Algae on Anubias Leaves

[spunjin]

What type of algae is this and how do I get rid of it? I have 2.5 W/gal of PC lighting (55W AHsupply kit) and pressurized CO2 at about 3 bps. The tank is filtered by a Penn Plax 700 canister and the anubias is almost in direct flow of the spray bar. I follow the Seachem liquid fertililzer dosing chart weekly but I do about a 45% water change every 7 days. The tank is slightly overstocked with 6 cardinal tetras, 7 harleys, 7 cherry barbs, 2 corys, 1 bolivian ram, about 12 cherry shrimp, and lots of MTS.
Any suggestions on how to get rid of the algae? Should I just cut the leaves off the anubias or spot treat them with excel?

 

[rsanz]

I got the same type of thing growing on my anubias nana leaves. It doesn't come off. Eventually, over time, holes started forming on the leaves. It was recommended to me to trim off the affected leaves and let new ones grow.

 

[tanker]

It is BBA, tough to get off of leaves. You can try H2O2 (Hydrogen peroxyd--spelling??) or Excel.

Or try a bleach dip.

 

[spunjin]

I have been using excel on it and it has lightened up but it has only reappeared like this in the photo since I upgraded the light from 30W to 55W. I may just clip all the covered leaves off.

 

[bluekrissyspike]

i put mine in my cherry shrimp tank. they clean it all off perfectly and then it's nice again. i do the same with my aponogoten when it gets algea built up.

 

[spunjin]

I have cherry shrimp in the tank with the anubias but they aren't doing enough for it. I was contemplating getting some nerites or amano shrimp for this purpose. Advice on either of those two options?

 

[customdrum]

you could pull the whole plant out and do an excel bath on them it will kill it off, i do 5ml with litle over half cup water , leave the leaf or leaves in 5-10 secounds and remove, wash the plant off and put back into tank.

i wouldnt buy snails just to solve the algae problem but they help out some

 

[jenazen69]

Ive used a soft bristle toothbrush to gently scrub it off with some success. But the final solution is to out compete it for nutrients or lower light and nutrients.

 

[DGalt]

I have cherry shrimp in the tank with the anubias but they aren't doing enough for it. I was contemplating getting some nerites or amano shrimp for this purpose. Advice on either of those two options?

i have about 10 amanos in my tank, they didn't do much for the BBA that was on my driftwood that I had too close to the lights. ramshorns on the other hand munched down on the stuff :lol: (unless of course the amanos went at it at night, but they seem to stay closer to the bottom of the tank and this was near the top of the tank)

that said, since adding shrimp and snails to my tank I haven't really seen any algae besides the little bit I just mentioned

to the OP, I've sucessfully treated BBA with H2O2. Excel didn't work for me, but to each his own. Just be careful, because you can kill the plant with H2O2 (on my second bought with BBA I actually dipped my anubias leaves in a bowl of H2O2. it didn't like that at all). get a syringe and directly dose H2O2 onto the spots.

Good article about it here:
http://www.skepticalaquarist.com/docs/algae/tonealg.shtml

 

[Riiz]

I had really good success with H2O2, I would wait until a waterchange, so that pumps are off, then spot treat with a dosing syringe, usually within a few days, the BBA turns a bright pink and dies off. And if it was a piece of hardscape, I used Excel because its work faster and there is no plant underneath I'd worry about losing.