Hello,
I've got this cute little green plant I rescued from my parents house. He was put in a small vase and now his roots are too thick to pull out. He's lived pretty happily for at least a year and he's very resilient. I rarely change the water except when he's drank it down a lot.
In the last month he's stopped drinking his water, one leaf is faintly browned and there's slime on the walls of his vase. Is there any way I can clean or loosen that slime from the vase walls without hurting him or breaking the nice vase? A chemical treatment or something? Also, how can I treat this water, no dirt, plant better? I know this is not your group's specialty, but I thought you might have some ideas.

Thanks

Is this one of those happy bamboo plants or some other water-loving plant? If the plant won't come out of the vase, it does sound like you might consider breaking it so you can put it in a larger home. That will solve the cleaning problem. You can try to pour out what water is in there by turning it upside down. Then, you can refill it with water and add chemicals. Keep in mind that some chemicals may harm the plant too. If the slime is fluorescent green, it may be blue-green algae which you can kill with antibiotics such as Maracyn I by Mardel which is erythromycin. That is a fish medication sold at aquarium stores. If it's regular algae, you can add an algaecide that says it's safe for plants. If you really have to keep the plant in the vase but really must have it cleaned, you might also try adding some dilute (1 part to 20 parts water) bleach. Rinse this around and around and dump and repeat. Then rinse repeatedly with clean water (without chemicals). A little soaking in dilute bleach may even be in order. Be VERY aware that bleach can kill the plant if it gets too much.