Weird green stuff and plants not living

[Andrew]

I have a 55 gallon tank with a variety of rainbowfish, two plecostamus', an iridescent shark, a few gouramis, and a variety of barbs. Recently we added a whole bunch of live plants to the tank like amazon swords in particular. It seems as though something is wrong because they turn brown in about a week. Also, there is this weird algae stuff that grows on the plants and the fake plants that the plecos dont eat. How can I get rid of it?

[corr]

Is this green stuff like a slimy coating that wipes off easily but can't be picked up? If it is, then it's cyanobacteria... not algae at all. You should get rid of this stuff before anymore plants are added.

How much light do you have? How deep is the gravel? Are you using any fertilzer?

[Shane Tesser]

Swords that turn brown and algae growing. Corr covered pretty much everything...swords are really easy though. There is an algae like he stated that is slimy...if this is what you have just wipe it off. If the algae is more hairy...hard to describe...and has more spotting on the leaves then anything else with tinges of brown, you have insufficient light. I would imagine the tank is probably 24" deep being a 55. Therefore you should have about 1-1/2 - 2 watts per gallon. If you are using anything other than grow bulbs or specific aquarium plant bulbs, this can sometimes cause an algae bloom as well. So can over feeding, too long light parameters...12-14 hours on tops, as well as high water temps. If you could give us more description..we can help you beat it

[Shane Tesser]

I should add...what i meant by swords being easy is that they are a fast growing plant..they usually will grow faster than an algae will produce...unless there is insufficient light. Im thinking right off the bat if they have turned brown on you..that is likely your cause, or they have suffered from not being replanted properly, or a massive drop in temp ( chill).

[djnzlab]

HI,
Many plants have very little salt tolerance, and some are PH sensative.. so it depends on the plants.
i ve tried and tried , if the plants work well the fish eat them, the filters are loaded and so on..
Doug

[ETET]

Andrew, have you done any water test before and after you plant your plants? May be this will give you some idea since all animals and plants rely on the water! Give us some findings of you water parameter may be we can help you. For water test, pay attention to pH, NH3, NO2 & NO3. Change of pH will cause fish stop eating; excessive of certain chemical like NO3 will promote growth of algae. After you perform a water test, if any reading off the normal value, then you can pin-point the problem and eliminate different causes. Shane is right too, too much light together with lots of chemicals like NO3 will cause extensive growth of algae and eventually they will outgrow other plants. Keep us update.


ETET