white stuff on floaters

[CT_]

Anyone know whats going on with my salvia?  Some of them turn white or maybe have white mold or something growing on them?  To be safe I cut out the white leaves but I'm wondering if I should be concerned.

[Brandy]

When plants die, they rot. If they are in the water they"melt" which sounds innocous, but actualy indicates both enzymatic action within the plant tissue, and external decomposition by microbes. 

Above the waterline, molds are very good decomposers. It is not so much an indication of a disease, as some kind of mechanical damage usually, or maybe a nutrient deficiency. I have Salvinia minima, and mine will get damaged because I netted fish out roughly, or the filter flow was too high. First it browns, then it sometimes rots with mold, sometimes it becomes brown sludge. Think about it like a bruised piece of fruit.

[CT_]

ah okay thanks!  Most of whats pictured are the children of an alum dipped salvinia.  2 days of alum turns them brow and they slowly die but make last ditch baby plants that have been doing well.  I bet the white ones are just the last parents that I hadn't removed.

[Colu]

It looks like some form of fungus my water lettuce gets it when they get water diping on the leaves of my lid and start to rot

[CT_]

9 hours ago, Colu said:

It looks like some form of fungus my water lettuce gets it when they get water diping on the leaves of my lid and start to rot

yikes.  Is this a big problem?  I'm pretty careful during water changes but I still inadvertently submerge a floater that escapes here or there (especially when refilling).  My thought was "it rains outdoors I'm fine", but then again there's warm sun, not just visible light and wind (i have a lid) outdoors.

[Maggie]

16 hours ago, CT_ said:

ah okay thanks!  Most of whats pictured are the children of an alum dipped salvinia.  2 days of alum turns them brow and they slowly die but make last ditch baby plants that have been doing well.  I bet the white ones are just the last parents that I hadn't removed.

I did an alum treatment on dwarf water lettuce and what a disaster! It all melted except a tiny piece I found at the bottom of the tank, which I now have in a separate container to try and salvage it. 

I do not recommend alum treatment on dwarf water lettuce or cryptocoryne wendtii. It does fine on anubias and so far, on marimo moss balls, which surprised me since they're technically an algae and alum, I found out, is also used for algae control in large commercial pond operations. 

[CT_]

1 hour ago, Maggie said:

I did an alum treatment on dwarf water lettuce and what a disaster! It all melted except a tiny piece I found at the bottom of the tank, which I now have in a separate container to try and salvage it. 

I do not recommend alum treatment on dwarf water lettuce or cryptocoryne wendtii. It does fine on anubias and so far, on marimo moss balls, which surprised me since they're technically an algae and alum, I found out, is also used for algae control in large commercial pond operations. 

Yeah I feel like there needs to be a special page where members can submit their alum dip experiences, maybe time, concentration, and species.  I'm constantly scouring the internet for people's dip experiences and coming up with not much good info.  Since co-op specializes in plants I feel like it would be doubly good for them to collect that info.