Plant tank beginner

[Rich]

Hi guys,

Just started tank with some plants. ( Some big green leaves
and long grass introduced by friend )

Found some black fungus and mouldy white stuff on the big
green leave. How to do with it ?
Currently no fish yet. Should i put any fish to consume it ?

Thanks

[Rich]

Hi guys,

Just started tank with some plants. ( Some big green leaves
and long grass introduced by friend )

Found some black fungus and mouldy white stuff on the big
green leave. How to do with it ?
Currently no fish yet. Should i put any fish to consume it ?

Thanks

[Rich]

Hi guys,

Just started tank with some plants. ( Some big green leaves
and long grass introduced by friend )

Found some black fungus and mouldy white stuff on the big
green leave. How to do with it ?
Currently no fish yet. Should i put any fish to consume it ?

Thanks

[Rich]

Hi guys,

Just started tank with some plants. ( Some big green leaves
and long grass introduced by friend )

Found some black fungus and mouldy white stuff on the big
green leave. How to do with it ?
Currently no fish yet. Should i put any fish to consume it ?

Thanks

[Simon]

hi there, are the 'fungus' there when u had them? and how long? good if there is a pic

[vinz]

How new is the tank? If its not properly cycled yet, don't add fishes as the ammonia, nitrite, nitrates (at high levels) could kill them.

[Rich]

Sorry, no picture.

Try to imagine, there are black powdery stuff on the green
leave. Take a closer look, it is black fungus.

The other are mouldy white mould. Try to imagine like
those stuff surrounding a dead fish for 2 to 3 days.

By changing water will it help ? How about sucker fish,
or prawn ? Will it mess up those moss on my log ?

[Simon]

y dun u remove them and try to rub/wash it away and replant it?

[Rich]

Goodness, came home tonight, the mouldy stuff
has grown even more. Black fungus also getting more. Help ! Who can suggest something beside taking out and re-plant.

Salt ? Prawn ? sucker fish ?

[Cardinal Tetra]

i would take it out and replant it. such stuffs are considered pathetic to me. many a times i have had those black 'stuff' on my leaves and i took them out, and used my thumb to rub it off. heh.

[bclee]

Those sound like brown algae to me. Usually happen in new tank. Will be under control after your tank mature.

Check if your tank is cycled. (Test for NO2, it should be zero.) If it is, add some ottos. They are pretty good at cleaning up brown algae. (Ottos are very sensitive to NO2, don't try if your tank is not cycled. They are unlikely to survive.)

BC

[vinz]

Rich, if you're getting algae now, you should put in some fast growing plants to use up the excess nutrients. Sounds like your plants are mainly heavy substrate feeders, so lots of stuff in the water left for the algae. You can always replace the fast growers with other preferred plants later.

Possibilities are Hygrophilia Polysperma, Hygrophilia Difformis, Lemna Minor (duckweed) or Frogbits. First 2 are stemmed plants, the last 2 are floating plants.

[Rich]

folks,

Thanks for all your advice. You guys are Pro.
May be i should start from the basic by rubbing it off
or suck out by water hose.
Some of the plants and medicines are too " deep " for me.
Dunno will i use it the right way.

Is the algae grow due to too cool the temperature ? My tank
is about 3 weeks old, with top filter @ about 29 deg.
4" tank with total 120 W of light.
no fish yet. Just changed water 10 days ago. ( almost whole
tank )

[vinz]

Temp does not affect algae growth much if any. 29 Degrees is ok. How tall and wide is your tank? If its 4x1.5x1.5 cubic inches, then the light is 2Watts/Gallon. If it's 4x2x2 cubic inches, then the light is too low at 1W/G. 2W/G is enough for low light plants only.

Avoid massive water changes like that... you probably just put back the cycling process by about a week. Water change should be normally 30% to 20% only... max 50% during crisis. Seldom would you do almost 100% change unless the water is very contaminated.

[Rich]

Hi,

Sorry, don't really understand what do you mean by " put back cycling process ". You mean i don't have to do anything but to change 30% water out and let it run for another week ?
Logically, it should not change the condition as fresh water may not remove algae.
I was told there is kind of " white powder " can prevent green algae, can i use those ?
By the way, how to calculate gallon if my tank is 4x1.5x1.5 ?

[vinz]

By 'put back', I meant 'slowed down'.

When you start, your tank does not have much of the bacteria that converts ammonia to nitrite and another that converts nitrite to nitrate. Cylcing is the process where you allow these bacteria to colonise the filter media, gravel and other surfaces. First the ammonia bacteria starts feeding on the ammonia and multiply... eventually you have an abundance of nitrites in the water due to them. At this point the other bacteria starts to feed on these nitrites and multiply. If you change too much water, you get rid of the nitrite and thus slows down the colonisation of the bacteria. The chlorine in the water will also kill some of the bacteria.

Calculating gallon... take your tank dimensions in cm (assume 30cm per ft) and multiple them to get the volume in cubic cm. Divide by 1000 to get litres. Divide by 3.8 to get US Gallons.

4'x1.5'x1.5'
= 120cm x 45cm x 45cm (approx)
= 243,000cc
= 243l
= (243/3.USG
= 64USG (approx)

[elmike]

Sounds like brown algae to me...if this is the case, a sucker-mouth catfish (hypostomus punctatus) will do a good job. You could also gently rub it off with your thumb, but if you have bright lights, they will present a recurent problem. Get a sucker fish, but be prepared for the poops[:]

[Rich]

Guys, ( elmike and vinz especially )

Thanks for your interest on my problem.
Allow me to share with you my " weekend success experiment "
Guess what, i could not " dahan " the blacks stuff, i took
a sponge to clear each of the " big leave " as if i was cleaning vege in the kitchen. Now those leave are so green
and bright.
I also use small hose to suck those mouldy white stuff from the Taiwan moss. Now is clear.
It really need some suggestion from others and courage to handle such problem as a beginner.
Now i also know how to measure gallon in order to determine no. of light for my tank.
Big thanks again.
By the way, elmike, what sucker fish are your referring to ?What color is the fish, any layman term ?