also added fertilizer a week ago. 4 days ago I added 3 tsp of aquarium salt to the 20 gallon tank to treat "ich" and raised temp to 81. Anyone know what this could be? __________________ 20 Gallon Rectangle tank, 304 Fluval filter: 1Rosy Tetra, 1 Black Molly 1 Platy, 1 Blue Tail Guppy 2 Blue Tetras, 2 Angelfish, 2 clown loaches, 1 Tail-Light Tetra, 2 Otocinclus, 1 Glass cat fish 15 Gallon -1 Fancy Guppies - 15 Guppy Fry

01-10-2004, 11:47 PM	#2
Fruitbat Aquarium Advice Addict Moderator Emeritus Join Date: Nov 2003 Location: Garland,Texas Posts: 1,818 Images: 30	Looks to me like you have a nice, healthy growth of diatoms on your plants. I notice from your signature that you don't have any sort of algae-eating fish or inverts in your aquarium. You might consider picking up an Otocinclus or two. I've got a Farlowella in my 26 gallon that just LOVES diatoms and does a remarkable job of working over the leaves of my Aponogeton ulvaceus...eating pretty much any kind of algae it encounters. I don't know how effective a Farlowella would be on the type of plants in your picture because the leaves are small. Otocinclus might be a better choice. You might also consider some type of snail (Ramshorn snails work well). __________________ Loaches: Botia almorhae, B. kubotai, B. striata, Noemacheilus triangularis, Schistura sp.aff.nicholsi, S. vinciguerre, Sinibotia robusta, Vaillantella maassi Bichirs: Polypterus senegalus, P. senegalus (albino), P. delhezi, P. sp. 'Congo', P. palmas polli, P.weeksii, P. ornatipinnis, P. palmas buettikoferi, P. retropinnis, P. endlicheri congicus, Polypterus bichir lapradei, P. palmas palmas, Erpetoichthys calabaricus Anabantids: Ctenopoma acutirostre, Ct. ocellatum, Ct. oxyrhynchum, Ct. kingsleyae, Microctenopoma ansorgii, Mct. fasciolatum, Trichogaster trichopterus, Belontia signata, B. hasselti, Anabas testudineus, Macropodus opercularis, Betta splendens Catfish: Dekeyseria sp. (L-052)Sturiosoma panamense, Hypancistrus inspector (L-201), Synodontis eupterus, Synodontis nigrita, Synodontis brichardi, Synodontis soloni, Anaspidoglanis macrostoma Barbs/Rasboras: Capoeta tetrazona, Rasbora borapetensis, Labeo cyclorhynchus Tetras: Phenacogrammus interruptus Other: Xenomystus nigri, Papyrocranus afer, Pantodon buchholzi, Oxymormyrus boulengeri, Protopterus annectens andPhractolaemus ansorgei

01-11-2004, 10:32 PM	#3
nemokeeper Aquarium Advice Regular Join Date: Dec 2003 Location: Ontario Canada Posts: 75 Images: 1	Thanks Fruitbat Please forgive me I am new to this hobby. Diantoms? Is that a type of algae? I know you mention algae eaters. Just bought two clown loaches today, they seem to be paying some attention to the plants and driftwood. You mention a Ramshorn snail, is this type different from the ones I hear people trying to get rid of? __________________ 20 Gallon Rectangle tank, 304 Fluval filter: 1Rosy Tetra, 1 Black Molly 1 Platy, 1 Blue Tail Guppy 2 Blue Tetras, 2 Angelfish, 2 clown loaches, 1 Tail-Light Tetra, 2 Otocinclus, 1 Glass cat fish 15 Gallon -1 Fancy Guppies - 15 Guppy Fry

01-11-2004, 10:49 PM	#4
MantisX Aquarium Advice Activist Join Date: Nov 2003 Location: Roxboro, N.C. Posts: 141 Images: 2	Its not settled dirt is it? I get that alot in my tank with the laterite in it. If its algae, maybe the lights are on too long since you upgraded? Im not sure, but doesnt some salts eat at plants? Too much fertilizer? __________________ Thunderous Mantis, All Chant this.

