Here's a question, perhaps all the more challenging because I can't provide a photo (my son's borrowing my camera while visiting his grandparents) ...
I've got the plants I scored at the last GWAPA meeting auction in a ten gallon tank with plain old pea gravel, just kind of hanging out there while I gather up supplies to set up the 40 gallon breeder tank that will eventually be their new home ... they're all easy "low-light" plants, and the ten gallon's diagonally across from a south window, so they're actually all doing fairly well ... except the Anubias barteri var. "Coffeeiola" (spelling?): the tops of the leaves are covered with tiny little pale brown flecks that look kind of like crumbs.
The "crumbs" are too raised-up (3D) to be diatomaceous brown algae, and too irregular in size to be snail eggs ... my first guess was actually that a family member had eaten some graham crackers while looking over the tank, and littered some actual crumbs! This latter theory doesn't quite work, however: the anubias is covered/shaded by val nana, which doesn't sport any of these pale brown "crumbs" - likewise, plants adjacent to the anubias are free of them. Anybody have any ideas what this might be?
"crumbs" on anubias leaf
-
Cristy Keister
- Posts: 2201
- Joined: Sat Nov 29, 2003 6:52 am
- Location: MD
Yeah, I was thinking of giving the anubias a gentle wipe - should I take it out of the tank, and use hydrogen peroxide? Only problem is, the stuff has since spread to some narrow-leaf java ferns, which may be a little more problematic to clean - any further advice is greatly appreciated! BTW, Damian, feliz cumpleanos (saw your posting in re head count for the August meeting).
-
chris_todd
- Posts: 1118
- Joined: Fri Oct 03, 2008 11:05 pm
- Location: Catonsville
I think the crumbs are attached (I haven't yet tried a simple thumb wipe, though) - the anubias is near the current of a filter out-flow, and they don't seem to move.
Ya know, there's only one lonely little snail in the whole tank, which spends most of its time either on the vals, or floating on the surface, getting pushed around by the filter current (it has an air bubble trapped in its shell) ... it occurred to me that its poop could be falling down to the plants below ... but I've never before seen a single snail produce that much poop (my last tank had a whole bunch of snails till I introduced a clown loach
, and I never saw such "crumbs"), and there's none of these "crumbs" in the gravel ... plus, some of these "crumbs" are just too big for this one little snail to produce. I don't think they're dead plant matter, because they started out only on the anubias, and just last night spread to the java ferns - and, again, since I have a current running through the water column, you'd think some of it would fall down to the gravel and become mulm. I think we're dealing with a mystery organism here!
Well, I will try a peroxide bath tonight (and will heed Chris's warning about the anubias's rhizome) - will report back tomorrow on any immediate results! Thanks, everybody, for the continual input; we'll see where this goes.
Ya know, there's only one lonely little snail in the whole tank, which spends most of its time either on the vals, or floating on the surface, getting pushed around by the filter current (it has an air bubble trapped in its shell) ... it occurred to me that its poop could be falling down to the plants below ... but I've never before seen a single snail produce that much poop (my last tank had a whole bunch of snails till I introduced a clown loach
, and I never saw such "crumbs"), and there's none of these "crumbs" in the gravel ... plus, some of these "crumbs" are just too big for this one little snail to produce. I don't think they're dead plant matter, because they started out only on the anubias, and just last night spread to the java ferns - and, again, since I have a current running through the water column, you'd think some of it would fall down to the gravel and become mulm. I think we're dealing with a mystery organism here!Well, I will try a peroxide bath tonight (and will heed Chris's warning about the anubias's rhizome) - will report back tomorrow on any immediate results! Thanks, everybody, for the continual input; we'll see where this goes.
-
chris_todd
- Posts: 1118
- Joined: Fri Oct 03, 2008 11:05 pm
- Location: Catonsville
Hmmm, maybe Windelov Java Fern is just more sensitive than most, but I killed a beautiful Windelov I got in the auction at the meeting at your house trying to rid it of some kind of stringy green algae.
I don't remember exactly how long I dipped it for, but 1-2 minutes sounds about right. At some point after that, I seem to recall someone saying "oh, you shouldn't have dipped the rhizome, just the leaves". As it happens, I've had no need to dip plants since then, so I only have one data point.
I don't remember exactly how long I dipped it for, but 1-2 minutes sounds about right. At some point after that, I seem to recall someone saying "oh, you shouldn't have dipped the rhizome, just the leaves". As it happens, I've had no need to dip plants since then, so I only have one data point.
