# can this fern be saved?



## ddavila06 (Jan 31, 2009)

i got hair algea!!  is in my 2.5 gallon and i know the cause- the light timer had be pushed somehow and was on during the day 8-9 hours and during the night!!!! after 1 am for like 4 hours...anywho, i decided to torn it down. all plants have been trashed- nothing fancy- but this trident j. fern takes almost half of the tank!! and i wonder if i can completely kill the algea with some method or if i just should trash it because it will come back with a vengance...it is attached to wood btw, i blacked out the tank for like 3 days now...comments? suggestions? experience? all welcome

how about the sebstrate (amazonia) -bleach heavy and rinse well?-


----------



## davemonkey (Mar 29, 2008)

NOOOOO!! Don't bleach your substrate! 

The fern can be saved. You can put 2mL Hydrogen peroxide into your tank directly and that will work with no side-effects. you can also spray teh peroxide on outside the tank or do a bleach-dip (20 parts water 1 part bleach). Or, you can cut off the affected leaves and let the rhizome put up new leaves. 

Java Fern are tough plants and the rhizome can survive alot of abuse, in my experience. I once had a 'windelov' fern that got covered in algae. I cut 99% of the leaves (this plant was a monster...filled an entire corner in a 55) and after 2 weeks it was covered in new leaves again.

There's no point in trying to sanitize your aquarium of algae/algal spores. They will always be there waiting for opportunities to take advantage of mishaps. Just keep conditions fairly consistent and catch the mishaps early and you'll be fine.


----------



## ddavila06 (Jan 31, 2009)

very good, i will try the peroxide  i will upgrade the tank to a 5.5 or 10 because 2.5 is really little lol


----------



## ddavila06 (Jan 31, 2009)

i did a first dose two days ago, how many times should i retreat? there are some malaisian trumpet snails in there that i want to keep but don't want to move now because they probably have some algea on them, will i kill them with repeated threatments?


----------

