Is this bacteria or mold? Maybe a type of slime growing on my java fern?

I recently bought this tank that hadn’t been taken care of in a while and the java ferns seem to have something growing on the leaves. My nerite snails wont eat it so I know it’s not brown algae. I’ve googled everything and can’t find anything that looks like this. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

I guess I could trim off the infected leaves but it’s on a lot of leaves

Will that come off the leaf easily with your finger, or if you gently shake the leaf? In other words, it is basically sitting there, or is it adhering well to the leaves? It is also on the rock, substrate, wood. It looks like the same thing that suddenly appeared in one of my tanks and I have so far been unable to figure out why.

I tried taking it off with my finger but it’s on there good! And I just noticed it’s on the filter too and a few other things. And were you able to get yours off your aquarium?

BaffledBasilisk said:

I tried taking it off with my finger but it’s on there good! And I just noticed it’s on the filter too and a few other things. And were you able to get yours off your aquarium?

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What I have looks like the photos but it is not the same by the sounds of it. I think mine is either dead algae (that is what it looks like) or organic matter. Looking at your photos enlarged, I think that is brush algae with a lot of organic "stuff" in it.

Java Fern is a shade plant, so getting some floating plants is one suggestion. Brush algae is notorious on Java Fern, Anubias, and similar. Second, you could reduce the light period. I don't see any fish, are there any? Fish food would be a food source for this. Are the rhizomes buried in the substrate? If yes, they may rot and kill the plants. The rhizome (the very thick "stem" from which the leaves and finer black roots grow) cannot be buried.

black beard algae with blue green algae growing over it?

Colin_T said:

black beard algae with blue green algae growing over it?

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It does look like black beard algae

Yeah,I think its your lighting spectrum that encourages it. Your plants look very good otherwise. I would suggest you dose with iron gluconate. It will toughen the Java leaves to be more resistant..and improve more the color of the plants.