Anubius problems

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classic-chassis

classic-chassis

Fire Eel
MFK Member
Mar 2, 2008
1,420
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68
Thailand
I have several Anubius plants tied on to wood, they've grown quite well but they get a covering of black to brown fur. to combat this i need to take them out and sponge it off the leaves with old tank water when cleaning, this returns them to the deep green colour they should be.
Is this normal or is there something i can do to stop it?
I use a liquid fertilizer every few days.
The new leaves often appear stunted and misshaped, I also upped my lights to 2 12000k tubes and since then more leaves seem to go yellow, but not a lot more.
I trim the yellow leaves off of course.
I turn 1 tube off at night, are they getting too much light?
I am wondering if i need to trim roots from time to time as well.
Currently the wood is sat on large pebbles but I'm in the process of changing to fine gravel.
Also they never flower.
Any advice is most welcome.
 
A few poor photos, a definite ID would help me as well.
 
black/brown fur is BBA(Black Beard Algae) and is indicitive of a nutrient imbalance. That combined with yellowing leaves makes me think potassium or nitrogen is in short supply, or you have an overabundance of iron.

Do you have some water parameters you can put up? preferably ammonia/ammonium and Nitrate?
 
I wouldn't fertilize every few days, I only use my liquid fert after i do water changes and trim my plants. what kind of liquid fertilizer are you using and do you have any neutrients in the substrate?
 
water parameters are always good, although i don't have them at hand now because i'm at work. Ammonia/Ammonium is always 0% and Nitrate is the same P.H is usually 7.5 to 8.
I do 50% water changes every 2 weeks with aged water, and a 70 gal wet and dry.
The fertilizer is local stuff but it's all natural.
Looking last night trimming might be the answer because there's been a lot of growth since the old photos.
 
If you're at 0 Nitrate, that's at least part of your problem.

Seachem Flourish Nitrogen is great stuff if you can't up your bioload. I had some yellowing when I transferred from a 29 to a 75 and had to start dosing Nitrogen for the same reason, significant yellowing and poorly shaped new leaves. I didn't get the algae because I dose Flourish excel as an algacide.
 
i highly doubt your nitrates are at 0, even tapwater has some nitrates in it. but i agree with the above, it appears to be a nutrient deficiency/imbalance
 
Sorry i'm confused is it nitrates that are harmful to fish? The nit.... that's harmful to fish is at 0
 
theyre all harmful, but ammonia is the most toxic. nitrates is what fish can tolerate the most. ideal nitrate levels for plants is between 10-20ppm
 
nitrite is the really nasty one right? that's the one at almost 0% the other i don't test for
 
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