why are my hygro disintigrating ?

[cichlidlover]

hi,
a few weeks ago i bought 4 hygrophila corymbosa siamensis 53B plants and they seemed to be doing fine, but now they have started to rot!
I bought these plants because they are supposed to be easy to grow without high lighting and low nutrients. The funny thing is the roots are growing really well, maybe they are adjusting to my tank, any ideas guys.
My parameters are fine and my water soft ( 6.8ph, 6kh, 9gh,) I feed profito and carbo daily and an iron supplement weekly.
thanks

mark

 

[Dan Crawford]

Hygrophila species are a good indicating plants, they are quick to react to deficiencies. I would suggest that it's lacking a source of nitrogen. Profito contains no NPK which are vital to good plant growth. Personally I'd switch to Tropica Plant Nutrition Plus, if you're reluctant to switch then I'd suggest investing in EasyLife Nitro, Phosfo etc.

 

[AndyOx]

I agree with dan, another possibility is that usually they are grown out of water and when submerged they will shed their leaves and regrow new softer underwater ones. If the stems themselves are rotting then it would point nutrient shortage much more.

 

[cichlidlover]

thanks for the replies guys,
well my tank is heavily stocked so nitrates are always about 20ppm. the plant stems are fine its just the leaves are full of holes!

mark

 

[ukco2guy]

Hi,

Mine developed holes after a few weeks of introduction, the holes would first appear very small with a tint of yellow and then go on to cover the whole leaf and eventually the whole plant. At first i thought it was my SAE`s or Clown Loach munching them but after speaking to Clive (on here) i made dramatic changes to my co2 distribution, cut them right down / re-planted and waited a few weeks. I now have healthy looking hygro`s with some minor damage to a couple of leaves due to the Clown Loach (i just knew he was part responsible).

Hope that helps a bit

Cheers,

 

[ceg4048]

Rotting plants are a result of poor CO2 or flow. Does anyone pay attention or do they just live in The Matrix and believe what they want to believe? Nutrients have nothing to do with this symptom. Nitrogen failure is characterized by either chlorosis of mature leaves, BGA, or stunting, or a combination of the three, not by disintegration. Any structural anomaly is a result of poor carbon uptake because among other things, carbon is used for structure. This should be automatic by now people.

If this is a liquid carbon only tank then you are not adding enough. If this is a CO2 injected tank then you're not injecting enough, or flow/distribution is anemic. It's probable that the lighting is too high for the amount that you are adding. These are possibilities. We have not been told the size of the tank, the flow rate or the lighting. These are the factors that affect the rotting. pH/KH/GH are actually irrelevant.

Having said all that nitrate levels can rarely ever be determined by any test kit readings, so you really don't know what the nitrate levels are. Dan's advice is sage in that TPN+ is a much better option that the Profito in the long run.

You could be lucky in that the combination of fish/food waste plus tap water nitrate/phosphate levels my be high enough for now, but any confidence in the 20ppm value is pure fantasy. If this were the actual value it would be as a result of luck...although it is better to be lucky than good.

Cheers,