# White, green and black stuff. Please help me...



## ferchu22 (Oct 27, 2007)

Hi everybody: I'm having a problem with my setup that is going to drive me really mad, sometimes it makes me thinking about leave the crypts culture hobby.

Since some month ago I have had problems with this white stuff, maybe it's mold or something similar:









































I've lost some plants/pots. I'm trying to deal with this problem putting a computer fan inside the setup and leaving the lid a bit open and spraying affected plants with an anti-fungical (Fungoxan), and it seems to work more or less (maybe the fan has helped more than the anti-fungical). I have to buy an hygrometer to know witch humidity level is the better.

The point is that now I'm having this dark-green/black stuff over substrate surface (this picture is a small example, I have pots with all the entire surface turned to black):


















And here over the glass:










Could it be the same thing, but maybe growing in a different way? I'm trying to fill all the pots with java moss, maybe it'll help...

Here's a current generall view of my setup, a lot of 6cmm net pots:










More (smaller) pots but much less bushy growth than a year before:










How can I get rid of this stuff? What could be the problem? Any help would be really apreciated.

Thanks. Regards


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## Seattle_Aquarist (Mar 7, 2008)

Hi ferchu22,

It does look like a mold. I don't do emersed set-ups but we have several here that do. Maybe they can help figure out what it is and how to deal with it.


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## Ghazanfar Ghori (Jan 27, 2004)

You've got an assortment of mold, fungus and algae there. There are a few ways to deal with it in the short term but it's going to be a battle long term - these problems come with the high- humidity setup. A dilute solution of Physan-20 sprayed on the fungus / algae will kill it off, but it'll probably come back. Your best defense is to keep your environment clean - and not let the fungus spread. Start by emptying out your setup, clean it with bleach/water and repot all your plants into fresh media and clean pots. Then just stay on top of it.

i've heard that adding some air movement to the setup gets rid of the problem, but I havent tried it so I cannot suggest it.


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## ferchu22 (Oct 27, 2007)

Ok, thanks. I known about keep things clean, I'm trying to do my best with this 
I'll try to find this product, but I don't know if it's possible to find it here in Argentina.

I'm trying with less humidity and it seems to work more or less, but not definitely.

Regards


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## HoustonFishFanatic (Feb 26, 2007)

I have had success in getting rid of that mold/ fungus buy drowning it. I maintained the water level a couple of centimeters over the pots rim for a couple of weeks and it was gone.


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## ferchu22 (Oct 27, 2007)

Thanks. At the moment, the main problem is the "algae?", the one that is in the 7th picture, but I have some little mold spots too. Before fill all with water, I'm trying to acquire Physan 20 and try to clean the most I can.
Regards


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## ferchu22 (Oct 27, 2007)

Hi everybody:
just saying that I've apparently solved my fungus problems. I got Physan-20 and it's great, thanks Ghazanfar for the advice. I've also added a fan cooler and I've lowered the humidity, but this made my plants to get a bit dry, so after that I've increased the humidity and all seem to be fine now (just little spots of fungus here and there that I spray with my Physan-20 :laser.

Regards,


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## wabisabi (Dec 4, 2010)

Hey Fernando,

I know this is an old thread but I'm curious, how did you mix up the Physan-20? Did you follow the directions on the bottle or use a much more dilute solution? 

Did you notice any crypt melt after using it?


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## ferchu22 (Oct 27, 2007)

Hi wabisabi.
Yes, quite old post!
I use 4ml ph Physan-20 in 500ml of water. I used to spray the plants every day, now I just do it once in a while. Plants don't pay attention to that, I mean, they don't melt. 

Fortunatelly mold went away, maybe the Physan helped a bit, but I also changed a bit my setup and repott some plants.

Best Regards,


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## niko (Jan 28, 2004)

Why do people ignore the obvious? Fungus does NOT grow under water.

So how would you kill it? Drown it.

I've done that in a hydroponic setup after trying what not spray chemicals. Problem is the fungus is inside the substrate. Can't spray there. The chemicals do not travel very well into the substrate.

I ended up doing a hydroponic setup where the water submerged the plants for 1 hour a day. Forgot about fungus.

The only other problem is BGA which loves to grown on moist, Oxygen rich places. With my hydroponic setup I just added Erythromycin to the water. BGA gone in a day. 

And then the growth starts. Super fast.


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## ferchu22 (Oct 27, 2007)

Good point Niko. Do you have any pics about this method or some info about how to rise the water level 1 hour per day?

Anyway, maybe with Physan or because of something else, the mold/fungus went away.

BR,


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