Plants in my betta tank

[IonBaller07]

Well this should probably go in the aquarium plants section but they get less traffic there, so. In my bettas tank I have a good amount of plants called anacharis I think. Well it has been creating this white stuff floating around, I realized yesterday that this was because on of the plants "stems" was dying and its leaves and such were falling off. I took that piece out and figured that was that. Well today I look in my tank and there is a think, opaque white string connecting every plant, it resembles a cob-web or spider web connecting them all. What should I do?

[dramaqueen]

I don't know what it could be but I think I'd take it out. It sounds kind of gross.

[IonBaller07]

Originally Posted by dramaqueen

I don't know what it could be but I think I'd take it out. It sounds kind of gross.

Yah it not to pretty, and the one dying one made my water kinda stink, I did a 50% water change and it still stunk.

[onekatietwo]

Does the Betta seem fine? It almost sounds like bacteria. Keep an eye on the fish.

Plants can usually be safely cleaned off in warm tap water in the sink or whatever. I'd rinse them off really well. If they're cheap and easy to get, just toss them. But if you're attached to them, rinse them off really well in warm water and then maybe let them sit for a few days in a jar/container/bowl/whatever that is similar in heat and other water conditions as your betta tank and see if they gross thing comes back. If not, try putting one or two back in. If those are still fine, put all of them in.

If the gross stuff does come back, do some more research or give up and throw them out. :(

Good luck!

[aunt kymmie]

Originally Posted by IonBaller07

Well this should probably go in the aquarium plants section but they get less traffic there, so. In my bettas tank I have a good amount of plants called anacharis I think. Well it has been creating this white stuff floating around, I realized yesterday that this was because on of the plants "stems" was dying and its leaves and such were falling off. I took that piece out and figured that was that. Well today I look in my tank and there is a think, opaque white string connecting every plant, it resembles a cob-web or spider web connecting them all. What should I do?

Anacharis will sprout roots from anywhere along the stems. Is it possible the "strings" are roots?? Are these "strings" coming out from along the stems of the plants?

[IonBaller07]

No I found the roots when I took them apart, it turns out I left them in the bunches they came in and your not supposed to do that, well that was cutting of the "circulation" of the plants and the dead leaves were falling off. The leaves were creating the white stuff in the water, the long stringy stuff might have been bacteria or something I dont know. But I un-bunched them, did a 100% water change, cut off the dead parts of the plants and threw away the fully dead ones, and rinsed them off. It seemed to work because there has been no "white stuff" in the last 2 days but now they are all floating on top so my tank looks bare

[onekatietwo]

What I do with a lot of my plants is just anchor them with a few rocks sitting over the end of them or their roots. Also, I didn't know this plant wasn't supposed to be bunched. Do you know why? I left a few of mine bunched and they've been doing fine for a little over two weeks, but maybe I'll unbunch them anyway.

Also cehck out this page for more anchoring suggestions (I also leave some floating. I like how it looks.) http://glassislands.com/articles/anacharis-plus.htm

[IonBaller07]

The only reason why you arent supposed to leave them bunched is if it is too tight it will dig in to the plants and kill them from the rubber band or other silver band thing down. If you can somehow bunch the loosley than its fine. It would be soo much easier if I could just make a gravel bed and stick them in it but I need the tank bare bottom because it will be the breeding tank.