Brown growth on my plants

Question
QUESTION: Hi,

I have some brown film like growth on my plants.  It was on a few leaves on one of my aquarium plants and has now spread to another plant.  It seems to be spreading fast.  Could it be algae?  I keep the water pretty clean.  I read somewhere that too much light can also cause algae to grow.  It is a 7.5 gallon aquarium.
Thanks!


ANSWER: Hi Shefi,

I pulled your question out of the question pool.

It's likely that it's brown algae, or diatoms.  This can be caused by one or two things.  If your tank is newly nitrogen cycled, it is probably from this.  Diatoms are very common (and aggravating) in newly cycled tanks.

The fact is that it's just ugly and isn't doing your tank any harm.  Diatoms will clear up on their own.  99% of the time it's just a bi-product of the cycling process.  It can be weeks and weeks though.  You can take the plants out (I am assuming they are plastic) and the decos and scrub them with a clean, unused toothbrush and some aquarium salt.  Rinse them in water taken out of the tank and replace.  This will help them from becoming stained from the brown algae.  You will notice that it comes back in a few days or maybe even a week.  Eventually it will go away on it's own.  You can also try and leave the tank light on for 12 hours a day.  You can use a cleaner magnet (found at any local pet store) to get it off of the tank walls.  

The other contributing factor to diatoms can be overfeeding, which results in excess waste, creating phosphates that will create diatoms.  Make sure that you are only feeding your fish two mouthfuls each day per fish and netting out any leftovers.  You can cut down on your feedings.  Also make sure that you are thouroughly syphoning your gravel for rotting food at regular maintenance because this can also cause phosphates to rise, resulting in brown algae.  You can also try an insert into your filter for phosphates.  Fluval makes a good one.  I caution against this though because I truly believe healthy tanks need no 'help'.

If you have any other questions please let me know.

Good luck : ) April M.


---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Thanks so much April!  That was very helpful.
Yes, my tank is new.  I set it up about 5 months ago.  I had a quick question though - my plants are real ones - they are looking really ugly right now with all the brown stuff on them.  Will they be affected by the algae?  I took out 2 of them that were affected the most and cleaned their leaves with regular tap water.  Now the algae is getting back on them and the other plants.  
Also, is it okay not to move the plants from the aquarium and just clean (just with my hands)the leaves while the plants are still in?  Don't want to keep moving them!  I can do a 50% water change after I finish maybe?
Thanks so much!

ANSWER: Hi Shefi,

Never, ever rinse anything that came from your tank that you plan to put back in your tank with tap water.  Tap water kills all of the beneficial bacteria and can throw your tank, especially a small one, back into the cycling process.  

You can still scrub them gently with a soft bristle toothbrush and aquarium salt in a bucket of water that came out of the tank or in a bucket of water that has been conditioned like it's about to go into the tank because that removes the chlorine and chloramines that kill the good bacteria.  It is something that has to run it's course and it will keep coming back no matter what you do until it's finished on it's own unless it's from overfeeding, which you can control.  If from overfeeding you'll probably also have high nitrates in your tank.  

You'll eventually notice that less and less comes back after you clean them until one day (can take weeks, months) it doesn't come back.  It can stain plants so if you have some that are that bad wait until you notice it isn't coming back on other decos and buy a new plant.

Good luck : ) April M.

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Ooops!  I have been doing water changes with regular tap water.  I guess that is not okay??  How should I do the water changes?
Thanks!  

Answer
Hi Shefi,

No, this is why you are having so many problems.  You never want to use straight tap water, it contains chlorine and chloramines to make it safe for humans to drink.  Each time you do a water change or use water for your tank, place it into a bucket that you use for the aquarium only and use a water conditioner that removes the chlorine and chloramines.  I like Seachem's Prime the best but any one of them on the market that removes both will do.

Good luck : ) April M.