The bad stuff

[b4tn]

I woke up today and saw that allot of the leaves of many plants are covered with a hairy/fuzzy brown stuff. I am not sure if this a diatom or not. In my SW tank diatoms where more of a slime you could peel away. This is more of a growth and it is only on the plants. Any ideas what it is and how to get rid of it?

42 gallon
kh 7
CO2 20
Ph 7
Nitrate 5
Nitrite 0
Ammonia 0

Still on 60 watt NO bulbs
The AH supply 96 watt kit arrived today though

 

[Xzap]

Which one of these does it look like ?
http://www.plantgeek.net/article_viewer.php?id=9

Dave

 

[b4tn]

It is a cross between these two. It is that color brown but it kind of hairy like the green one. You can only see that it is fuzzy on close inspection though.

 

[crazycat]

what size tank do you have, how is it stocked, and are you using co2? sounds like algae!

does it look like any of these?
http://www.plantgeek.net/article_viewer.php?id=9

 

[crazycat]

haha xzap! you beat me to it!

 

[Xzap]

Your description sounds like :
Fuzz algae:
Grows mostly on plant leaves as separate, short (2-3mm) strands. Considered normal. It might be a less "virulent" form of "beard" algae. Easily controlled with algae eaters such as black mollies, Otocinclus, Peckoltia and siamese algae eaters.

Dave

 

[b4tn]

Its not strandy like that though and covers an entire sword leaf like a patchy blanket.

Since the tank is less than 3 weeks I really was thinking it was diatome

I do have very small amounts of fuzz in my micro sword though. I got a few mollies the other day.

 

[greenmaji]

How are you testing CO2.. your water cant hold that much CO2 with your PH and KH values..
NO3 should be 10-15ppm
PO4? PO4 should be about 1ppm..
maintaining water chemistry is your first line of defence against nusance algae..

If you have this algae covering your plants and blocking their light then manualy remove it.. HTH

 

[b4tn]

I was using a chart that bases CO2 from measured KH and PH values.

http://www.aquarix.com/en/co2calc.asp

THis calculator says 19.7


Both PO4 and N03 are low I should have my ferts soon though. But those bieng low should mean less algea shouldnt it?

PO4 is .5

 

[greenmaji]

nevermind about the CO2.. I didnt double check my charts..it just didnt look quite right to me but your right..
having your NO3:PO4 ratio out of wack will be a cause for algae.. 10:1 is what is advised but thats about what you had.. 5:.5 but.. Alage is good at taking hold in conditions that are not best for plants. too much would be worse though..

 

[malkore]

kinda sounds like brush algae. super short, dark, rough texture sort of like velvet?

 

[b4tn]

Thats pretty much describes it. except it is light brown. I will get some actual pictures of it.

 

[b4tn]

It has mutated a bit. I know now forsure based on the Plantgeek guide what it is. I am not sure what the broad leaf plant is. It is similar to an amazon sword but with more stem less leaf. If I remove the leaves with the algae I would remove all the leaves