My vallisneria is growing hair

[FreeFloat]

In my 10 gallon tank I have spirral vallisneria and saggitarius (sp?) plants mostly, as well as a community of gupies/minnows/tetras.

Recently the broader and taller leaves of the vallisneria have been growing stringy, hairlike things. They almost look like roots although they are near the tops of the leaves.

This has been going on for only a few days but it's bothering me: what is it and should I be concerned??

Other than that the plants look healthy - I've had them almost a month now. I don't have a digital camera, or I'd be posting shots...

 

[HanshaSuro]

It is probably hair algae. Can you give us some tank chemistry measurements?

 

[FreeFloat]

Sure.

pH 7.8
GH 75
KH 120
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 80 (yeah yeah ok, I know, that w/c is on tonight's list of things to do)

 

[HanshaSuro]

Mm, give the gravel a good vacuuming. You may have a lot of built up waste which is keeping your Nitrates so high. You might also consider that your 10 gallon is overstocked. Is the tank heavily planted?

 

[FreeFloat]

I don't know about heavily - I've only had the plants for a month or so and have planted them throughout about 1/3 to 1/2 of the tank leaving some room for them to spread out as well as grow thicker if that's what they want. This is my first time growing aquatic plants although on dry land, at least, I seem to have a bit of a green thumb.

As for the 10gal being overstocked, I realize that, it was never planned out that way but you know how it is. I'm glad all the fish (except the common pleco) are very tiny, but STILL. So I have a plan in th works..... however I would sort of like to get my plants sorted out first. I'll be keeping a pretty close eye on water quality of the overstocked tank.

 

[djlen]

You have a seriously over stocked tank. That's probably the reason for the nitrates being that high.
That high a level is going to stress the fish and probably cause you some algae issues in the near future.
Are you feeding any other ferts to balance the high nitrates?
What is the wattage and type of lighting?

Len

 

[FreeFloat]

1. I realize that and plans are in the works to thin the stock out.

2. Algae issues - none so far with 2 little and 1 bigger plecos. Like I said I'm keeping a very close eye on the water condition just knowing how overstocked it is right now.

3. No - recommendations? I don't know enough about ferts to start messing with it, especially with the tank's ecosystem precarious as it is.

4. 2x 14W compact flourescent. This is because I converted an incandescent hood. Good light distribution ie. no dark corners.

 

[djlen]

SeaChem Flourish makes a great line to ferts for small tanks. When you get into larger tanks it gets a bit expensive, but you can get Flourish Potassium, Flourish Excel which is a good carbon source for a little tank, and just plain Flourish which is a Trace Element mix. The bottles have dosage instructions on them and make it easy to get a balance.
Plants have an amazing ability to store nutrients, and the ones that you have will very soon become depleted of the stores they had when you bought them. They will start to decline in health if not fed.
You have almost 3watts/gal. which is a good amount of light so if you start feeding the plants you should see some good growth.
Water changes will help with the nitrates issue, but you're going to have to lower that fish load or they will start to rise again.

Len

 

[FreeFloat]

Thanks for the advice.

Like I said I have plans to lower the fish load and I understand that between then & now it will mean a lot closer monitoring of watre and more frequent water changes. Oh well I got myself into theis mess I will have to get myself out of it too!

When you say carbon are you referring to CO2 or to another soluble carbon compound?

 

[djlen]

Flourish Excel comes in liquid form and is an excellent substitute for CO2 in a small tank. Carbon is the backbone of any nutrient dosing regimen.
I did not mention P, but Flourish Phosphate is also available.
I think it would be a good idea for you to test for two things:
How much nitrate you are getting in your tap water and also if there are any phosphates in it. If you have test kits for both, take a sample of tap water and let it sit out for 2 hours. Then test for N and P. It doesn't do any good to do water changes to dilute the N level in the tank if the water company is loading you up with more N.
Both of these elements are necessary for good plant growth, but need to be kept within certain parameters. After a while, you'll learn how to dose them to balance with K(potassium) and the proper amount of Traces and you'll have good plant growth, a minimum of algae, and a beautiful tank.

Len

 

[Somonas]

Hey Larissa
you might want to look into DIY Co2. there is a Co2 FAQ somewhere here in the Aquatic Plants board. it's probably still stickied.

 

[FreeFloat]

Actually, Art, I have all the fixin's at home for a CO2 system - I wasn't going to tell you til I had it built & working. It's next on the list to build after I finish repairing my drysuit (one project at a time)

(I'm sort of a do-it-myselfer)

As an immediate fix I used one of Jungle's "plant buddies" tabs in the tank late last week. Come to think of it, it wasn't too long after that I noticed the "hair" growing. My intention all along was to create the DIY CO2 ubbbler system - the plant tabs were only an immediate fix.

That said:
Besides a CO2 injection system, what other nutrients are important for me to be adding to my tank? In order of importance please.

 

[Lotus]

Nitrates (when you get your fish load lower)
Potassium
Phosphate

Those are all the macronutrients. Carbon is sometimes considered one too. There are also a number of micronutrients including:

Iron (usually dosed on its own)
Magnesium, calcium, boron, bromine, sulfur, copper and a bunch of other micronutrients, usually called "trace elements" which are generally added as a mixture.

When you're starting out, and you have a small tank, you might want to try Flourish, which has a range of micro and macronutrients.