Brown Spots On Silk Plants?

[Flurry]

Yesterday I did about an 85% water change and I had siphoned out most of the gunk out of the tank. I put in some clean water and then left the room. I came back later on to discover that one of my silk plants, which had white silk flowers on it, had brown gunk on it which turned the flowers brown and spotty. I took out the plant and rinsed it with hot water, but the brown stuff wouldn't come off and it looked quite nasty, so I snipped off all but one flower. Then I noticed that there was some brown spots on one of my other silk plants too. That I didn't mind too much, it almost made that type of plant look natural.

Anyone know what is it?

[amanichen]

If what you're seeing is a brown film, chances are it's some sort of bacterium, or it's another type of microorganism called diatoms.

I'd have a better guess if you could get a picture.

[Flurry]

It would take me a while to get a picture, but it stained the plants. If it's bacteria and there is nothing to worry about...

[amanichen]

Well the bacteria themselves aren't anything to worry about, but the presence of it might indicate water quality issues -- that is there might be too many dissolved organic compounds in your tank water, giving food to the bacteria.

[Flurry]

I do about an 85% - 90% water change once every four days. Should I up them another day?

[amanichen]

This is your 1 gallon unfiltered tank, right?

In theory your water changes should be enough. So basically it comes down to seeing if you can live with scrubbing the brown stuff then I wouldn't worry about it =)

Lighting is another thing here, does the tank receive lots of direct light, a moderate amount of light, or is it in the dark most of the time?

BTW, I remember you were trying to get some sort of heater setup going, did you ever end up doing that that?

[Flurry]

I have two lights, one that is on the hood of the tank, and I have a desktop light next to his tank that does the trick. They are on most of the day, either just the desktop light or both, from when I get up until I go to bed.

I am a bit scared of algae growth, I don't know how I did it, but I lost my snail. I took him out while I changed the water, put him back in and I haven't seen him since. Most of the times hes on the wall. You think I should by him a ramshorn snail? Last time I bought one, it died after four days =P

Haven't gotten a heater yet, but I am going to get one next time I'm to Walmart. It all of a sudden has gotten very cold here, so I need to leave the lights on or else his tank will drop to between 70 and 74 degrees. Right now as I'm typing, I'm bundled up and sipping hot chocolate =P I had a craving for one lol.

[amanichen]

Yeah, I'd definitely say the amount of light is in part causing this. It shouldn't grow as much when you get a permanent heating setup, and can do a 12/12 or a 10/14 light cycle.

As for the snail disappearing, they usually don't disappear on their own, so he might be buried somewhere in the substrate, dead or alive =)

And you shouldn't worry about algal growth if you know what's causing it. In this case, lighting is probably the critical factor.

[Rekall13]

Small advice about the heater. I know it was recommended that you get a 7.5w jr heater but you may not be able to find one up here. I say may because I don't know how much difference in products there is between provinces.

I know here in Ontario they don't sell that 7.5 w kind (fish supplies like medication is pretty crappy here compared to the US) so IF you can't find the 7.5w go with a 25w heater. I have 25w heaters with my two guys and my aunt's betta with our 1 gallons and they work fine. Just watch it closely in the beginning to make sure that its staying at the right temperature and not getting too hot.

[Flurry]

Alright, I'll keep an eye out. Would I also be able to use either heater in a 5.5 gallon tank whenever I get one?

[Rekall13]

I don't know how accurate it is but the box mine came in said that 25 w heater is used in tanks up to 5 gallons. I don't have much experience with heaters so I have no way of knowing for sure.

I'm hoping to upgrade as well next year to at least a 5.5 gallon (the plan is to split it between Zieg and Merlin leaving one of their 1 gallon for a hospital tank and using the other one for a rescued betta) so it would be nice to know if the same heater would work.