Black plants?

[soonerbarb]

My freshwater plants have black dots all over them, they are almost totally black....could this be algae?

 

[hashbaz]

Algae would be my first guess. Can you scrape the dots off with a fingernail?

 

[soonerbarb]

Yes they come off if scraped...I had two apple snails that pretty much destroyed them, gave the snails away. The plants are starting to grow new leaves which don't have black all over them, just the older leafs.

Should I take them out and clean them off?

 

[hashbaz]

Taking them out and gently cleaning them off should be OK - if you are careful. Although if they are rooted plants I would suggest trying to scrape the algae off without uprooting them.

Lots of plant people use otocinclus cats to clean the algae off of plant leaves.

 

[malkore]

If these are java ferns, black dots are often spore formations, where new java fern plantlets will grow.

 

[soonerbarb]

Thank you for all the advice!! I want to rearrange them so I think I will take them out and clean them. I am not sure what type of plants they all are but they are all different yet they all are covered in black...

 

[malkore]

sounds like brush algae then.

 

[soonerbarb]

Thanks, malkore...I should have nothing to worry about right?