FUNGUS/Algae- plant gurus, help!

[Tetranerd]

And how long since light bulbs have been changed?

[LooksLater]

Why are you adding iodide?

For the shrimp. There's a debate on whether or not it actually helps them molt, but we'd rather dose it and they NOT need it, then not dose it and they DO. I can say we've never lost a shrimp due to a bad molt. We use it in all our shrimp tanks.

And how long since light bulbs have been changed?

I thought of that, swapped it out last week for a new one. The algae seems to be getting worse, if anything.

[mnemenoi]

Indeed, the Iodide was bantered about on various shrimp sites as a suggested supplement and we picked up a bottle to try it out. We add one drop per WC and the bottle is still nearly full after 3 years. I can say that I notice some increased activity and molts usually after a WC. There are many schools of thought on the matter, but it has never seemed to effect the inhabitants badly. Once we had the supplement though we decided to stick with the supplementation.

[JIM]

I would just cut the photo period back to 8 hrs a day, and use some R/O water for the next few water changes.

[mnemenoi]

R/O water is all we use for water changes. The OEBT's prefer a softer water then our tap, so its the easiest method to reproduce those parameters.

[LooksLater]

I think I will cut the photo period back. 12 hours has always worked for us on our balanced and happy tanks, but this obviously is anything but.

[LooksLater]

Update- I cut the photoperiod to 8 hrs, added a bunch of bolbitis, and dosed enough nitrogen to bring up the nitrate level to 10ppm. 2 days later, the nitrates are reading zero again.

I just added 6 or 7 chili rasboras. Hopefully between their waste and having to feed them, it'll keep the nitrates up enough so I'm not having to dose nitrogen daily.

Preliminary results from my friend at the lab show the expected regulars in the water column- diatoms, various green algae, nitrosomonas, etc. But also- fungi is definitely present. looks like that's what the weird grey-cotton-candy slimy stuff is. He's pulled some for a fungi-only culture and should be able to tell me in a few days exactly what the hell it is. His theory is, it came in on the wood.
I may have to scrap my tree.

[mnemenoi]

Hmmm, back to zero already? That is one terrifically clean tank, lol. Even when you try and add them it makes perfect water again...

Hopefully those Chili rasbora can assist in maintaining a Nitrate level

Oh, no! Not the tree... Hmmm, what to do with that Fissidens... Maybe try cutting some of that Manzanita in the garage

[allysangels]

Maybe try cutting some of that Manzanita in the garage

in the GARAGE?????

[mnemenoi]

We are waiting to use it in another tank...

[LooksLater]

in the GARAGE?????

I told ya, we got a once-in-a-lifetime deal on that ADG wood! We are all about hoarding manzanita though! I will find a place to put it. or start a tank for it, it's too great of a piece to sit out there long...
And I'm not cutting it!

[HoustonAquariumWarehouse]

If you have time..i 'd like to talk to you about your tank. I have lots of question and some suggestions. come by sometime we can chitchat. respectfully, dan

[LooksLater]

Just wanted to update this thread and share what's been going on, in case all this might help someone down the line.

The lab cultures confirm this cottony slimy stuff is a fungus. My lab buddy grew 2 cultures from the samples I gave him, one in non-specific media and one culture in fungus-specific media, and there's no doubt. There's a fungus among us, and quite a lot of it at that.

Here are a couple pictures of the slides we took, under a microscope.




We're thinking it's of the family Aspergillus, but that's about as far as we can get- and it's a huge family. I'm really just taking a stab at it, I'm no expert...So if anyone can ID family/species accurately, please feel free.
Here's why I'm ID'ing Aspergillus, looks like it to me:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aspergillus

http://www.google.com/imgres?hl=en&safe=off&client=firefox-a&hs=Ml1&sa=X&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&biw=1280&bih=671&tbm=isch&tbnid=7b8_sx__2n4WjM:&imgrefurl=http://www.deanza.edu/faculty/mccauley/6a-labs-fungi-01.htm&docid=Kj2abEr58CkLgM&imgurl=http://www.deanza.edu/faculty/mccauley/6a_site_images/fungi-images/aspergillus-400.jpg&w=400&h=334&ei=Q2pHUc_yO8PxqQGTs4HgAw&zoom=1&ved=0CKQBEIQcMAU&ved=1t:3588,r:5,s:0,i:164&iact=rc&dur=1209&page=1&tbnh=182&tbnw=197&start=0&ndsp=17&tx=175&ty=118

I've gotten all the other algae in the tank under control for the most part, but the fungus just keeps coming back, worse than ever now because I'm tired of tearing it out. (Those of you that came to the GHAC meeeting saw what I'm talking about- I don't have a fissidens tree anymore, I have a fungus slime tree! )

Nitrates keep dropping to non-existent levels despite the chili rasboras (6), added nerites (5 now), and o-cats (3) in the tank along with the OEBT's and heavier feeding schedule. I also pretty much stopped doing W/C...maybe once every 2-3 weeks. Dosing nitrogen seems to help for a day or two, then the level will drop back to unreadable...I'm assuming the plants (and fungus) are so starved for nitrates, they're just sucking them up as fast as I can put them in.

Dosing nitrogen daily doesn't seem to be a great long-term solution, even if I could put up with the slime, so we're planning on-
-Keeping an eye out for more chili rasboras, and beefing up the population when I can. (Anyone see any lately?)
-Dosing the tank with Pimafix, to kill the fungus without having to tear the tank down or get rid of the tree.

If it ends up coming back after the Pimafix, it probably means the fungus is deep in the wood, and I'll pitch it and try again. Then it's on to the Life Killer- rehoming all the occupants and bleaching the tank. I don't know what else to do, at that point.

Ce la vie. :icon_hang:

I'll update after and let you guys know what worked. I tell you what, I'm looking forward to closing out this thread and being done with this! Hahaha. Wish me luck!

[Adam C]

Before I start talking about doing this or not doing that. Plants need nutrients, light, and water to survive (let alone thrive.) Light and water are taken care of, but your plants are starving for nutrients (including co2.) Liebigs Law of Minimums shows that plant growth is limited by the most limited resource. If they're short on N or P, it wouldn't matter what other nutrients are available.

Many of your plants are heavy feeders. The sword plants can consume a lot of waste (and clearly alot of Nitrate). The Hygro corymbosa, likewise, will take a lot of Phosphate. I would recommend root tabs and water column dosing. You may also consider a small diy co2 set up or even a paintball co2 on the tank.

~ Adam

[LooksLater]

Thanks...good info. And welcome to the Box!
I finally got the nitrates back up, added 20+ chili rasboras to keep it where it should be. And water column dosing has continued throughout, granted it was probably just feeding the algae for awhile. I don't care to put Co2 on this tank, so I went back to Excel dosing as well. But now the plants are growing again, the algae has virtually dissapeared.

The fungus did recur after the initial treatment, though not nearly as thick. But I had a little ick problem with the new rasboras, so I was waiting for them to kick it before I dose anti-fungal meds again, don't want to stress them too much. We'll see if that does it this time. It's definitely getting better, bringing the balance back around has helped immensely.