brown stuff on live plants

Question
I have some brown stuff on , our live plants and I was wondering if it could be algae. Is there anyway to treat it or just let it be?

Answer
Jennifer,

Yes it is brown algae. the causes are:
 Excess silicates & nitrates
 Low oxygen levels
 Inadequate light

The treatment is:
   Wipe off surfaces & vacuum gravel well
   Stock a plecostomus or several otocinclus
   Increase the lighting
   Use silicate adsorbing resin in the filter

Prevention:
     Good lighting
     regular water changes
     regular aquarium cleaning.

If you don't want to add a plecostomus, you can add any sucker-mouth catfish

As with any algae, performing regular water changes and keeping the tank clean and  is one of the best preventative measures. Unfortunately, that doesn't always work so the algae eating fish in another way to tackle that problem.

I hope this helps, and if you have any more questions, don't hesitate to ask.