# Is this GSA?



## Reckon (Jul 25, 2012)

Had some of this as early as 2 months ago when my plants weren't doing well but it has exploded in the last 3 days or so and suddenly on leaves that are a week old or more.
CO2 is blasting as much as my fish can handle and PO4 is at 5.0ppm. Any ideas what I can do to deal with it? If its not green spot algae then is it green blue algae?


















Thanks!


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## 2wheelsx2 (Apr 21, 2010)

Is it slimy and smells horrible? If so it's BGA. It's definitely not GSA. What's your nitrate level at? Is it just on the plants or is it on the substrate and everything else? How about a full tank shot?


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## Reckon (Jul 25, 2012)

Doesn't seem that slimy and smells like pond water. It seems to prefer leaves that aren't in as good shape.

Here are more pics to give you a better idea of how its on my tank. Should I try antibiotics anyways?


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## Reckon (Jul 25, 2012)

My nitrates is at around 20ppm, just tested yesterday. It is not really on the substrate, at least it is hard to tell since I'm use Eco complete and it's pretty much black. But it is on the glass and even on smaller plants like HC.


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## 2wheelsx2 (Apr 21, 2010)

That's not BGA so antibiotics will not do anything. How often and how much water do you change? Do you does EI? I would up the water changes and remove as much of the affected leaves as possible. Try doing a big water change (like down to 10 or 15% left if possible) and mist everything with a 1:10 solution of Excel:water and let stand a couple of minutes before refilling, after a good cleanup of the tank. That should cut down on most of that. If your fish are at the limit of CO2 injection, then you may need to considering cutting back on light intensity or photoperiod? What type/watts of lighting and how long, in this tank?


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## neven (May 15, 2010)

also what is your lighting like? how high are your lights and what are they? you may be a bit on the low side at the substrate depth. generally my plants get that look when i dont trim well enough and they rob eachother of light


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## Reckon (Jul 25, 2012)

22gal tank, 8.5 hour photoperiod, x2 39W Geisemann bulbs. Should be enough...


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## neven (May 15, 2010)

WPG is a horrible measurement of light, what is the fixture model and how high from the substrate are the lights


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## 2wheelsx2 (Apr 21, 2010)

Wow, if that's a 22 gallon long from Canadian Aquatics, that's an awful lot of light, if your T5HO fixture has efficient reflectors.


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## Reckon (Jul 25, 2012)

It's the Odyssea 3 bulb (I'm only using 2) from Canadian Aquatics; 5 inches from waterline. Yes, it's the 22gal long from Canadian Aquatics. I've tried with 1 bulb before and the plants didn't grow.


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## Fish rookie (May 21, 2012)

I had this before. I cut them all out, did a few big water changes, decrease my light, down my fert and it went away. I also made sure I had eough circulation and the plants were not under shadow.
In my humble opinion if the plants are grown properly (without being rushed with too much light/Co2/ferts) everything will fall in place and work better. But this is just my own opinion.


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## neven (May 15, 2010)

HC can grow fine provided there is co2 and nutrients with only 1 t5ho bulb 19" from substrate so perhaps the plants just didn't grow fast enough for your liking, i doubt they didn't grow at all though


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## Reckon (Jul 25, 2012)

You might be right but the Rotala Macrandra and Wallichi kept melting until I turned up the lights. I'll try cutting out the GSA and spray excel. I suspect that the algae growth probably stemmed from the stunting and general poor plant health I was dealing with about a month ago. Not sure about the spike though.


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## 2wheelsx2 (Apr 21, 2010)

CO2 and fert availability are your enemies. And under very high light conditions, you're constantly struggling with getting sufficient CO2 to feed the growth which is then reduced in a pruning and then the cycle starts all over again. Cutting back the light allows you to create a more stable environment and steadier growth with minimal algae.


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## Reckon (Jul 25, 2012)

Sounds good. I'll try cutting down the photoperiod and perhaps find a way to mount the light higher.


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