# What is this white stuff on my anubias?



## ANBU (Oct 7, 2011)

I don't know whats the white stuff is, but the stringy stuff looks like Hydras. I might be wrong 

Hope you find a solution to whats the white stuff is.


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## Phish (Apr 29, 2009)

Yikes! I am very interested to find out what this is as well.


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## HypnoticAquatic (Feb 17, 2010)

was this grown emmersed or new to the tank? that isnt hydra thats new staghorn forming *not the white, the white looks like mold which is why i ask if its new/grown emmersed etc etc, here is a pic of a hydra so u can see the difference.

if it wasnt new/emmersed was it covered in algea or anything prior to treating it? besides the algea we see?


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## shinycard255 (Sep 15, 2011)

Not sure if it was grown emersed or not. Got it from a vendor at a swap meet about 6 months back. I didn't have the white stuff a week or two ago. This plant has been moved from a 2G bowl, to a 15G for a few months, then to my Evolve4 (where it sits currently). When I also put it into the Evolve4, it was algae free. I feel the light on the Evolve4 is pretty strong


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## DogFish (Jul 16, 2011)

I don't know what it is but it looks nasty.

I'd take out and spray it with H2O2 and let it cook for 2mn. Rinse in clean water, wipe off any residue and return it to the tank.


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## nanobettaman (Sep 5, 2007)

Is it just on those older leaves? I'd pull them. IME old anubias leaves can get funky when tank parameters change.


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## shinycard255 (Sep 15, 2011)

DogFish said:


> I don't know what it is but it looks nasty.
> 
> I'd take out and spray it with H2O2 and let it cook for 2mn. Rinse in clean water, wipe off any residue and return it to the tank.





nanobettaman said:


> Is it just on those older leaves? I'd pull them. IME old anubias leaves can get funky when tank parameters change.


Yup, this is what I thought I was going to have to do. I'll try the H2O2 tonight and if that doesn't work, then I'm just pulling the leaves off of it.

I know old leaves get funky. I've been trying to rid old leaves of hair algae in my 60G and its not working out too well


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## shinycard255 (Sep 15, 2011)

So I dipped the anubias petite in a 1:8 h2o2:water mixture for 2 minutes. I made the mixture because I was dipping a piece of driftwood to get some BBA off of it and also my, apparently huge now, anubias nana because it had a little BBA and some thread/hair algae. I'll keep you all updated as I see anything changing


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## DogFish (Jul 16, 2011)

nanobettaman said:


> Is it just on those older leaves? I'd pull them. IME old anubias leaves can get funky when tank parameters change.


I do agree but, if he doesn't try to treat the 'white stuff' he won't know if he has options other than pruning in the future.


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## Jeffww (Aug 6, 2010)

water associated mold?


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## shinycard255 (Sep 15, 2011)

Quick update...

It's been about 48 hours since the h202/water dip and most of the white stuff is gone. I might have to dip it again to get the remainder of it off, but it's almost all gone. I have a little spec still on 1 leaf


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## HypnoticAquatic (Feb 17, 2010)

and this is why you normally dont need to trim said effected area, ive had some anubius that was 90% covered in diff types of algea little treatment and looks good as new, takes much less time than i would vs trimming and regrowing as there not super fast growers. glad you got it taken care of i use h²o² as my go to thing cant beat $1 a bottle.


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## nanobettaman (Sep 5, 2007)

DogFish said:


> I do agree but, if he doesn't try to treat the 'white stuff' he won't know if he has options other than pruning in the future.


It's good to know. Does h2o2 treat all types of algae/mold? GSA?



HypnoticAquatic said:


> and this is why you normally dont need to trim said effected area, ive had some anubius that was 90% covered in diff types of algea little treatment and looks good as new, takes much less time than i would vs trimming and regrowing as there not super fast growers. glad you got it taken care of i use h²o² as my go to thing cant beat $1 a bottle.


But from experience (I have 70+ anubias) trimming older leaves can spur new growth. While I've heard and read about various bleach/peroxide dips, I've never trusted myself to try them, so when a leaf gets old and nasty I just pull it.

