Can these be saved?

[Ballkins]

Not entirely sure what is going on with these, but this algae on most of my plants. I just started a new water change regiment and plan on dosing twice weekly with easy green pump and root tabs for the root feeders. Currently no nitrates no phosphate in water prior to adding the easy green. 

Any recommendations about what else I can/should be doing?

 

Thank you!

[lefty o]

can they be saved... yes. will it be easy, probably not. good news , those nice bright green algae free leaves show the plant is ultimately healthy. id rub off what algae i can with my fingers, then give them a spray of hydrogen peroxide.

[Ballkins]

Thanks for the suggestion, will definitely give this a try next time I pull out the hard scape for a deep clean.

Any recommendations on how to prevent the new leaves from having the same fate?

 

Lights are currently on from 

3-10:30 MWF

1-10 Sat/sun

[lefty o]

i would start at 6-7hrs total light. especially just for anubias as they dont need tons of light.  just need to find the balance between hours of light/intensity, and fertilizer.

[Flipper]

On 2/25/2024 at 11:31 AM, Ballkins said:

I just started a new water change regiment and plan on dosing twice weekly with easy green pump and root tabs for the root feeders.

What other plants do you have in your tank?  Easy Green is for water column feeders only and twice a week is too often for slow growing plants, once a week would be better.  Anubias will grow without fertilizer, just using the fish poo in the water.  Remember, fertilizer also feeds your algae.  You should have cleaned the leaves while you had the driftwood with the plants out of the water.  I would not delay in cleaning the leaves.  Algae spreads throughout the tank.  All that algae is prohibiting photosynthesis and the plant could die from being completely covered.

Anubias plants are notorious for algae because they grow so slowly.  I would use my fingers to clean the leaves, underwater, with EVERY water change, to keep it from getting out of control.  Good luck in your endeavors!  🫠

[Ballkins]

Thanks for the suggestions. I tried cleaning the leaves while out of the water with both my fingers and a paper towel to no avail. Will try cleaning in the water to see if that's any better

I also have java moss, hornwort, multiple Amazon sword plants and alternera reineckii.

I also lowered the light power to the lowest setting and reduced the amount of time it is on significantly.

[Tony s]

question. what does this algae smell like when trying to rub it off. if it smells earthy or musty, could be a form of blue green algae. I had a red form of it. it grew very thickly onto plants and hardscape. not at all like the blanket you normally see. and wouldn't come off. took me forever to figure it out. have since carpet bombed all 14 tanks with erythromycin. it's slowly disappearing.

[Ballkins]

I didn’t smell it up close and personal but it was smelly, but I just assumed that’s what something that sits in a fish tank would smell like. 
 

Would anything I’m already doing also help with blue green algae? (Less lighting and more frequent water changes?)

[Tony s]

The hydrogen peroxide will work if pulling things out. Most bga is controlled through water changes and good cleaning. Mine was spread through my gravel vac. Didn’t realize it at the time. Knew I had it one tank on top of some hornwort. Was just chuckling the hornwort. Spores were still present. Spread it to 6 other tanks. 
 

chemiclean and erythromycin will kill it 

[Guppysnail]

On 2/27/2024 at 9:22 AM, Tony s said:

erythromycin will kill it 

This is your best bet.  Blue green algae is actually a bacteria. Cyanobacteria.  You are better off treating with erythromycin or you will fight it long term. 
Watch ammonia through treatment as it dies it causes a decent amount of ammonia. 

[Ballkins]

On 2/27/2024 at 9:27 AM, Guppysnail said:

 You are better off treating with erythromycin or you will fight it long term. 

Any recommendations or links for erythromycin? I've never used it before and all my search results (at least on amazon) are yielding treatment for sick fish, not cyano. 

[Tony s]

Big box pet stores have it  under e r erythromycin. Bga is a bacteria. Erythromycin kills tank bacteria as well as fish bacteria. 

For the smell. Most algae doesn’t actually smell bad. Kinda sea weedy. Bga smells foul 

[Guppysnail]

On 2/27/2024 at 7:49 PM, Ballkins said:

Any recommendations or links for erythromycin? I've never used it before and all my search results (at least on amazon) are yielding treatment for sick fish, not cyano. 

API ‘Em Erythromyacin , Fritz maracyn. Either will work.