# Algae on plant leaves?



## evitagen22 (May 1, 2007)

Hi all,
Besides the GDA that you can see on the glass, the main problem I have with my tank is algae on the plant leaves. The plants seem to be growing well, but after several days, the leaves will be covered in dark green algae. Is this GSA? GDA? (I thought that was mostly only on the glass). There doesn't really seem to be any hairs, just dark green spots on the leaves. Any tips for preventing it? If it wasn't for this, I would say that the tank is doing quite well.

Here is a picture of my pennywort where you can see both new and old algae covered leaves:










Here are the specs on my tank:

45 gallons 3'x1'x2' high
96 Watt CF lights at 9 hours
Eco-Complete Substrate
Pressurized CO2
PPS-Pro Ferts at 4 ml per day
Fluval 203 Filter


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## Homer_Simpson (Apr 2, 2007)

I could be wrong, but that looks an awful lot like Blue Green Algae To me. Blue Green Algae is not really algae but a type of bacteria known as cynobacteria. More information here: http://naturalaquariums.com/plantedtank/0608.html

Three options to deal with it.

(1) 3 day black out. If you have high light plants that depend on a consistent supply of light. Don't be surprised if those plants suffer. Been there, done that.

(2) Hydrogen Peroxide treatment as per directions here. I have never gone this route but heard that it works really well.
http://www.gpodio.com/h2o2.asp

(3) Using an antibiotic known as Eythromycin as directed on the package to kill it. This is a foolproof way to kill it. Some say if you take this route, you will never discover what caused it as it does not address the root cause. While this may be true, I don't know about you, but I don't have time to play Sherlock Homes trying to find the root cause. And the root cause may not always be so elementary my dear Watson.

Beyond that low nitrates are considered a contributing factor for the development of BGA, so you should dose more nitrates if your nitrates test zero with a reliable calibrated test kit. Keep in mind that low nitrates are not always to blame for BGA. Some people, including myself, got BGA when nitrates as tested via accurately calibrated test kit tested really high. Vacuuming the substrate and increasing water changes and water flow is recommended to prevent it from returning.


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## evitagen22 (May 1, 2007)

You really think its BGA? The leaves look like they have dark green dust on them. Almost like GDA, but on leaves. I thought BGA had more of a slimy appearance. I wish I had a better camera. I do have a lot of dead plant matter on the bottom, could that be causing problems?

Thanks for the help...


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## Homer_Simpson (Apr 2, 2007)

evitagen22 said:


> You really think its BGA? The leaves look like they have dark green dust on them. Almost like GDA, but on leaves. I thought BGA had more of a slimy appearance. I wish I had a better camera. I do have a lot of dead plant matter on the bottom, could that be causing problems?
> 
> Thanks for the help...


It just looks like Blue Green Algae to me from the picture and I could be wrong. I have never had green dust algae grow on plant leaves, just on glass, but maybe I was lucky. Green spot algae grows on plant leaves and the only known thing that will get rid of this is nerite snails. Green spot algae on glass requires a credit card or razor to strip it off and even then it could return. If you have a plastic aquarium, it is a real bummer and almost impossible to get off without scratching the acrylic. You could try treating the algae with a shot(from syringe) of Hydrogen Peroxide(1ml/1gallon) to see how it responds. Although I have never tried it, I heard that when Blue Green Algae is hit with hydrogen peroxide it dies and turns a white color.

Dead plant material on the bottom, especially with minimal plant density, could contribute to most types of algae as an endless and ongoing production of mulm on the tank is known to sustain and feed algae. And dead leaves are supposed to introduce additional nutrients and organic waste in the tank which over time could help ignite the production of algae, especially blue green algae.

This is a good guide to help you ID the algae.
www.theplantedtank.co.uk/algae.htm

This is a good guide to causes and solutions to different types of algae.
http://www.rexgrigg.com/Algae1.html


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## cs_gardener (Apr 28, 2006)

Can you rub the algae off the leaves easily or is it virtually fused to the leaves? It does look a lot like BGA I've had before, but it's hard to tell from a picture. Hydrogen peroxide or Excel would help in either case. If you have a really heavy buildup of dead plant material it would be a good idea to clean some of it up as it's releasing nutrients back into the water as it decomposes.


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## evitagen22 (May 1, 2007)

I checked last night and I can rub the algae off the plant leaves pretty easily. It comes off as dark green slime, so I guess that means that it is BGA. That keeps me in the running to have every type of algae that exists in my tank in the first few months. 

Anyway, I'm going to do a water change tonight, try to vacuum out some of the dead plant mater, increase my co2, and double dose excel (2 cap fulls per day) for awhile and see what happens. The algae isn't all that extensive and I am getting a lot of good new plant growth. Does this sound like a good plan?


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