[Death_by_Dinosaurs]

I fear that one of my tanks may have developed the feared Black Beard Algae. It has been set up around a year. The algae appears to have a blackish-brown color. Unfortunately, I am colorblind, and others have told me that it is more of a maroon. it has appeared on two leaves of the year old anubia, the back of one of my dinosaurs, (yes, i have a problem) and possibly on the basalt, but I can’t quite tell if its just me.
Size -10 gallon
Temp -79F
Livestock-1 molly, four glowline tetras, two Cory catfish, two nerite snails
Plants-One anubia, one sword fern, one African water fern (not doing so hot), several small javas
Filtration-One tetra internal filter. Hate it, but it’s cheap and it works
Lighting- Those crappy LEDs that are built into the hood. Possibly a place for improvement?
Fertilizer- API leaf zone, 5ml a week as recommended
Water change- weekly 10%
I can add my recent water parameters if this could be an issue. As of last month, they were all in check, and that’s when this stuff first showed up. It doesn’t really seen to rub off, though I’ll try harder tomorrow. It’s pretty slow moving stuff.

 

[A&A]

Looks like diatoms and cyano to me.

 

[Death_by_Dinosaurs]

Thank you. What do I do about that?

 

[A&A]

Diatoms are often a part of a new setup or a setup that is not mature. Do not panic. Some ideas below. I’m sure others will chime in.

• weekly 50% water changes
• more plants!
• make sure you are not overfeeding the fish
• remove old, damaged or dead parts of your plants

 

[Death_by_Dinosaurs]

Interesting. This tank is a year old. I had considered it mature. I haven’t been spectacular about removing old plants, I’ll try and be better about that.

 

[_endgiggles]

Try cutting your light to 25% along with a few water changes. But I'm a firm believer that water changes are bad, toss some pothos cutting in as well, let nature be nature, we aren't God. Give it a couple weeks and see where you end up!