Help - Black Spotted Algae Growing On My Java Fern

[zikista]

Hello to all,

I need you guys to help me on this, i encounter black spotted algae growing on all my java fern leaves and it rather look awful now and tiny hair algae starts to form on all the sides of my java fern leaves. From here, how do i eliminate these problems and how do i remove them at a short period.

Currently i running on 3bps cylinder co2, temperature 27C-28C and my lightings using 36 x 2 and 18 x 3 pl light. Hope you guys can help me on this and what causes the outbreak....thanks.

zikista lee ros

[PeterGwee]

What is your pH and KH throughout the entire photoperiod? Does it get below 20ppm at any point of the day/week? Trim the affected plant parts off and work on getting the CO2 within the 25-30~35ppm range throughout the entire photoperiod.

Regards
Peter Gwee

[David]

Errrhh its pretty useless to give your total wattage without the volume of the tank.

Did you recently added in your Java Fern? Did you buy from farms that usually culture them emersed? If you did, you need to wash them throughly and remove leaves that are either dying or infected.

If you bought them submersed from LFS, its good to asked how long was it brought in from the farms......if its recent, do as above. If not you just need to give it a trim and rinse.

Do you have SAEs in your tank?.......they usually eat the early growth.....badly infected leaves should be cut away ASAP......

[zikista]

Hi Peter Gwee,

What is your pH and KH throughout the entire photoperiod? Does it get below 20ppm at any point of the day/week? Trim the affected plant parts off and work on getting the CO2 within the 25-30~35ppm range throughout the entire photoperiod.

So far, when i last check my pH, it was at pH 6.7 and had no idea on my kH coz i don't have any kit to check at this moment and how do you work out on the co2....increase the co2 bps? And where can i purchase these kH kits?

Hi David,

Did you recently added in your Java Fern? Did you buy from farms that usually culture them emersed? If you did, you need to wash them throughly and remove leaves that are either dying or infected.

If you bought them submersed from LFS, its good to asked how long was it brought in from the farms......if its recent, do as above. If not you just need to give it a trim and rinse.

Do you have SAEs in your tank?.......they usually eat the early growth.....badly infected leaves should be cut away ASAP......

I bought the java fern 6 months ago and it's submersed when i bought it and usually i cleaned and soak it in potassium permanganate for 3-5 mins and trimmed the blackened leaves washed it thoroughly before i put it in my tank. I have SAE in my tanks and it's been 1 year plus old since i bought it for my first 2 ft tank and now the SAE seem don't bother to work itself on the algae but scavage on the fish food on the base, well sometimes feel like flushing it in the toilet but i find it cruel and i have lots of yamatos and i just had a major clean up on my 3 ft tank and it's like back to day one now....sigh...

zikista lee ros

[PeterGwee]

So far, when i last check my pH, it was at pH 6.7 and had no idea on my kH coz i don't have any kit to check at this moment and how do you work out on the co2....increase the co2 bps? And where can i purchase these kH kits?

You live in Singapore? Most LFS listed on this site carries KH kits. Singapore's tap water is very soft and does not have much buffering capability. 0.75-3dKH is about the range I can guess for depending on the area you live in (Unless you don't live in Singapore...). If your KH is on the low side like mine (0.75dKH) and you did not add any form of buffers like coral chips nor baking soda (sodium bicarbonate), your CO2 level is way too low. Personally, I like adding baking soda (sodium bicarbonate) better than coral chips as I don't want a moving target..it will burn you sometime.

Okay, your solution is pretty simple. Go get yourself a KH kit at any of the LFS listed in the LFS list...(not all carry it mind you..some don't but most do it.). Measure your KH of your tank water...should be pretty low. Bring the KH up to 3dKH slowly about max of 2dKH per 24hrs so as not to harm your critters. Once the KH remains stable, you can add CO2 such that it allows you to hit the 25-30~35ppm range for the entire photoperiod through pH/KH chart. Check the measurements over the next couple of days and make sure they are stable and within the good range. Once you had that nailed, you can work on the nutrients which is pretty simple via the estimative index method by Tom Barr.

Online pH/KH calculator

Regards
Peter Gwee

[zikista]

Hi Peter Gwee,

I,ve already run the test on my kH and pH level in my friends DI lab and the results are as follows:

pH - 6.7
kH - 4
gH - 3
CO2 - 23 ppm

I guess i have to dose my CO2 to bring down the pH level to get the mentioned CO2 25-30~35ppm and work out on my gH, correct me if i'm wrong and run the test again to get it right. By the way, is it important to mantain the gH level as well? So what do i need to do next after this test and results and the nutrients you've mentioned?

zikista lee ros

[uyopong]

Hi Dol,

You're Zul right?