Help wanted with Anubias

[Paulochromis]

Hi all,

My wife and I "run" a small (30L) tank for my 6-yr old son.

We didn't do a lot of research (wanted to start something up quickly after his goldfish died), and decided to go "amazonian". He has 4 rosey tetras and two bronze corydoras. We wanted to try real plants, and plumped for some anubias (barteri, I think) on some diftwood (to help keep th pH down) and something else (don't remember the name). Things started well enough, we're putting a drop of "Daily-Gro" in daily, and 4ml of "Basic-Gro" in weekly. Recently, however, we're noticing fairly widespread dark brown to red spots/patches forming on the leaves of the anubias. Is this algae, and is it good or bad? Various threads in various forums seem to differ in their opinions! Do I need to get rid of it (or indeed the plant)? If I do, what's the best way? How do I track down the cause to stop it from coming back? So far I'm thinking:

a) too much light

b) too much nitrate (over-feeding the fish)

Any help would be appreciated.

Cheers, Paul.

[Nornicle]

you should probably stop fertilising at all, since feeding should be enough to grow them...

also the dark brown spots are probably diatomic growth which you can wipe off with your fingers or hire a bristlenose catfish

good luck!

[anchar]

Hi Paulochromis,

Are the "spots" easily removed (by gentle rubbing with your fingers) or are they contained in the leaves?

merjo

[Paulochromis]

Hi all,

Thanks for the replies.

Gave the leaves a bit of a scrub during the last water change

and things are looking a lot better. I'm reducing the fertilisation

as advised, will post again if anything significant develops.

Once again, thanks to those who replied.

Cheers, Paul.

[PHL]

The probably algae; Anubias tend to get the red brush algae problem. I use SAes in my tanks to control that.

[CThompson]

Guys,

They have a 30l tank (around 40cm?). SAEs will get too big for that, and even bristlenose are not the best in any sort of planted tank. Can you imagine the damage an adult fish (it will grow) will do in a tank of that size.

Anubius are low light plants it will need lower levels of everything, including light. Not knowing what the light is in the tank, I wouldn't make a comment.

As suggested, I would be wary about putting too much fertiliser in there. I would be frugal with feeding the fish. Get yourself a nitrate test kit (it will help to judge amount of food being feed, and sufficiency of water changes), and iron test kit (use it as a yard stick for the appropriate amount of fertiliser), and do more water changes.

Test kits such as those mentioned are basic equipment for those with a planted tank, to know which things you have to tweak to keep algae at a minimum. We create an ideal (?) place for plants to live, so naturally we will also have some algae. If the algae is not too unsightly, learn to live with a bit of it, and to do some manual labour to remove some (on glass) as a weekly chore.

Just my opinion,

Craig

[Paulochromis]

Hi Craig,

Thanks for the advice.

I have a nitrate test kit already, the tank typically sits at the 10ppm mark (reduces to 5 after water change). I will look into the Iron test kit.

Cheers, Paul.

[CThompson]

When I had my planted tank I had zero nitrates, and in fact had to add it due to the plant's requirement for it. Nitrate levels are an indicant for more frequent water changes required, too much food going in (which doesn’t necessarily mean over feeding, perhaps you have too many fish, and their body's metabolism due to correct feeding is raising your nitrate), or not enough plants to uptake the nitrate produced.

So they’re a number of things you could do, just one or a combination. Once you have figured out what works, keep doing it. You could try feeding the fish less (you’d probably be really surprised how much food the fish can get by on). Doing slightly more frequent water changes, or larger ones (assuming you can correctly condition the water you are putting back in), to export the nitrate, or adding more plants to use the nitrate produced (add some nutrient hungry plants, assuming you have the light levels to sustain them). Speaking of light levels, if you do have a light source that is capable of supporting plants that have higher nutrient requirements, this could also be a reason for algae on your anubias, which doesn’t have a high requirement for light.

Nitrate could defiantly be a cause for your algae, but remember, a bit of algae is normal, it just means you have created conditions that plants require. All you might need to do is a bit of algae removal, which you said if I remember correctly, you did, and it came off easily.

For you information, if you wanted to go the “amazonian” way, anubias come from Africa. The Amazonian way would have seen you planting swords and such. If I was in your position, with the limited understanding I have on your tank, I would consider feeding less to the fish (assuming you are putting in too much –read more than is required), and adding more plants. Assuming you have the correct lighting for anubias, I would have either more anubias, or some Java fern with has the same nutrient requirements as anubias.

Craig