01-12-2004, 12:02 AM	#5
Fruitbat Aquarium Advice Addict Moderator Emeritus Join Date: Nov 2003 Location: Garland,Texas Posts: 1,818 Images: 30	Diatoms are unicellular organisms that form beautiful (though microsopic) shells composed primarily of silicon. Their presence in an aquarium is usually (though not always) an indicator of excess silicates in the water or of low light levels. Ramshorn snails are NOT the typical pond snails that are such pests in many people's aquariums but like the pond snail, the Ramshorn snails CAN become overpopulated in an aquarium. Their shells are coiled like the horn of a ram. Your clown loaches, though magnificent fish, won't help much with diatoms. __________________ Loaches: Botia almorhae, B. kubotai, B. striata, Noemacheilus triangularis, Schistura sp.aff.nicholsi, S. vinciguerre, Sinibotia robusta, Vaillantella maassi Bichirs: Polypterus senegalus, P. senegalus (albino), P. delhezi, P. sp. 'Congo', P. palmas polli, P.weeksii, P. ornatipinnis, P. palmas buettikoferi, P. retropinnis, P. endlicheri congicus, Polypterus bichir lapradei, P. palmas palmas, Erpetoichthys calabaricus Anabantids: Ctenopoma acutirostre, Ct. ocellatum, Ct. oxyrhynchum, Ct. kingsleyae, Microctenopoma ansorgii, Mct. fasciolatum, Trichogaster trichopterus, Belontia signata, B. hasselti, Anabas testudineus, Macropodus opercularis, Betta splendens Catfish: Dekeyseria sp. (L-052)Sturiosoma panamense, Hypancistrus inspector (L-201), Synodontis eupterus, Synodontis nigrita, Synodontis brichardi, Synodontis soloni, Anaspidoglanis macrostoma Barbs/Rasboras: Capoeta tetrazona, Rasbora borapetensis, Labeo cyclorhynchus Tetras: Phenacogrammus interruptus Other: Xenomystus nigri, Papyrocranus afer, Pantodon buchholzi, Oxymormyrus boulengeri, Protopterus annectens andPhractolaemus ansorgei

01-12-2004, 12:07 AM	#6
jsoong Aquarium Advice Addict Community Mentor Join Date: Aug 2003 Location: Edmonton, Canada Posts: 1,538	Diatoms are kinds of brown algae, common in new tanks, they give way to green algae over time. (Mine did went away without any help from me). Salt will cause some plants to turn brown, some are more sensitive then others. Although at 3 teaspoons in 20 [acronym:9498d73b1f="Gallon"]gal[/acronym:9498d73b1f], that is not much. When I treated for ich, I was up to 3 tablespoon per 10 [acronym:9498d73b1f="Gallon"]gal[/acronym:9498d73b1f]. My plants sulked & dropped some leaves, but bounced right back when the salt level dropped. __________________ 75 gal FW with 30 gal DIY wet/dry/sump. 9 fancy golds, 1 hillstream loaches, 1 rubber-lip pleco (C. thomasi), 3 SAEs, planted.

01-12-2004, 08:33 AM	#7
nemokeeper Aquarium Advice Regular Join Date: Dec 2003 Location: Ontario Canada Posts: 75 Images: 1	One thing I did not mention is that I left the lights on for 18 hours when I fisrt upgraded the lights, but have cut it back to 13 hours now. __________________ 20 Gallon Rectangle tank, 304 Fluval filter: 1Rosy Tetra, 1 Black Molly 1 Platy, 1 Blue Tail Guppy 2 Blue Tetras, 2 Angelfish, 2 clown loaches, 1 Tail-Light Tetra, 2 Otocinclus, 1 Glass cat fish 15 Gallon -1 Fancy Guppies - 15 Guppy Fry

01-18-2004, 03:32 AM	#8
madasafish Aquarium Advice Addict Moderator Emeritus Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: NY, NY Posts: 2,260 Images: 73	Late in the game, I know, but... For ich, you need to turn up the heat higher than that... 84-5 minimum... __________________ [acronym:3ff24413a5="Malaysian Trumpet Snails or Multiple Tank Syndrome, depending on context"]MTS[/acronym:3ff24413a5] is a blessing, not a disease.

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