White spot on plants.

[Byron]

I've no idea what the white stuff is...does it fly off or is it well stuck opn?

The Seachem black clay gravel...this can be harmful to some fish such as substrate fish like cories, loaches. What fish do you intend for this tank?

Excel. Do not use this. It is glutaraldehyde which is a toxic disinfectant. At recommended doses it can kill some plants, if overdosed it coould killeverything in the tank. Several members reported having burns if this splashed on their skin. This has no place in an aquarium.

 

[Jaws.k]

Hi Byron. / all.
how you doing.? (get a cup tea before you start to read, sorry its a bit long)

I was at work today, & when i had quite times id login & read / post.
Few days ago i looked over the internet for white dust stuff.
I found this ...

https://www.myaquariumclub.com/plants-covered-in-white-powdery-dusty-substance-help-please-515575.html

if you could flick though & at post * 19, the guy says excel ....
So i looked over.. what is excel, found there https://www.seachem.com/flourish-excel.php
& like you say, if you over dose it can burn.

But Sunday (28th june, just gone) i order a bottle from the place i get a thing or 2, (replacement heater).
& it got delivered today.
So when i got home, before i had a cup tea / read any replies on here, i did a water change (apox' 25%).
I removed the brown leaves that you could see on the picture.
& the dust like stuff (when i went by the leaves) is like a dust... if you fan it, it fly's away into the water. Its not glued to the leaves.

After i put the filter / water back in, i added 1 cap full of the seachem florish excel. (only 1 cap)
On the instructions it says >40% major water change = 1 cap full per 40L tank.
So i thought / worked out to my 25% water change .. 86L tank, then the 1 cap full should balance.

But again i did this soon ever i got home without reading any replies, the only thing i did do before the job here, was i got a hug & kiss from my wife.

Im using a light ... my light is the 11 inch size.
www.amazon.co.uk/MPANDA-Aquarium-Submers...ibious/dp/B07HP3YQR9

I have done water test on 26th june 20 & today before & after the water change.
The test im using is ..
tetra test 6 in 1

Tetra Test 6in1

Water test to quickly and easily check aquarium water quality in 60 seconds: test strips measure pH, carbonate hardness (KH), general hardness (GH), nitrite (NO2-), nitrate (NO3-) and chlorine (Cl2)

www.tetra.net

results are ...the same on all test (so far)
CL = 0 .... PH = 7.2 - 7.6 ....KH = 6 -10d .....GH = 8-16d .....NO2 = 0 .....NO3 = 10.
& all are in good perimeter's.

I do have a fertiliser here.
j bl ferropol 24 daily fertiliser

JBL PROFLORA Ferropol 24

The daily feed for luxuriant aquarium plants: daily fertiliser for freshwater aquariums

www.jbl.de

haven't used it yet.

The plants i have is...
Anuibas Berteri.
Anubias Berteri nana gold
Pogostemon Helferi.
Lobelia Cardinals mini
Lobelia Cardinals.
Microsorum Pteropus.
Hygrophila Corymbosa stricta.

I was hoping to get the fish this saturday 4th july.
Black phantom tetra x10 + (got to speck to guy in shop to make sure i have plenty space, i dont want to go any were by the max number)
Otto cats x4 +
then later dropping in a few Blue shrimps x6 to help the otto & my self do a clean up.

I apologize for the big read. Ive just ordered a long pair of scissor & tweezers off amazon.uk think there are about 14 inch long, so should help make job easier to reach to the bottom of the tank to remove old leaves or stuff.

Il keep any eye on the tank now that ive put that excel in, they say on the instruction that this stuff last in the tank for 24hrs, so would i re do it again tomorrow, or wait & see for the next few days.?

thanks bryon.
talk to you soon.

 

[Byron]

I would not use Excel no matter what. Read up on glutaraldehyde and see just how deadly toxic it is. Even without fish, this can kill the bacteria in the tank. Glutaraldehyde is used in hospitals to sterilize surgical instruments, and it is used in ship ballasts to kill bacteria when the ship crosses oceans. And in embalming fluid to kill bacteria. Enough said.

The white fluff seems to be particulate matter settled on the plant leaves.

The JBL site does not give the actual nutrient ingredients. But it probably can't do any harm to use it as directed.

 

[Jaws.k]

yes, ive just looked at the JBL site, & the package / item in my hand, & i cant see any values.
I did find this on the product information sheet..
EDTA sodium salt, iron, aluminium, zinc, boron, manganese, copper, cobalt, potassium iodide, nickel, lithium, tin, bromine, purified water .

Il put a drop in tomorrow, think it says on the excel, no fert's, i take it that's this jbl stuff.

thanks for replying so quick, hope the big read from above didnt take to much of your time.

When do you think id see any kind of result good or bad.?

thanks a lot.

 

[Byron]

If you mean see results from the fertilizer, hard to say. If the plants show signs of growth the presumably something is working.

 

[Jaws.k]

I have no idea about gardening outside in the garden, & i suppose that an aquarium is a garden in a under water tank.
the only thing i know is plants or most plants need the sun for photosynthesis, & give out o2.

but il see what happens by this time tomorrow & il respond to let you know.
thanks a lot for your help byron.

