All but a few things are growing well

[Charles Crews]

I ordered a bunch of plants from AAG about two weeks ago and everything seems to be growing well except for my anubias nana and this bigger background plant that I forgot the name of... (Both these plants are older and the new ones don't have this issue) On both plants it looks like there is dirt collecting on top of the leaves. I can rub most of it off with my fingers but I have to rub hard enough where it damages the leaves. Any idea what this might be and how to prevent it?

The tank is a 140gal Planted Discus tank, Temp runs around 84-85, C02 Injection, EI dosing, Lighting is 412 Watts worth of power compact bulbs. 4 x 55w and 2 x 96w. I feel C02 is adequate since the plants pearl and my drop checker is green.

 

[aquabillpers]

That's a handsome tank with a lot of handsome fish! You are doing well.

My guess is that the Annubia was grown emersed. As it adjusts to an underwater life its original leaves will die and be replaced with new, underwater leaves. That's what you are seeing.

I wouldn't be in a hurry to remove the dying leaves.

Bill

 

[dutchy]

Looks like BBA to me, but the anubias could also have a bad case of GSA. Both point in the direction of a CO2 deficiency.
Your drop checker is green, but how much CO2 is green? 20ppm? 30? Is it enough for your plants?

Pearling has more to do with high light than having ample CO2. In contrairy it's possible to have perfect algae free growth with no pearling at all.

The new plants will grow, for now, by translocating carbon from themselves. When that stops, they will also show the same symptoms.

I would increase CO2, carefully watching your discus, bit by bit at a time. Wait a few weeks between each change and see if the new growth stays algae free. If you reach the fish limit but the results are not satisfactory, then start to gradually use less light

 

[tjbuege]

I would increase CO2, carefully watching your discus, bit by bit at a time. Wait a few weeks between each change and see if the new growth stays algae free. If you reach the fish limit but the results are not satisfactory, then start to gradually use less light

Dutchy,

This is brilliant in it's simplicity. I know this has been said elsewhere on this forum, but the way you worded that is perfectly easy to understand, and very methodical. It will help me, for sure!

 

[Charles Crews]

Bill: Thanks for the kind words, it has been great watching the little guys grow! I thought it may have been something like that with my Anubias but it seems to be happening with the new leaves as well....

Dutchy: I do get a bit of GSA on the glass, you think it could just be layered up on the plants? I really hope its not BBA I dealt with that in one of my smaller tanks a while back and it wasn't fun.

My c02 drop checker has a 4dkh solution in it, which should turn green at 30ppm right? It might be slightly shy on where it should be, just because I killed off a few of my roselines running it up too high a couple months back. I'll slowly bring it up, but would it be safer to just cut back on the lighting instead? If so how much would you do? Should I remove any leaves that show signs of algae or leave them be and correct it with c02 and lighting adjustments?


Thanks,

Charles

 

[csmith]

Bill: Thanks for the kind words, it has been great watching the little guys grow! I thought it may have been something like that with my Anubias but it seems to be happening with the new leaves as well....

Dutchy: I do get a bit of GSA on the glass, you think it could just be layered up on the plants? I really hope its not BBA I dealt with that in one of my smaller tanks a while back and it wasn't fun.

My c02 drop checker has a 4dkh solution in it, which should turn green at 30ppm right? It might be slightly shy on where it should be, just because I killed off a few of my roselines running it up too high a couple months back. I'll slowly bring it up, but would it be safer to just cut back on the lighting instead? If so how much would you do? Should I remove any leaves that show signs of algae or leave them be and correct it with c02 and lighting adjustments?


Thanks,

Charles

Just my contribution, but the drop checker color isn't as accurate as you've probably been led to believe. I had to run mine into the bright yellow to stop the algae, and that was with the same 4 dkh solution made from fresh baking soda and all. This obviously defeats the purpose of the drop checker. As dutchy said, dropping light levels are going to be effective here. If you do run higher CO2, add more surface-disturbing flow and that should alleviate some of the issues as far as the fish are concerned.

 

[dutchy]

+1 on what Charles said. Not much to add here.

You can remove the infested leaves. There are not functional anymore.