[Wet Thumb Forum]-ANUBIUS HELP - Fertilizing

zuker · 02-08-2005, 02:37 PM

The rhizome(s) of my anubius are covered in a white slime, almost like a mold. The tank is brand new, 4 days old, and I have not yet added fertilizer.

Is this some type of defense mechanism or is the rhizome rotting. All of the anubius are teathered to driftwood.

Lighting is about 2w/gal in a 50 gal tank.

zuker · 02-08-2005, 02:37 PM

The rhizome(s) of my anubius are covered in a white slime, almost like a mold. The tank is brand new, 4 days old, and I have not yet added fertilizer.

Is this some type of defense mechanism or is the rhizome rotting. All of the anubius are teathered to driftwood.

Lighting is about 2w/gal in a 50 gal tank.

Hawkeye · 02-08-2005, 02:45 PM

Do you think it could be from the wood? I don't its the Anubias. It would take more the 4 days to rot. What kind of wood did you use?

Hawk

zuker · 02-08-2005, 03:03 PM

I had that thought as well. The wood is Malaysian and has a thin non-toxic coating on it to prevent leaching. I soaked the wood for about two months prior to using it in the tank and observed no "whiteness," or other decay. Also, the wood itself, next to the rhizome, isn't white.

I'm just frustrated...I dont want to lose these anubius, they are beautiful.

I just added a SMALL amount of fertilizer (Kent Pro Plant and Kent Freshwater Plant to the tank.) I am curious to see what happens.

Roger Miller · 02-09-2005, 02:01 AM

A white slime coating does sound like fungus, but I wouldn't rule out other possible explanations.

Check the condition of the rhizome. If the rhizome is firm and still green under the slime then the plant is probably still healthy. If the rhizome is soft or brown then the plant is in trouble.

Roger Miller

Rob G · 02-09-2005, 12:43 PM

Does it look like this?

zuker · 02-09-2005, 01:20 PM

Rob:

Thanks for the picture, I am waiting for a cable for my digital camera.

It looks EXACTLY like that, except it is covering the entire rhizome.

What is it?

I see you are using flourite, as am I.

Rob G · 02-10-2005, 05:09 AM

Well, that picture is about three years old. I lost that plant a long time ago. I'm not sure what caused the growth.

I suggest pulling your Anubias out of the tank, manually removing all of the fungus(?)that you can, putting the plant in a small container of water, and adding H2O2 (hydrogen peroxide 3% solution) at about a rate of 3ml gallon of water in the container. Let it sit in the container for twenty minutes, give it a good rinse with fresh water, and then place it back in the tank. The H2O2 is gentle enough for the plant, but I would expect it to kill the fungus. Unfortunately I didn't know about this when I had the fungus, and, fortunately, I have never seen it growing on any of my plants since.

Good luck.

zuker · 02-10-2005, 03:53 PM

Well today (02-10-05) I performed a large water change on the tank and removed the plants that had been affected by the mold. Upon doing so I found the rhizomes/roots to be very soft. They also smelled really bad.

If this was some type of fungus I felt that discarding the plants was the best course of action to protect the others. I removed 4 of 10 anubius.

. Oh well.

I would stil like to learn more of this mystery fungus/mold if poss.

Thank you to all that have replied. Please continue to do so should you have additional information.

Jason Z.

Roger Miller · 02-11-2005, 02:12 AM

Fungus is usually the second player on board. It probably infected tissues that are already sick or damaged. It's likely that the sick plants were infected with something that killed the rhizome, then the fungus showed up on the already dead/damaged tissue. Infections like that aren't real common in aquatic plants, but they can start at any cut or break in the rhizome or stem and spread quickly.

I haven't seen that happen in Anubas before, but I did once lose an entire tanks full of dwarf lobelia. It happened after a trimming when I had an accident with the DIY CO2 that got some of the yeast mix into the tank. The plants were all gone (rotting up from the cut stem) within days.

You don't know what kind of handling the plants got before you bought them. Once they're under your care it may be good to follow the common houseplant advice; use sharp, clean blades to cut stems. Personally, I don't follow that advice because the problems are rare.

Roger Miller