Anubias Not Doing Well, Need Help.

10 Gallon Tank
20 Aquaclear
Heater: 75°
Eco Complete substrate

Nitrates: 0
Nitrites: 0
Ammonia: 0
GH: 8
PH: ~7.5

Stock:
3 ChilI Rasbora
8 CPD
1Oto
~30 Cherry Shrimp
Assassin Snails 5

Plant Stock:
Anacharis
Water lettuce
Anubias Minima
Anubias Nana Petite
Valliseria Minima
Amazon Sword
S Repens
Marimo Mossball
ReineckI Red
Java Moss
Java Fern
(Unknown plant) (tall one on the left)



50% water change 1 a week.
Thrive, 2 pumps twice a week (one with water change).



For a couple weeks now I've been noticing a dark coloring on the leaves of my Anubias (Minima), I am not so sure what it could be. I am hoping it is only because the leaves are old, since the ones with the darkening are the original leaves. I've had this plant since March, and the leaves have not shown any damage until now.

I recently added more plants to my tank, the Amazon sword, s Repens and the unidentified plant. About two weeks ago. Before then I added the water lettuce which usually floats above the Anubias Minima.

I didn't think that this would be much of an issue since I've read that since Anubias because Anubias grow slowly they don't need to receive so much light, and they may be succesptible to algae.

The Anubias is not planted, it is sitting on a piece of wood, and long roots have extended all the way down on the corner of the tank.

I have tried going up with the fertilizers to three pumps. But I noticed an explosion of hair algae on the valisneria.

If anyone can help me figure out what is wrong and how to fix it I would really appreciate it!

 

I'm not a plant expert but it might be spot algae - dark, doesn't brush off when you wipe it. It's common with slow-growing anubias. I had it too. I cut out the worst leaves and increased phosphorus in the tank (with Seachem Phosphorus) and that resolved it for me. Some folks say a weak bleach dip helps but I couldn't try it as mine was attached to big driftwood.

 

Nice "Jungle" you got going. Just a relative newbie "Underwater Gardener": So really no help with the problem. Maybe Mcasella can help.

 

With it being that close to the light source i'd also say algae, I'd move the anubias further down in the tank if you can to help shield it from the light.

 

Very nice tank!. As others have mentioned keep it close to the bottom and you didn't mention how long you leave your lights on? 3 pumps of Thrive seems a bit much for a 10 IMO. Are you also running co2?

 

Well, this is informative to me. I have some of the same marks going on on my submerged pothos plant in my 7 gallon, although a lot more of it. I've already suspected the light is too low and strong. I guess I'll need to try to find leg extensions to raise the light up higher.

 

Very nice tank!. As others have mentioned keep it close to the bottom and you didn't mention how long you leave your lights on? 3 pumps of Thrive seems a bit much for a 10 IMO. Are you also running co2?

Not running cO2.
I do only do 2 pumps twice a week. I only tried three pumps once. But never again haha. Lights are on a 12 hr dimming cycle.

The spots are dark and don't brush off.

 

You can try to cut your lights down to 8 hours and see if that helps also as others mentioned cut a couple of the affected leaves to help promote new growth rather than the plant trying to heal a weak old or damaged leave.

 

You can try to cut your lights down to 8 hours and see if that helps also as others mentioned cut a couple of the affected leaves to help promote new growth rather than the plant trying to heal a weak old or damaged leave.

I think this may be a good solution as I seem to be having issues with some hair algae when I over fertilized that one time :/

 

Update, I sprayed my plant with some Hydrogen peroxide, and it seems to have cleared up the dark spots.

 

Update.

Maybe the peroxide was a mistake.

In the last couple of weeks I have seen a steady decline of my Anubias, and now it's starting to actually melt? This had not happened before. I attached some pictures here in case anyone can give me any insight.

The only change I can think of is temperature. I live in southern California and my appartment gets pretty warm and I don't have a good way of keeping my aquarium cool.

The only other thing I can think of is that I tried taking a cutting from it, and pulled on it's rizome a bit before deciding to just cut some small leaves in the back.

I have also recently lowered the light intensity to about 70% and been dealing with black beard aglae, hence the peroxide.


Other than that any help would be appreciated! This is my first and favorite plant and I do not want it to die on me.

 

Update.

Maybe the peroxide was a mistake.

