cutting back a amazon sword

[tsr770]

One of my friends has a somewhat large sword in his tank that is just covered with black algae to the point that about half of the leaves are dieing. He bought a new larger tank, and wants to put the sword in there, but he doesnt want the algae to spread to the other plants that he has bought. Would a sword come back if it was trimmed right to the base of the leaves leaving just the "stump" for lack of better words. He has plenty of lighting for it, mixed flourite and pebble substrate, and a high pressure tank co2 system for it. so the plants growing should not be a problem at all.

Any suggestions? Think it will work?

I have planted tanks myself, but have never had the algae problem that he is faced with, thank god!

 

[enchanted]

Most likely in his smaller tank the nutrient balance or lighting is out of sync. If these have been corrected on the new tank then I would recommend using something to kill the algae. There are a variety of methods out there, I'm sure somebody could recommend something.

The most important thing isn't to get rid of the Algae on the Sword but is to prevent the conditions that made it proliferate in the small tank from carrying over to the larger tank.

 

[Dubby]

Would a sword come back if it was trimmed right to the base of the leaves leaving just the "stump" for lack of better words

Plants can grow from a stump, but that would be too risky. I suggest you remove most affected leaves leaving just a few leaves (removing as much algae as possible on these)

 

[lucky62]

Would a sword come back if it was trimmed right to the base of the leaves leaving just the "stump" for lack of better words

Plants can grow from a stump, but that would be too risky. I suggest you remove most affected leaves leaving just a few leaves (removing as much algae as possible on these)

That's good advice ,
any algae covered or dead leaves should be removed , you need to have enough leaves so that the plant can go through the photosynthesis process .

depending on the size of the plant and the amount of damage ,I.M.E at least 3 good sized leaves should be left [ If possible].

 

[tsr770]

We decided to cut it back to 4 leaves that were lower ones, and dont have much of it on them, hopefully it will be enough. I didnt realize how big the base of this thing was, close to an inch and a half across.

 

[barbus]

I find that scraping BBA on Amazon is not too difficult, especially if its a big turf. Smaller one will tear the leaf along when pulled.

 

[willywonka099]

I would say too set up a quarentine tnak if possible ... He can use this for sick fish/plants or new fish/plants

 

[Dubby]

The other option to try would be to dip the plant in mild bleach solution to kill algae.