Fungus on barclays longifolia bulb.

[dan4x4]

Good evening, I have a bubble of fungus growing on the barclaya longifolia bulb i dropped into the tank last week. Do I need to be concerned about this?

Its the same sort of fungus I had on the wood when the aquarium was 1st set up many months ago.

The build has been lying there, thought it wasn't going to germinate, however it has 1 root coming out of the side, which has not hit the substrate yet.

I cannot see any leaves coming out of the bulb as yet.

 

[wolfewill]

Can you upload a picture of it?

 

[Mick.Dk]

Bulbs of all kinds will often (well allways, actually) be attacked by fungi - this is because there's allways dead, organic material on bulbs. Some fungi are harmless to the bulb, some can provee fatal - and there are all sorts inbetween, ofcourse.
BUT.......don't be too alarmed. Healthy bulbs will defend themselves, so it is rarely a problem. Snails, shrimp and some fish will happily eat these colonies of fungi/bactetia, too.
I inow there are different approaches......but in my expetience it is better to - at least half- bury bulbs in substrate. Not too deep, though.
The root, sprouting, is a good sign, that your bulb is alive and going into growth. This will furthermore strengthen the plant, as it will gather energy from leaves.
At some point, your Barclaya will need to go dormant; leaves will de-attach and no new leaves will be produced. Weeks/months later it will then decide to get into growth again.......

 

[Mick.Dk]

P.S
- you will just love it, when your Barclaya goes into flowering (they readily do)......it somehow look like right out of Jurassic Park !!

 

[dan4x4]

P.S
- you will just love it, when your Barclaya goes into flowering (they readily do)......it somehow look like right out of Jurassic Park !!

Thanks for the replies, I will try to get a pic up later and ill push it into the gravel a bit.

Im really excited to see what its like and your description sounds awesome. I have a glass lid on the aquarium so If it flowers I will be able to admire that too!

I read online that I should kill the flower off after flowering, can you confirm if this is correct?

 

[wolfewill]

And, you've got to keep the water temperature above 76 degrees F or it'll induce dormancy. I've made that mistake several times and now keep the heater on all summer in case I forget to turn them on as the weather cools in the fall. Dormancy can last for several months. In my experience - 4 months is typical. Here is a picture of the bulbs as I originally planted them: http://s1157.photobucket.com/user/wolfewill17/media/Overhaul 90/PB101126.jpg.html?sort=3&o=6

 

[Mick.Dk]

Pinching finished flowers off, is an old, general gardener's-trick. Usually to prevent plants from spending energy on producing seed - and consequently producing more leaves and flowers.
Barclaya is - in litterature - said to easily produce a lot of seed, thereby spreading everywhere in tank. I have never had that "luck" myself. My flowers have never developed any (virile) seed, it seems.

 

[wolfewill]

I've read the same and agree with Mick.Dk. But my plants have many seed pods with many, many viable seeds. I began pinching off the seed pods as soon as I see them about a year ago. If they are left to grow, they spray seed throughout the tank and become a real hassle - literally hundreds of plants. I have four large plants in two different tanks and I get lots of seed pods with viable seed. The dormancy may be held off by pinching these off as I've done over the last year, but I've only just eliminated dormancy in three of my four plants this fall (the three are in one tank). The fourth plant, has gone dormant again despite the pod pinching. I have attributed the dormancy to temperatures falling below the magic threshold of 76 degrees F, but pinching the seeds pods off may help the plant retain more of it's vigor and assist in foregoing the dormant cycle. Their cycle seems annual 'cause the dormant period has always started in October and run through to February. The ones which haven't gone dormant this year may prove my observations a lie though, so we'll see over the next few months.

 

[dan4x4]

 

[dan4x4]

sorry for poor quality picture, its in an awkward position as its hidden behind the wood, you can probably see it between the 2 echinodourus plants