Anubias/Amazon problem

[F.Sam]

Hello guys,

First of all, I've had these plants for 2 years now and they were both beautifully green...

In the last 2-3 months my anubias nana and barteri developed these black spots/holes. They are both on driftwood for 2 years now. It's no algae, i can't scrape it off, it seems like the leafs are burnt?

As for the amazon sword, same story, but these are more like pinholes/ deeper then the anubias leafs!

As for ferts:
- 4ml easylife easy carbo/day
- 2ml easylife profito/day
- 10ml easylife ferro/week (have only done this for 2week, bought it recently)
- roottabs for the amazon sword

This is a 25-30 gallon tank, 40% weekly PWC, lights: 2x Grolux T8 18W 10 hours/day

I myself think that it's a potassium deficiency, so i'm planning on buying easylife potassium, what do you guys think? Any suggestions?


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[BBradbury]

Your Plants

Hello F...

May be time for a change in fertilizer. Plants are like the fish, they tire of the same diet. I don't use very much fertilizer. I feed the fish a balanced diet and change out a lot of water every week and the plants are fine. Occasionally, when I do use fertilizers, I have changed them every few months. Seachem's Comprehensive is a good product.

Consider using it in place of the current diet for a few weeks and see how it works.

B

 

[PerfectDepth]

Hello F...

May be time for a change in fertilizer. Plants are like the fish, they tire of the same diet. I don't use very much fertilizer. I feed the fish a balanced diet and change out a lot of water every week and the plants are fine. Occasionally, when I do use fertilizers, I have changed them every few months. Seachem's Comprehensive is a good product.

Consider using it in place of the current diet for a few weeks and see how it works.

B

Plants don't get tired of ferts. No offense, but that's just not true at all and has no scientific basis whatsoever. If you don't have experience with ferts, maybe you could let people with more knowledge handle the replies.

F.Sam, Are you sure the black stuff isn't BBA? It can be difficult to remove. If it's algae, you could spot treat or dip in H2O2 to get rid of it (look up instructions first). Also, you might need to reduce lighting intensity or photoperiod- 10 hours could be too long. You could also split the photoperiod with at least a 3 hour break in between. You could also try dosing more glut ("easy carbo" I assume is glut?).

I'm not familiar with that brand of ferts, but you're correct that the pinholes are possibly due to a lack of K. If none of the products you're currently using contain potassium, it'd be worth a try. Maybe your root tabs need to be replaced also?

 

[F.Sam]

Dear PerfectDepth, I don't think it's BBA tbh, because it can't be removed at all and feels more like dents in the leaf! But in the case you are right: will it go away by itself? It hasn't been spreading whatsoever...

As for easycarbo, it's indeed a glut, but i'm already dosing at max. My hygro are unaffected tho! I just replaced root tabs (and still had some leftovers of the previous ones in my tank) so that's out of the question.

But maybe you're right and it is indeed BBA! Can anyone else confirm? thanks in advance!

Btw I just bought potassium fert


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[PerfectDepth]

Dear PerfectDepth, I don't think it's BBA tbh, because it can't be removed at all and feels more like dents in the leaf! But in the case you are right: will it go away by itself? It hasn't been spreading whatsoever...

As for easycarbo, it's indeed a glut, but i'm already dosing at max. My hygro are unaffected tho! I just replaced root tabs (and still had some leftovers of the previous ones in my tank) so that's out of the question.

But maybe you're right and it is indeed BBA! Can anyone else confirm? thanks in advance!

Btw I just bought potassium fert


Sent per three-eyed raven...

That is strange. I've only seen that happen to java ferns. I don't know.

If it is BBA, no, it probably won't go away on its own without making adjustments, even if it isn't spreading. It's very resilient. Even after you address the cause, it can take a long time to see the results, which is why I recommended trying H2O2 spot treatment for fast results.

If by dosing at max, you mean the label directions.. you can probably safely dose more. Don't make it a drastic increase, increase it slowly. I don't know how the glut concentration of easycarbo compares to Seachem Excel, but I know some people with high light levels dose Excel as much as 10 times what the directions on the label call for. In your case, you won't need nearly that much, though. (Of course if it's not actually BBA you're dealing with, a higher dose probably isn't necessary. BBA shows up when carbon is limited.)

 

[F.Sam]

The packaging states: maximum 2ml/50l if the tank is heavily planted. My tank is 130l, so i would consider adding 2ml more/day (total is 6ml then)... Question is: do you consider my tank heavily planted?



* +- 10 stalks bacopa
* +- 7 stalks hygrophila
* 3 anubias nana
* 1 anubias barterii
* 3 amazon sword plants
* 2 crypticorn tropica
* some vallisneria (still adjusting)
* trying to carpet pogostemon helferi
* 1 marimo mossball


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[PerfectDepth]

"Heavily planted" is subjective, but yeah, I'd say it qualifies.


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[F.Sam]

I just did a waterchange today and tried again to scrape some black of the anubias barterii leaf, this time with my fingernail. It did come off eventually! So... I guess you were right from the start then?


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[mrgazza]

It must be a algae issue then :-/ less light/ cut back on ferts for a while?


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[F.Sam]

I followed your advice perfect depth (assuming it was algae). I gave them a nice bleach dip and i am so thrilled about the result. As for my amazon sword, i'll just trim the affected leaves. Pics below, use my first pics above as a reference if you please



As for anyone else with black spot algae on anubias species, I recommend this video:

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