 

[Jaws.k]

byron, sorry mate. can you put me right here please....
I just google .. does seachem flourite black clay gravel have nutrients..

I clicked on this then..

Does Seachem fluorite black gravel lose nutrients?

www.plantedtank.net

someone says that there is no nutrients in the above, but it is a good retainer for holding nutrients add to it.

So am i correct to think that in my tank i have the black clay, with no nutrients, so my plants have no food il call it.?
or have i miss read something.

thanks.

 

[Jaws.k]

Hi, me again.
hows it going....

an update of some sort. its a bit early.

but as you know i put a cap of seachem florish excel in after i did a 25% water change @ about 6.30 pm gmt.
This morning i before i went to work 7 am, i put in the tank 2 drops of jbl proflora ferropol 24.

When i came home @5pm i looked in the tank & most of the white dust spots are gone.
Cant really say if the plants look any better.
il do a water test tomorrow evening & report.

hope im on the up.
thanks all.

 

[Byron]

byron, sorry mate. can you put me right here please....
I just google .. does seachem flourite black clay gravel have nutrients..

I clicked on this then..

Does Seachem fluorite black gravel lose nutrients?

www.plantedtank.net

someone says that there is no nutrients in the above, but it is a good retainer for holding nutrients add to it.

So am i correct to think that in my tank i have the black clay, with no nutrients, so my plants have no food il call it.?
or have i miss read something.

thanks.

Don't waste your money. I was "convinced" by members on another forum to use Seachem's Flourite so-called "enriched plant substrate," and after two years the plant growth was not marginally better, and I still had to use liquid and substrate fertilizers the same as I do in my inert sand and gravel tanks, which have the same plant successes. And perhaps even worse, the Flourite tore into my cories mouths, barbels disappeared, and one panda even had about 1/4 of its lower jaw sliced clean off. All recovered when moved to my play sand tank, including the panda, and now some eight years after that debacle they are still thriving. I left the flourite for two years, then tore the tank down and dumped the substrate in a hole in the back yard. Waste of money, and dangerous to substrate fish.

 

[Byron]

Hi, me again.
hows it going....

an update of some sort. its a bit early.

but as you know i put a cap of seachem florish excel in after i did a 25% water change @ about 6.30 pm gmt.
This morning i before i went to work 7 am, i put in the tank 2 drops of jbl proflora ferropol 24.

When i came home @5pm i looked in the tank & most of the white dust spots are gone.
Cant really say if the plants look any better.
il do a water test tomorrow evening & report.

hope im on the up.
thanks all.

Plant response to fertilizers (or light changes, etc) can take several days, sometimes a couple of weeks. Certainly not overnight. So just monitor, give it at least a week before adding more JBL (or whatever the directions say).

The white stuff was likely detritus of some sort, suspended particulate matter.

 

[Jaws.k]

you know what byron....after i went to bed last night & was thinking....i thought it was something like a debris of something thats in there, just trying to wreck my head what ive put in there & how i cleaned / rinsed it.

yes, i wouldnt expect any changes yet, could of swore i heard a voice saying fe fo fi thumb...., jack & the bean stalk, that grew over night from bean to enormous plant.
could do with a golden egg....

 

[Jaws.k]

Hi all, how's things.
A quick update on my White dust.

Just over 2 weeks ago, I emptied my tank low enough so I could safely & without getting water every were.
I removed my plants 1 at a time, rinsed them off in some of the water I took out, & replanted them but this time a little bit deeper in the substrate (seachem black clay).
Few days after we got 16 tetra & since I've done this with the aid of my wife (mostly cleaning up / mopping up the water I did spill, ..thanks ra', if you read this) . Since I did this the tank seems like a new unit, the plants are growing, new shoots, fish seem happy, algae is growing ( not at an alarming rate, but limit here & there, ) IL get a few shrimps or an Otto cat in few days.

I was talking to the guy were I get my stuff, ( I know he's in it to make money, but he seems a reliable guy) he said by what I have told him, that he said my tank sounds in perfect condition.

All I can put it down to is, either plants wasn't in deep enough or the plants needed fertilizer the minute they went in or the dust was just off the substrate but now everything is settled it seems great.

Thanks all for the help & all the post.

Talk you soon.

 

[FishGuest5123]

Any pictures? The tank is too smal for a goldfish. Fancy goldfish needs a 20 gallon tank and other goldfish would need a 30 gallon tank.

Actually 1 fancy goldfish needs 20G and each additional one needs another 10G. Single tail goldfish need a 100G when full grown.

 

[Byron]

I had not realized from previous posts that you (jaws) already had the Flourite black substrate. This was likely the issue. I mentioned I tried this a few years ago, and I noted the detrimental aspects. But it was the tank in which I did see this white "stuff" on plants, now that I think of it, as it was the only time I ever had it and I had no idea at the time it was related.

Just keep in mind that with this substrate you cannot have substrate-level fish, like cories, loaches, some loricariids. Otos might be OK as they tend to remain on leaves and upper surfaces, and they do not filter feed (like cories). But do not get substrate fish unless you remove this substrate.