# Plants and algae



## Al-Losaurus (Jul 21, 2009)

Hello guys need a few tips on a good and quick way to get rid of algae from anibias various types and also from driftwood. I bought a few chinese algae eaters and threw in about 8 nerite snails i had to help along with the clean-up.

I bought a complete set up from someone and he said he has not paid much attention to the tank for quite awhile so i do not believe it is hair algae it is just normal algae that had plenty of time to grow. I am contemplating taking them out and using an old tooth brush on them lightly but there are at least 20 large plants and around 6 or 7 different pieces of drift wood the plants are tied to so i know that is going to take days. 

thanks in advance for any advice you can give me.
Btw yes i read through other threads but i am kinda leary on the dipping in bleach method.


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## Beijing08 (Jul 19, 2010)

Could you post a full tank shot? It might help with the process.
If we can target the specific type of algae, treatment will come out more effective. =)
if all else fails, bleach will work like a charm.


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## 03pilot (Oct 7, 2010)

Is your Chinese Algae eater doing the job? If not, try a few Otocinclus Catfish/Otto Cat. I find them to be more effective in cleaning up regular algae on leaves and glass. Flourish Excel spot treatment would help too. A group of Amano shrimps is great for fighting hair algae etc.


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## Al-Losaurus (Jul 21, 2009)

Thank you for the replies

Well i ended up scraping the back glass of the tank it was caked in hair algae and some other kind as well. There was just way to much for the 4 algae eaters 4 nerite snails around 15 amano shrimp and 1 or 2 otto/cats. It would have taken them years to put a dent in it. lol

Most of the algae took elbow grease to get off the glass and with the hair algae i used a razor then elbow grease and got all of it. I trimmed all the real bad leaves then placed all of the anubias in a 18 gallon bin filled with tank and fresh water and covered it up. It is in day 3 of darkness now and after around a week i am going to brush off what i can then load all the plants into a 29gal and throw in all the algae eaters to get what is left of the algae hopefully in a 29 gal they will pay more attention to it rather then in the 75gal that has more things to keep them occupied. I hope lol if that does not work i will do the bleach dip thing


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## Fishlover_680 (May 5, 2009)

For the anubias, you can try using a thin Javex bleach solution (say 1 to 99) and put the anubias in it for a minute or so, not too long. To be save, you can search the web for concentration to use. I tried that myself before and it killed the algae but not the plant. For other plants, this may not work and may damage the plant. Anubias has thick leaves and can stand the thin bleach solution. After that, I would wash them in water with enough water conditioner to eliminate the chlorine.

As for the wood, I don't know it would be a good idea since it may absorb the chlorine into the wood and would be hard to eliminate?


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## Lee_D (Jun 11, 2010)

What are your tank conditions? Are you using Excell?

I read in a thread recently that excell can be used to remove algae instead of bleach. I had a tank where a very tough, thick hair algae had very effectively engulfed most of my crypts. So i tidied it up best I could and added excell. Algae was completely gone within two weeks. I think the excell weakend it so the snails could clean it off. Tank looks amazing now.

Lee


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## Al-Losaurus (Jul 21, 2009)

I have some excel i found in a box that i was planning to use after black out. I was not sure that would do the job but if i do not have to use bleach then i will use excel using bleach on aquarium stuff just seems off to me lol

The tank it self is spotless now as for the plants that is another story. The leaves and stems are caked lol would it be safe to open the bin after 3 days to look or would that defeat the purpose of the black out?


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## Will (Jul 24, 2008)

A look won't hurt. It won't be long enough to allow the algae to photosynthesise. 

Because of the advanced growth on your plants, excell or bleach isn't a bad idea, but hydrogen peroxide is supposed to be better. Since the plants are in a bucket without fish, you won't need to follow a mix ratio that is made to protect fish. A heavy dose with a thorough rinse, and further soak in new water afterwards will protect the plant. Also most water conditioners will nutrilize household chlorine bleaches if dosed high.


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## Al-Losaurus (Jul 21, 2009)

Thank you will i will look into and research treating with hydrogen peroxide today. If i can do a higher dose and it still be safer then bleach and have another few day soak then that seems a little safer.


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## Al-Losaurus (Jul 21, 2009)

Well unfortunately after a 6 day black-out and trimming of a few leaves that needed to go i placed them in a smaller tank with less light. Since yesterday a lot of the leaves seem to be melting and tearing apart some look healthy but a lot have gone bad.

On all the bigger plants the rhizomes are 4-6 inches so i thing i am going to butcher them and just cut the rhizomes into 2 pieces and tie to a small piece of wood hopefully a few months down the road they will be back to a healthy state.

Thank you for all the info and help guys.


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## Will (Jul 24, 2008)

Just keep pulling off melted and damaged leaves. Anubias will store growth nutrients in it's rhizomes to sprout new ones if it's conditions are favourable. Personally I'd just leave them for now if they don't have many leaves, and let them recover a bit before splitting them up into smaller pieces.

The algae is much better yes?


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## 03pilot (Oct 7, 2010)

Sorry to hear about the problem. I would think twice before cutting the rhizome though. The longer the rhizome, the more valuable they are. I don't know how bad your algae problem is. But I think sometimes we tend to over react. Since you already have amano, otto cat, chinese algae eater etc...why not just give it some time and let them do the work for you. After all, algae is their food supply. Keep in mind algae growth in a healthy tank is very natural. We don't always need our tank to look sparkling clean.

All I am saying is don't cut your rhizome just because you want to remove the algae. There are other ways....


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## Al-Losaurus (Jul 21, 2009)

Thanks guys

The algae seems to be flaking away but as that happens the leaves are falling apart. The algae growth on the leaves was real bad like a cm long you could see blowing in the current on the upper leaves so i think it was pretty bad. Some rhizomes i trimmed down to 3-4 leaves others still have many more i will leave it for another week or longer see how it looks and trim the melting ones i would rather not cut the rhizomes at all but it may come down to that if all the leaves rot away. 

They are now in a smaller tank less light the fish i added to the smaller tank are 15 or so ammano's 10 fry abn plecos and the 3 chinese algae eaters. Hopefully they will help with the leaves that stay healthier. All the anubias nana looks pretty good had to trim a few leaves but all in all not that many i left a few with algae on it but also notice a few new leaves starting on all of them.

Guess time will tell so now all i can do is wait lol

Edit: There was one that i just brushed away what i could and did not add to the blackout and left in original tank. only 2 leaves melted and most algae is gone it is starting to look nice and green again. too bad i did not have the patience to do that with all the others lol


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## 03pilot (Oct 7, 2010)

Its tough to keep algae off Anubias because its such a slow growing plant and its leaves last a long time! Algae is easy to settle in. Increase the flow may help a bit. If you leave them in the open with direct light, its almost certain you'll get algae on them. I love anubias nana and nana petite. They are such a beautiful plants.


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