dianainOH

I'm having a brown algae (diatom???) problems in both of the NPTs that I set up this spring. It knocks off of the plants easily, but then settles right back on them. Will this eventually go away?? Is there anything I can do?? Water parameters and fish in both tanks are great, and my fast growing plants are doing fine, but I lose leaves on my broad leafed and slower growing plants due to coverage by the brown gunk. I followed the guidelines in Ms. Walstad's book for setup. I used Miracle Grow Organic Choice Garden Soil (couldn't find the potting soil), amended w/bone meal, topped w/gravel. A little under 2wpg in both tanks, one supplemented by sunlight. Full load of fish in both the 55 and 29.The water is a little 'tea-ish' but definitely not green. Any advice would be welcome. Thanks!

Zapins

Diatoms aren't algae, they can move around and eat debris in the tank, they also don't like higher light and tend to show up in new or tanks that are in need of a water change. Diatoms usually go away on their own within a few weeks, but you can do water changes often, raise the lights or buy otto cats, they are about the only fish I know of that actually eat this stuff. But rely more heavily on water changes and time to solve it rather then the fish.

dwalstad

I get a little diatom growth in two of my tanks (the 50 gal has no algae, but its been set up now for over a year). I scrape the algae off the glass when I'm cleaning the two tanks every couple weeks to keep it under control.

For your problem, it may get better with time. Snails, Chinese algae eaters, and Plecostomas love eating this algae.

mudboots

Getting back to the original post, I collected three Echinodours berteroi in "The Wild" that were in a shallow that was drying up. They were covered in algae and algal goo in general. I gently agitated them with my fingertips in a 1:40 solution of bleach water (1 Tblspn bleach to 2.5 cups water) for about 2 or 3 minutes and then rinsed thoroughly in tap water, letting them soak in some clean water for a few minutes to get the chlorine out of their system a little. They seem to be doing well after 4 days in the NPT with no algal growth.

The fact that most of the leaves at collection time were emergent might have helped, since they are a little tougher than the more tender submergent vegetation.

mudboots

Regarding the posted reply on July 8 about soaking Ech. ber. in bleach water - Emergent leaves (which are now submerged) have since become chlorotic and necrotic, but are being replaced by healthy submergent leaves. Plants seem to be doing well.

I tried this same bleach-water solution on some other plants from "The Wild" that same evening and have noticed no effect yet. These were collected just for kicks, and include one piece of Ludwigia peploides, two stems of Hydrilla verticillata (which is illegal to possess in this state by the way, so it will be immediately destroyed), and three stems of Ceratophyllum echinatum (I think).

mudboots

The Ludwigia stem has grown 4 inches since its bleach bath; the Hydrilla and Ceratophyllum pretty much died (just a small piece of Ceratophyllum coming back, floating at the top).