Brown 'dirt' On Leaves

[MrNiceGuy]

for the longest time i thought my plants were just dying when some of their leaves turned brown. but the other day i noticed that many of the leaves themselves aren't brown at all. there is a layer of brown dirt that i can scratch off with my fingernail. there are quite a few of these around the tank. what causes this, and what can be done to stop it?

 

[pumh]

hi i've noticed that on some of my fake plants, although im sure yours are real my otto cleans mine up and the look good as new

 

[jacko32]

its just brown algea if you get a group of 5 or 6 otto's as they need to be kept in groups they will keep it nice and clean

 

[fish_tank0311]

Yea its just algae. Nothing to worry about if its only a little bit, but if you dont like the look you could get an otto like people say or you can scrape it off with your finger nails (if your careful), but that would only work of course if you have a reasonably broad leaved plant.

 

[MrNiceGuy]

its just brown algea if you get a group of 5 or 6 otto's as they need to be kept in groups they will keep it nice and clean

nice, im glad i asked. the plants would look a lot better without that brown algae.

 

[Truck]

Don't get otos, they'll most probably die, instead combat the cause which is poor flow and traces of ammonia, increasing filtration and circulation will get rid of it.

Otos will eat the algae, but once the food source runs out, they will die.

 

[fish_tank0311]

Don't get otos, they'll most probably die, instead combat the cause which is poor flow and traces of ammonia, increasing filtration and circulation will get rid of it.

Otos will eat the algae, but once the food source runs out, they will die.

Theres this real cool invention called algae flakes.

 

[jacko32]

Don't get otos, they'll most probably die, instead combat the cause which is poor flow and traces of ammonia, increasing filtration and circulation will get rid of it.

Otos will eat the algae, but once the food source runs out, they will die.

i have had otto's for ages i have never had 1 die from lack of food all mine will happily eat algea waffers as a substitute for natural algea

 

[loraxchick]

i have also never had a problem keeping otos. i think there is a big misconception about otos being "fragile" fish. the thing of it is, you have to pick out healthy ones (who are not terribly stressed from capture and shipment) in the first place. if the fish you are buying has a nice little pot belly. consequently, they should have potbellies when in your tank. if they look skinny, simply supplement their diet as mentioned with blanched spinach/zucchini(courgette). some are reluctant to take algae tabs.
if you have plenty of plants in your tank, they should do just fine.
my otos are pushing 3 years old and my female is very fat with eggs. ive read that they like very soft water (which i am fortunate enough to have) so perhaps folks who dont have luck keeping them, the hardness may be the issue.
cheers

 

[Truck]

I know Oto's aren't fagile fish, some of them are as hard as nails, but what I'm trying to say is, that proper algae is best, not the crap compressed into a tablet, fish should be added into a tank because you want to keep them, not to solve a problem.

 

[lljdma06]

I know Oto's aren't fagile fish, some of them are as hard as nails, but what I'm trying to say is, that proper algae is best, not the crap compressed into a tablet, fish should be added into a tank because you want to keep them, not to solve a problem.

I agree, buying a bunch of otos only covers up the underlying problem and doesn't address the cause. However, with diatoms, like truck said, it is usually due to some ammonia spike and poor circulation. A couple of waterchanges and better circulation usually gets rid of this type of algae without resorting to buying fish to eat algae.

Now, I love otos, and have actually cultivated diatoms in the past to keep them well-fed. They also just munch on the microscopic stuff on the plants and take vegetables. I've got a couple of fat females too. A couple of mine are about 2 years old now. Like any other fish, you look for healthy, fat bellies, and fast swimming. Otos are hard to catch.

llj

 

[MrNiceGuy]

ah #39####. i wish i had read this earlier. i just bought 3 otos yesterday and they were picked at random. they're all active and attacking the algae though so thats good. the tank is pretty densely planted so they'll have a lot of work to do before their food runs out. lack of circulation and traces of ammonia/high nitrates are probably the source of the problem. i recently added another filter though so that should help. also, i have 2 dojo loaches in the tank that take up a majority of the bio-load. they'll be moved out into a 55 gallon in about a week or two which should eliminate the ammonia traces and high nitrate levels.