Eriocaulon feather duster and bba tufts

[Pepere]

I have a wonderful stand of erio feather duster that has been algae free for well over a year.

Wnen I firts got it, tufts of bba would form on it on tips and I would just pull them off…

This summer my display tank has been struggling with simmering algae issues.

Still doing weekly 2/3 water changes, keeping nutrient levels and all stable, trimming away degraded leaves…

My erio is in sad shape…







I have tried spraying peroxide on it when doing water changes, laying the mass on a cafeteria tray and spraying on full strength and letting it set for 10 minutes before refilling to no avail.

I gave the fikters a thorough cleaning out, andremoved and reset plant groupings after thoroughly gravel vaccing the bdbs to remove organics…

Iam starting to think giving the erio a good hair cut way down low and letting it send up all new leaves.

Figure I would poll the audience before taking any such action…

 

[BenB]

I used to have good luck with Excel on BBA .
Maybe spot dose just a little and see if it helps before using more.
I find some plants in a tank don't like Excel in general, so I avoid it.

 

[Pepere]

@Dennis Wong , @Burr740 ,@Unexpected ,@GreggZ ,@Naturescapes_Rocco , is there hope for freeing the erio feather duster leaves from the algae, or are the leaves beyond recovery and removal of them and regrowing new ones the better plan here?

 

[Naturescapes_Rocco]

removal of them and regrowing new ones the better plan here?

90% of the time, this is the route I take. If this were my plant, I'd gently remove it, remove all affected leaves, and replant.

 

[Pepere]

90% of the time, this is the route I take. If this were my plant, I'd gently remove it, remove all affected leaves, and replant.

Removal is not so much an option.

I have bags of Safe T Sorb under the BDBs and the bags are heavily infiltrated with roots.. i think if I tried to remove the roots from the bag I would do more harm than good.


I think I will just give it a good haircut close to the substrate…

 

[Kwyet]

You can cut it right down, leaving a couple of inches, and it will grow back out. It just takes awhile. I did it with mine, and it came back just fine.

 

[Dennis Wong]

Rootzone issues often manifest as algae on top growth. Uproot, separate, clear substrate, enrich substrate, replant. If all/most of the leaves are algae infected, getting rid of them all isn't feasible. Should wait for new growth to appear, or baby plantlets, then grow those out

 

[Pepere]

I opted to cut it all off.

The roots are well entrenched in the mesh bags of the safe t Sorb. Removal of the crown isnt a realistic option.

I figure if the plant dies, so be it. I can buy another one. If itdoesnt surviveI will remove the crown and work down to the mesh bags and remove what I can and then let the rest decompose..

Its not the end of the world if the plant dies…

We will see what happens..