Is this algae?

[sillyme]

Hi,

My leaves have this black deposits on them.

Need help to confirm if this is algae and how to treat it.



Thanks in advance.

[StanChung]

Yes it is, the treatment is to trim the leaf.

[Navanod]

Green spot algae? And potentially a black brush algae on the edge of the leave?

[sillyme]

Thanks!

Problem is that it's spreading a many of my leaves. grrr.

Would Oto, snails or shrimps relief the problem?

[teowxu]

i recently also have this problem...for me having a combination of Siaminese Algae Eater(SAE), otto and yamato(amano) shrimp helps to clear the algae... coupled with floating plants to reduce amount of light and soak up any additional nutrients... perhaps u can try it out too.. .

[stillife]

I did encountered this before, not easy to get rid. I think have to do with the water and lights. Easy way is to do some water change, observe and hope it clears....:-)

[sillyme]

Thank you all.

I already have Salivinias.

Planning to get some Horned Nerite snails, Amano Shrimp and Otos. But not sure if I need to get all of them.

Besides C328, any other places sell Horned Nerite?

[sillyme]

Hi stilllife,

Do you mean more light, or less?

[a9316]

I think you may have to reduce the hours you on your lights. I am not sure if a UV sterilizer helps in this case.

[sillyme]

Yup a9316, that was what I did. This was what I've changed so far.

- Cut down the photo-period by an hour.
- Added three Nerite Horned snails.
- Increased the water flow rate.

So far this seemed to have controlled the algae

[Kiatster]

THe Horned nerites do 95% of the job. My spot algae (1ft tank) was cleared in 3hrs after adding 3x horned nerite. Never seen any of the algae since.

[chooz]

I have the same problem on my nana only. The "algae" is growing very slowly but steadily.

It is in a low light (5 hrs, 9w fluorescent, 16 litre tank) with no added CO2 and no fertilizer. I only put in Excel Fluorish once a week. Other plants are java moss and java fern, but they are not affected. There are only 5 fish (3 cm small tetras) in the tank.

So I think low light and low fertilizer don't help in this case. Neither does Excel Fluorish.

I transfer it to my outdoor mini pond where my trusted pleco lives. But the pleco does not clean off the algae too.

[Kiatster]

Chooz, you can try horned nerites for spot algae. But if its black brush algae, you might want to get Siamese Algae Eater (note that they can grow quite large). My method is to use livestock to control algae. =)

I have the same problem on my nana only. The "algae" is growing very slowly but steadily.

It is in a low light (5 hrs, 9w fluorescent, 16 litre tank) with no added CO2 and no fertilizer. I only put in Excel Fluorish once a week. Other plants are java moss and java fern, but they are not affected. There are only 5 fish (3 cm small tetras) in the tank.

So I think low light and low fertilizer don't help in this case. Neither does Excel Fluorish.

I transfer it to my outdoor mini pond where my trusted pleco lives. But the pleco does not clean off the algae too.

[sillyme]

I saw one of the snails on one of the leaves this morning. And it did a good job clearing up a fair amount on the leaf

If I can, I would reward it an annual bonus for a job well-done!