Hairgrass turning brownish

[jackwolf]

Hi,

Some patches of my normal hairgrass turn brownish, with some fur or dust(black-looking in the water) like substance on it and can see that the grass is "dead"... the rest of the hairgrass still look bright & healthy.

Anyone know the cause and the cure? My 2 feet is having 2x24w T5 lighting for 7 hours, DIY CO2, liquid fert(ocean nutrition's iron, traces & fertil)constantly. Temperture is still below 27 degree, even these few days the weather is hot.

Thanks for advises...

[jackwolf]

Hi,

Any advise yet?

I tried trimming it to very short. Just wondering does it help....

[daoism]

hey jack, i have mixed fortunes with hairgrass too. mine turned brown after a few weeks but decided to be patient with it, it turned out quite well in the end. i snipped off the top the stimulate growth, like you. mine is a low tech tank with fluorish excel dozages. i read somewhere (can't remember) that plants rot initially at new environment. need patience. how long has the hair grass been planted?

[jackwolf]

I think its more than a month... It started to turn brown (portion) not long ago after the grass spreads..

how about those "hair/dust" like substance that attached to the grass.. is it algae? would it be that algae attached to it thats why its dying..? Or its died thats why algae can grow on it? I took a bit of that out and found that its actually dark green in colour when out of water..

[daoism]

coincidentally i also encountered this hair/dust like substance. they were gone a few days after i got some yamatos and cherry shrimps. i cannot be sure that they are the one who got rid of them. but you can try?

[hangyong]

mine also turn brownish, and then those that turn brown earlier start to die off.

Added in 2 oto in my 4x2x2 tank.... cleared things off in a week.

Make sure the CO2 level is sufficient and light is not too strong also.

[jackwolf]

I already have 3 oto and some shrimps in the tank... maybe they not working... ha.. the light & Co2 should be okay because the rest of the plant are doing rather okay... should I pluck up those "brownish" hairgrass or leave it? you know plucking hairgrass is no jokes...

[hangyong]

give them more time...

you having those algae on the glass??

clear them off if you do.

are you using bio filtering? BB helps to clear these algae by breaking down the nitrates and ammonia.

How old is your tank? Could it be ammonia/nitrate spike?

are your plants healthy? plants will help in braking down the ammonia and nitrates as well.

[daoism]

i think you leave them for a while. yea.

[torque6]

are you using bio filtering? BB helps to clear these algae by breaking down the nitrates and ammonia.
are your plants healthy? plants will help in braking down the ammonia and nitrates as well.

BB don't help clear algae and they dont break down nitrates.

[jackwolf]

rest of the plant seems okay no turning brown.. think i'll just leave it and see how after sometime.. hope it won't spread further or else it will be ready headache...

[hangyong]

BB don't help clear algae and they dont break down nitrates.

paiseh... they break down nitrite

my rational is this: ammonia can cause brown algae, and BB breaks down ammonia to nitrite....

please do correct me if I am wrong cause I am also in a learning process...

[mercuryscio]

coincidentally i also encountered this hair/dust like substance. they were gone a few days after i got some yamatos and cherry shrimps. i cannot be sure that they are the one who got rid of them. but you can try?

I jus started planting hair grass in my 3ft, any uprooting when u introduce the cherries?

[daoism]

I jus started planting hair grass in my 3ft, any uprooting when u introduce the cherries?

no not at all. not even the yamatos uprooted any of the hairgrass.