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Blyxia deficiency?

Aeropars

Member
Joined
9 Jul 2007
Messages
818
Location
Leicester
Hi Guys,

The blyxia I was given by James has had a odd change happen. The tips are going brown. Not a colour of dying but almost like the colour your red stems go when under good light. I'm sure james had more lighting than me so it cant be that.

Any ideas??

Pics below:

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I notice as well that the leafs tips have been nipped off. Do you think these have been eaten or is it again part of the deficiency?

Lee
 
Its not a deficiency, its a slight melting. Blyxa like crypts does not travel well. I recieved some of george's blyxa a week or so ago from dan and nearly all the leaves went like this at first. However after a week in the tank it is stating to show signs of a come back. Just give it time, light, co2 and a good ferts routine and it will come back, it is a stem after all. :D
 
Yep the ones in the front of this tank are from George and 1 week in they looked shredded. now I am having to choose which ones are going to come out!!!

FullFront-1.jpg
 
Yes, all part of the same thing. What happened with mine was the leaves went brown, some melted and the new growth sort of grew from the top like any stem. Once i had new growth i removed the old / shabby leaves and pushed the stem further into the substrate as all affected growth was low down.
 
I find blyxa hates a change in water parameters and sometimes totally melts, but it has always come back with me. In my tank it also goes a reddish colour as well, but looks like it may have lost this colour during postage.

James
 
I came hoe today to some more floating plants but this time the stems had melted.

Is this normal for a new plant again? I replanted but am wondering if my dosing is perhaps not good enough for it. Not seen any difference so far dosing PPS Pro as per instructions on Aquatic Plant Central.

All help apreciated!

Lee
 
Lee, you need to drive your CO2 into the yellow region of your dropchecker. When moses descended from his visit to Mount Sinai there were no reports of 30ppm being etched in either of his stone tablets. Add more CO2 mate. Now I don't want to start a dosing flame war because I know there are people doing PPS or PMDD or whatever and that those schemes work for them. I prefer to dose EI. It's entirely possible that low or marginal nitrates are exacerbating the CO2 issue. Low phosphates also attenuates nitrate uptake. If you are trying to get a plant to grow then why would you want to use a low growth dosing scheme (bangs head on table)?

Cheers,
 
At the moment i'm on the brink of the fish gasping at the surface so I cant really push it any more. The PPS dosing is so i can afford to miss some water changes where EI is a lot less forgiving. Thats my reason for going this route.

I havent tested but phosphates ar in abundance in my tap water as well as dosing as are nitrate. I guess i'll check to be certain but i've never notices zero nitrates since i've been fishkeeping.
 
OK, I see. If you are at the limit, then is liquid carbon an option? I know it's expensive and some plants don't like it so you might be in a cul-de-sac in this regard.

If your plants are healthy, if you have sufficient plant mass and if the tank is mature with a healthy bacterial population - and if you have decent filtration then the ammonia buildup is mitigated and skipping occasional water changes while dosing EI is really no big deal. A key is to remove or prevent organic debris accretion whenever possible. Dead and departed leaves are removed on a daily basis in my tank. Lean feeding is also a good procedure as well.

I wouldn't trust a test kit to determine PO4/NO3 tap water content. Check on-line for your areas water report. This gives a fairly good yearly average. Normally though it's a year old.

Cheers,
 
I did check with the water board a while back and they confirmed that it was pretty loaded with both. I personally didnt understand what they were saying but someone decyphered it for me. I cant remember where I posted it though.

I cant really afford the liquid carbon to be honest although from what you said, i could possably give EI a go? On average i can normally do a change every 2 weeks. I've upped the dosage to 10ml per day from 5ml with the current PPS solution to see if that has any effect.

The tank is certainly mature but as it was neglected for a few months plants appear to have stopped growing, namely the E. Tenellius and Vallis Nana which was rampant when it first went in the tank. They are not dead by any means but appear to be dormant in the respect that no runners are coming from them and sive isnt changing. Feeding wise, i sparingly feed the fish about twice a week.
 
Hi,
I went online to check the water report for Leicester. I just made an assumption that you are supplied by Severn Trent Water. You can find a copy of their report (for 2006) here: http://www.stwater.co.uk/server.php?show=nav.001001018

I had a look at the report but in the end I discovered that unlike many water companies who actually provide the mean or average concentration levels found in their samples Severn merely provide the samples' compliance against some European standard. They call this the Prescribed Concentration Value (PCV). The PCV for nitrate is 50ppm. If you check page 11 of the pdf file you'll see that none of 1,687 samples they took in 2006 exceeded this value. But that doesn't really tell you what the samples actually contained, so a sample containing 49ppm counts exactly as a sample containing 0ppm. In this respect the water report is a bit of disappointment to tell the truth. They don't even mention PO4. :mad: :(

As far as I can see therefore unless you have a really accurate test kit like a Hach or Lamotte there is no real way to determine what the content is unless you prepare calibrated samples using RO/DI and KNO3. Dosing EI completely eliminates the need for all this calibration. What was interesting is that Severn has a FAQ regarding BGA in their water supply, which made me think; Hmmm... :?

I totally understand about the liquid carbon. It's a pity you can't move the fish to another tank for an interim period. That would allow you to up CO2 without fear. I think the Blyxa should come back though, as long as the ferts are OK.

Cheers,
 
Hi,
Had a look at the AE thread. The quote seems a bit vague. The email quote says "...Sample results for phosphate collected from your area show the average level to be 1320 ug/l phosphate, as phosphorous..." I would have interpreted this as 1.32ppm PO4 as you typically measure the PO4 not the free P, unless it is some very elaborate measurement procedure. In any case this is also an "average" so who knows what that means about a specific sample or area. As far as I can see there is sufficient ambiguity to dose everything. That way you know what's in the tank as a minimum.

Cheers,
 
Yes, i thought that as well from what people told me although I am dosing everything to be sure as It cant do much harm provided the plants are using it.

Because the solution is already made for PPS Pro and I dont really want to waste it, would you recommend upping the dosing somewhat? I have a 180 litre tank while I was dosing 5ml of the solution, i started doing 10ml this morning. Should I go higher?
 
Aeropars said:
Yes, i thought that as well from what people told me although I am dosing everything to be sure as It cant do much harm provided the plants are using it.

Because the solution is already made for PPS Pro and I dont really want to waste it, would you recommend upping the dosing somewhat? I have a 180 litre tank while I was dosing 5ml of the solution, i started doing 10ml this morning. Should I go higher?

Well, I'd just try the 10 ml for three weeks and see how things go. Every time I change something I always give it 2-3 weeks because it takes that long for the plants to respond. EI is very flexible because all it attempts to do is to ensure that you have at least enough of the maximum possible daily uptake. If in fact your tap has close to 50ppm NO3 and 4 ppm PO4 then you won't see any difference in growth rates by stepping up to the 10 ml dosing and you will then be able to drop back down to 5ml.

Cheers,
 
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