In the last couple of weeks I have seen a steady decline of my Anubias, and now it's starting to actually melt? This had not happened before. I attached some pictures here in case anyone can give me any insight.

The only change I can think of is temperature. I live in southern California and my appartment gets pretty warm and I don't have a good way of keeping my aquarium cool.

The only other thing I can think of is that I tried taking a cutting from it, and pulled on it's rizome a bit before deciding to just cut some small leaves in the back.

I have also recently lowered the light intensity to about 70% and been dealing with black beard aglae, hence the peroxide.


Other than that any help would be appreciated! This is my first and favorite plant and I do not want it to die on me.
View attachment 581876 View attachment 581877 View attachment 581878 View attachment 581879 View attachment 581880

Looks like older, larger leaves are the ones suffering damage, I would suggest (I know painful) to trim those leaves affected off to give the plant a better chance at full recovery.

 

Looks like older, larger leaves are the ones suffering damage, I would suggest (I know painful) to trim those leaves affected off to give the plant a better chance at full recovery.

I have also noticed a few small ones melting back as well
Initially I had trimmed a bunch when the plant was being hit by the mold. So these are not even the oldest leaves it had.

 

I'm not going to be any help as I've had horrible experience with anubias. But, here's a bump so someone can hopefully help you out.

 

Got to say the plant looks great in the first pic. Those brown spots happen with anubias. Them and bba. The reason for the melting is the peroxide. I’ve been there. I dip mine and rinse in wc water before putting back in. But only dip for bba.

I’m also going to say it’s the thrive that’s helping the spot algae. I tried it in a 30 for about 6+ months and had nothing but brown algae. I stoped and started with an algaecide (apI co2 booster) and the brown algae is gone. Thought it was the size of the tank so started adding it to my 125. Just 3 weeks and most of my anubias look like yours and this is with the algaecide. So I’m done with it.

As to cutting off the leaves yes that’s fine. What I do is cut off the dead area and see how the leaf does before cutting it off.

And last I have a cherry shrimp tank with about 200 shrimp. When I get too much spot algae on any plant I pull it out and add it to the cherry shrimp. In a few days it looks like new. Shrimp eat everything off it . Your tank looks great and good luck with your plant keeping .

 

Got to say the plant looks great in the first pic. Those brown spots happen with anubias. Them and bba. The reason for the melting is the peroxide. I’ve been there. I dip mine and rinse in wc water before putting back in. But only dip for bba.

I’m also going to say it’s the thrive that’s helping the spot algae. I tried it in a 30 for about 6+ months and had nothing but brown algae. I stoped and started with an algaecide (apI co2 booster) and the brown algae is gone. Thought it was the size of the tank so started adding it to my 125. Just 3 weeks and most of my anubias look like yours and this is with the algaecide. So I’m done with it.

As to cutting off the leaves yes that’s fine. What I do is cut off the dead area and see how the leaf does before cutting it off.

And last I have a cherry shrimp tank with about 200 shrimp. When I get too much spot algae on any plant I pull it out and add it to the cherry shrimp. In a few days it looks like new. Shrimp eat everything off it . Your tank looks great and good luck with your plant keeping .

So do you feel I should just cut off all of the affected leaves and see if it gets a chance regrowing? I'm concerned because I have already pruned it so much, I may just be left with very young leaves, I worry it will struggle in the long run.

I see so the Peroxide damaged the leaves, and now all of the ones that had contact with peroxide will melt away.

 

Sometimes peroxide does cause melt. I like to dip it . Usually I’ll get that type of melt if it was covered with bba. Most have grown back. I’m going with the last set of pics. The plant there can be trimmed back. Any damage at the end of the leaves can be trimmed off. Any leaved that are 40-50% melted should be cut off close to the rhymizone.

 

Sometimes peroxide does cause melt. I like to dip it . Usually I’ll get that type of melt if it was covered with bba. Most have grown back. I’m going with the last set of pics. The plant there can be trimmed back. Any damage at the end of the leaves can be trimmed off. Any leaved that are 40-50% melted should be cut off close to the rhymizone.

Hello Everyone!

I wanted to give you guys an update in hope that I can get some further help! as 86_ssnit suggested, I pruned a good amount of the leaves that had pretty bad melt in them. I will post a picture right after the prune, and how the plant has been doing today.