I guess I should give the h2o2 a try now.. it's not like I can't sacrifice a couple anubias in case I fsck it up.


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## DogFish (Jul 16, 2011)

nanobettaman said:


> It's good to know. Does h2o2 treat all types of algae...I guess I should give the h2o2 a try now.. it's not like I can't sacrifice a couple anubias in case I fsck it up.


All I use now is H2O2. If it's easy to pull the Anubias out of the tank. Use a paper towel to wipe excess algae. I suggest a spray bottle from the $1 store. Spray the plant and allow the H2O2 to "cook" for 2mi. (less with a delicate plant), clean water rinse. Then back in the tank. I've keep most of my plants in clay pots in grow out tanks and the Whiskey Barrel Pond. I've had success with this method. 

In my display tank I've used a syringe and spot treat Max dose 2ml. per gl. although I seldom use that much. Now I have such a strong algae clean-up crew I have treated that tank in 6mos.


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## HypnoticAquatic (Feb 17, 2010)

nanobettaman said:


> It's good to know. Does h2o2 treat all types of algae/mold? GSA?
> 
> 
> 
> ...


 yes but like i said you will have must faster growth by just treating it rather than removing a #'s of leafs, if you want to promote growth then good u can do that by just having a flesh wound on the rhizome and go that way, its best to treat each its own specific way. the main reason people do this with stems is there super fast growers and its just faster/less hassle to remove the bad growth and give it a week for the new healthy growth to replace it. now if the leaf is damaged then that might be best to just remove but thats up to your discretion if its fixable or best for the plant to just remove it.

one thing you will learn after a long time a simple dip can save u huge headaches in the long run by killing off spores and unwanted things from contaminating your tank, yea i should prob do it more often but once u get ug/hydra/snails/algea etc etc by not treating, the time spent trying to fix it can be exponentially longer than it would have taken from the start. just my 2¢


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## nanobettaman (Sep 5, 2007)

HypnoticAquatic said:


> yes but like i said you will have must faster growth by just treating it rather than removing a #'s of leafs, if you want to promote growth then good u can do that by just having a flesh wound on the rhizome and go that way, its best to treat each its own specific way.


I'm not so sure about this. IME pulling the old leaves leads the existing rhizome to put out leaves faster along it's existing growth direction while nicking the rhizome leads to offshoot/daughter plants which eventually have to be broken off to grow on their own or they just grow into a twisted mess counter to the growth direction of the mother plant.

That's one thing I've noticed about these Anubias 'micro' plants being sold lately... they look just like the tiny-leaved plants you get after nicking the rhizome of a nana petite. Sure they'll grow small for quite some time, but a few years down the road they'll be putting out proper-sized leaves.


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## HypnoticAquatic (Feb 17, 2010)

Yea this is my golden an I'm with ya on the petite most looks like it's just all new growth but I've seen some mature plants an they stay small so know your source
That was grown from a little over a half inch if u pull out some/most of those leafs it wont be as full with the new stuff for a long time, also the size will adjust to light/co2 levels i took off the co² and the new leafs are larger than they were with everything else the same*light/fert/tank/temp/etcetc. just like on other plants there will be slight changes per tank.


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## nanobettaman (Sep 5, 2007)

im confused on how much h2o2 to use. Shineycard used a 1:8 mix, but the threads im seeing suggest no more than 2ml/gallon. Is it different when dipping compared to adding to tank?

also, when people refer to "a bottle of h2o2" you mean one of those brown bottles of 3% solution?


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## HypnoticAquatic (Feb 17, 2010)

yes at the store there is a pint? for a buck. the reason you can use more for dipping is its not going to be used but for a short time which is why u can get away with using more making it faster, i normally use 1/3 or so for a dip depends on the plant and the exposure time which is another reason you should go lower then if you want u can up the dosage when your comfortable seeing how long and what it can take as to much can kill. mosses can be dipped but watch them there not the same as anubius an can brown if left in for prolonged time.

if your dosing in the tank 1-2ml per gal is what ive seen everyone do.


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