# Water Sprite hairy algae?



## Sean201 (Oct 31, 2015)

Hey Guys very new to planted aquariums. I'm sorry if this has been addressed else where just couldn't seem to find it. I have a water Sprite in my aquarium that seems to be growing pretty well but I recently noticed fuzzy white strings growing off of it as well. Any idea of what this could be? If so is it dangerous to the planet or my fish?


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## Maryland Guppy (Mar 5, 2015)

Your water sprite is having babies!
Good sign it is happy.
When the baby plantlets get a little size(3"or so) you can cut them free and plant.
Usually there is one strand from the mother plant connecting them.

If you wait it out it can turn into a monstrous bush.
Babies growing on babies etc...

Sometimes the babies are also released into the water column.
Maybe 1" leaves with a very few roots.
These small plantlets I just remove with a net.
Unless you wish to cultivate those too.


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## Sean201 (Oct 31, 2015)

Maryland Guppy, thank you for such a speedy and super helpful reply. Definitley put me at ease to know this.


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## Maryland Guppy (Mar 5, 2015)

Few more thoughts on water sprite.

Some plants will grow out and never create babies.
Seems like all their growth just shoots up from the base.
These usually turn in to monsters and I need to really trim them back.
Starts to shade everything in the tank.
Seems like after I trim and "damage" the plants the babies start showing up.

Not sure of the size of your tank but.
No tank is too deep for sprite it will reach the top.

If cutting tops off bundle them and place in the substrate.
They may not root but will stay green and produce babies.
Still provides green plant life but the substrate end will slowly blacken(several weeks).

I have sprite in 6 tanks for me it grows best in the "no-tech" tanks.
Giving away 3' water sprite many times out of a 55 gallon tank.

Sorry for such a long commentary about sprite.
Excellent plant for any tank IMO.


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## Sean201 (Oct 31, 2015)

Great to know! Thank you again. I did have another questions about some that is growing on my Amazon sword would you be able to help?


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## Maryland Guppy (Mar 5, 2015)

Post a pic of the sword.
Worse case others here could help.
I have 3 amazon swords at present, two different types.
You never know?


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## Sean201 (Oct 31, 2015)

Here she is! Looks like some sort of brown algae. If you can identify it. How can I fix this?


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## Yo-han (Oct 15, 2010)

Maryland Guppy said:


> Your water sprite is having babies!
> Good sign it is happy.


I have to disagree, this isn't true! Yes your water sprite is making new plants, but it only does because the old leaves are dying. This is a common reproduction method of many ferns (java fern for example does it too), but a healthy leaf will never make a new plant. Only when damage is done (too little fertilizer, or a fish ate a piece, or you broke the leaf) will a plant propagate in this way.

The Echinodorus leaf is either diatom algae, or a deficiency. Depends on whether you can wipe it off or not.


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## Sean201 (Oct 31, 2015)

Oh no! They look pretty healthy (water Sprite) there's even some new stems growing from the roots. I think I'm going to grab some root tabs from my LFS. 

The brown spots are on my Anubis plant as well. Not as noticable but they are there. Does over exposure to light cause this? I'm going to try and clean them today. Would it be safe to clean while still rooted in the water?


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## Maryland Guppy (Mar 5, 2015)

I have always noticed that unhappy water sprite starts to change color.
Starts to begin yellowing a bit, drifts from that bright green color.
Once yellowing on a stem begins it does not recover.


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