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Re: Tonid's echinodorus sp.

Yoadie yo ho !!!

Based on a message from Stephen.Pushak at saudan_HAC.COM to All,
Let's talk about: Re: Tonid's echinodorus sp.

 >> Echinodorus sp. (can someone help me out here?
 >> It has one characteristic feature - when young its leaves
 >> are light green with darker spots in some places, which
 >> disappears with age, adult leaves are large, up to about 40
 >> cm in length and 10 in width)

 S> Sounds like E. cordata from the brown spots on the young
 S> leaves, and the size. Are the leaves cordate (heart shaped?)

Well, the part near the stalk is cordate, but the rest of
the leaf is elongated and the tip is rounded, not sharp
(therefore not resembling a heart), also the proportion is
that the leaf is at least twice as long compared to its
width.

 S> I have one of these too but it wants to take all the light so
 S> I have to cut off leaves. The leaf stalks are quite long too;
 S> about 40 cm. My leaves are not so large as your, about 25-30

My stalks are short - about up to 10 cm.

 S> cm in length, 10 cm width. It is now very much larger than
 S> when I bought it; it may have been growing emersed before.
 S> Is yours in the paludarium? Does it get daylight? These are

No, it was bought over a year ago, so it's purely underwater
leaves now...

Oh, another thing that might help a lot in identifying it -
the way it breeds. It grows long stalks with a flowerlike
tip, and joints appear after some time on this stalk, and at
least two or three young plants start growing out of it.

 S> very large leaves! The farlowellas love to cling to the stem
 S> of these.

Actually my Rineloricarias are the ones constantly hanging
down from the leaves :)

 >> I also recently added some
 >> Cabomba caroliniana and it's growing FAAST!

 S> You must have good strong light!

Not that strong... One 16W Osram White and 1 15W Sylvania
Flora fluorescents. They're about 8cm away from the surface,
and the tank depth is about 40 cm.

 >> Ludwigia sp. (don't have the right books to identify it :(

 S> Please describe the leaf shape, stem and leaf stalk arrangement

Leafs are elliptic, sharp-tipped, the stalk is grown with
the leaf (so there is no clear place where it stops), the
leaves are lightly wavy (not fully flat), about 2 to 3 cm in
length and 1 to 2 cm in width. They're placed against one
another in allternating groups of two, about each 1.5 cm on
the stem.

Oh, BTW I'm not sure (due to my limited English vocabulary)
about the difference between stem and stalk...

 S> as well as colors, sizes of leaves and stems. This really

Colors might be a problem - I'm partly colourblind :( But my
wife tells me it's rather dark green.

 S> applies to all questions about plant identification. We have
 S> a few real experts here who we haven't been able to stump yet

I hope I can get that good some day :)

 S> given a detailed description. If you can get it to flower,
 S> I bet Karen will even classify the Crypts! :-)

Luckily I'm not into Crypts :)

 S> I guess somebody should post how to describe plant leaves
 S> as this is one of the best indicators: eg. cordate, spatulate,
 S> linear, undulate, blah, blah...

Errr.. I wish I knew what ment what :)

 >> I have those darn hair algae (short, about
 >> 1 cm in length, dark green/brown - sorry, I'm partly
 >> colourblind - grows in tight groups over the surface of the
 >> stones or at the edge of a leaf

 S> Ah, the ubiquitous brush algae (sometimes called red algae
 S> but it is black in appearance). It is very tough and grows
 S> in tufts. How to get rid of it? Declare war on it! I'm

WAR WAR!!!! Everyone to arms :)

 S> sure you'll get much advice on this including suggesting
 S> the use of SAE. My methods:

SAE?! Whatis SAE?

 S> 1) avoid overfeeding/fertilizing

I'm avoiding it as much as I can...

 S> 2) remove affected plant leaves without mercy

I tried, no effect :(

 S> 3) bleach treat plants you want to save (5% bleach 2-3 min)

Hmmm I might try...

 S> Be careful, some plants (valisneria, ludwigia arcuata,
 S> penny wort, hygrophila sp.) can easily be hurt by bleach.

Well, unfortunately these are the plants I want to save and
the ones most affected :(((

 S> I think Echinodorus and Crypts are a little tougher esp.
 S> those with thicker leaves.  After dipping, rinse thoroughly,
 S> treat with chlorine neutralizer.
 S> 4) remove rocks, decorations and other hardware and 25%
 S> bleach treat 'em. Same precautions, chlorine neutralizer;
 S> dry thoroughly.

Ok. Stones are affected a lot, so one day I guess I will
just have to do all of it all at once and see the results...

 S> 5) aquarium walls: magnetic scraper & elbow grease.

I use magnetic scraper regularly.

 S> Apply elbow great liberally to your elbows and scrub away.

What is elbow grease?!

 S> Maintain very high filtration at this time to remove floating
 S> algae debris loosened from the walls. A powerful canister
 S> type filter with the inlet directed where you're scrubbing
 S> by a helper would do a good job.

Hmmm... Might try that, unfortunately I have an internal
sponge power head filter...

 S> 6) grow lotsa plants, have CO2 and lotsa light so they grow
 S> faster than the algae.

I do that, they grow like crazy!

 S> 7) enjoy a beer, rum, gin or vodka. This will do nothing
 S> about the algae but it won't bother you so much. ;-)

This is reqlly good advice :) I can get to that right away
;)))

           /
          ||/   -=< TONID >=-
     | /| |/   Tomasz Nidecki
     || |//    tonid at falcon_mimuw.edu.pl (FWD to FIDO)
     ||////    Tomasz.Nidecki at f78_n480.z2.fidonet.org
     /  /_
    |', ___
    |  /
     --

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Message originated at Tonid's Endemic Zone FIDO-Gate
From: Tomasz Nidecki <Tomasz.Nidecki at f78_n480.z2.fidonet.org>
To:   Stephen.Pushak at saudan_HAC.COM
Please use the above "From:" address for private mail!
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