I have been in a struggle with Black beard algae which has been doing a number on my tank. and likely not because of the algae itself biut because of all the things I am doing to dress it, I am starting to notice a slow decline within my tank. I have stopped dosing Thrive almost all together. and started dosing Thrive once a day. since my last post I decided to remove all of the Valisneria in my tank as Identified it as the source of the algae, and I noticed every time I would fertilize my tank with thrive , it would grow significantly. I also noticed that my problems with the algae began when I decided to remove my relatively large anacharis from the tank, and I suspect it was because It would od a good job at eating any excess fertilizer that was inside my tank.

Ultimately though this thread is about My Anubias Minima, not doing well, I love this plant and I want to do what I can do make sure it returns to normal in the future. However it seems like things have not improved.

Here are my water numbers for today:

PH: 7.8
Ammonia: 0
Nitrite:0
Nitrate:0
AKH: 9
GH/KH: 161.1

Here are some pictures of my plant today. I have noticed that unlike before, some of the younger leaves are starting to grey out all together.

Dont really know what to do now. I'm considering taking it out of its current spot, and potting in into a clear container I can put at the bottom of the tank with a root tab. Not sure if that will help or just make it worse.

Also it is fine if no one here hasn answers! if possible could anyone reading tag someone who may be able to help? Thank you all for your help so far!

 

I don’t see bba in your pics. Your anubias still looks good. Yes there are some dead leaves but a lot of good leaves. Cut off the dead ones.
Yes anacharis eats a lot of nitrates. Thrive supplies a lot of nitrates. Thrive works great for some people and causes nitrate problem for others. Hold off on the thrive till you get your tank where your happy. Put the thrive in the fridge it will last longer. Get some flourish comprehensive. This is a lighter fertilizer and dose as it says. Root tab are not for anubias. They get there ferts out of the water (liquid ferts).
To fight the algae try either apI co2 booster or flourish excel. These are algaecides but do add stuff to the water. I use the apI with very good results.

 

I don’t see bba in your pics. Your anubias still looks good. Yes there are some dead leaves but a lot of good leaves. Cut off the dead ones.
Yes anacharis eats a lot of nitrates. Thrive supplies a lot of nitrates. Thrive works great for some people and causes nitrate problem for others. Hold off on the thrive till you get your tank where your happy. Put the thrive in the fridge it will last longer. Get some flourish comprehensive. This is a lighter fertilizer and dose as it says. Root tab are not for anubias. They get there ferts out of the water (liquid ferts).
To fight the algae try either apI co2 booster or flourish excel. These are algaecides but do add stuff to the water. I use the apI with very good results.

I didnt take pictures of the BBA in my tank specifically because it may not pertain specifically to this thread. and for the most part I have been very aggresive at removing it from my tank, by clipping leaves off.

The issue here is that these are not the dead leaves that I showed on my last post, but that the ones that were green, and even new ones are graying out and dying.

I'm currently dosing 1ml daily of Flourish Excel.

Do you think it may be useful to move it all together, I'm thinking maybe placing it somewhere else may give it a better lighting situation, and maybe more room for the smaller leaves to grow.

 

Anubias don’t need a lot of light. Some of mine I have growing in the shadows of other plants and some in full light. Either way because they grow so slowly they do have algae growing on them. The excell should slow to stop the algae growth. Than you’ll need a liquid fert to keep them healthy.
You could move it below the driftwood it’s on. Maybe attach it to a small rock.

 

Anubias don’t need a lot of light. Some of mine I have growing in the shadows of other plants and some in full light. Either way because they grow so slowly they do have algae growing on them. The excell should slow to stop the algae growth. Than you’ll need a liquid fert to keep them healthy.
You could move it below the driftwood it’s on. Maybe attach it to a small rock.

Thanks for all your help so far! I appreciate it!

I agree that I may need to change my frets, Thrive may be too potent for the slow growing plants I have. I'm considering still re-introducing some fast growing plants, and fertilizing according to what the anubias seem to need.

I am a bit worried about all these sudden changes being more detrimental in the long run, have you had any experience with large changes having a negative impact in your aquariums?

 

This is a corner of my 125. You’ll see 7 anubias plants in there. Notice the state they are in. Most have spot algae growing on them and some dying leaves. This to me is normaL. When the spot algae gets to be to much I remove the plant and add it to my shrimp tank. They eat most of the algae off. Than it goes back in.
the leaves on this plant were black with spot algae. It’s been in the shrimp tank for 3 days now and most has been removed. Just something to think about in the future.