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Crypt help please

Staffylover

Staffylover

Member
Joined
8 May 2016
Messages
29
Location
Cheshire
I need some help please before I lose all my plants. I've planted my tank out with quite a lot of crypt in the last six weeks. The balansae seems to be doing well but the same cannot be said for my other cryots. I have experienced some melt when they were first planted out but there is another issues and I don't know how to deal with it.
As you can see from the pics the plants are going pale and in some cases yellow. I'm removing the yellow leaves but as soon as I have there's another one. The leaves look almost mottled and I suspect within a few days most will turn yellow
I don't know if it's an issue with lighting or ferts?
I have clay balls in the substrate and dose daily with profito ferts.
Ph is 6.5
FE is 0.8 which I believe is a bit in the high side, the guide States 0.5 for a heavily planted tank
KH takes two drops to turn yellow but I'm unsure in what that reading is in the JBL kit as the instructions are not great
Phosphates are very high.
Lighting is an 18w tube
Tank is 35l with low flow
Lights are on six hours per day on average, slightly longer at weekend
Temp 28 degrees
I'm not sure what else to test, I have the basic JBL test kit
Can anyone offer me any guidance on how I can help these plants recover?
Many thanks
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It may be usual crypt melt but I reckon push some root tabs in some of the plants to test that theory out.
 
I might try and add some potassium and magnesium if not adding any at this time or.. a bit more if you are adding potassium,magnesium.
Agree with other's ,I have lost nearly all leaves from crypt's after inserting them fresh into my tank's, but if the root's are left alone and root's are healthy looking,,they will sprout new leaves within a few week's.(patience)
If however the root's were brown and rotten looking from the get go,they seldom recover, and I just remove them and try and source plant's with healthy looking root's .
I often see plant's for sale at big chain stores that have mushy brown looking root system's from languishing in store tanks for week or two with too much light,no fertilzer's,no one buying them.
 
Hi all, thanks for all your replies
I lost a full balansae today and when I pulled it out it was a bit smelly and had what looked like talcum powder around the roots. The roots had rotted! So I've checked a few plants and their roots are the same, they are mushy but not completely like the balansae was .I've given the manado a good stir and have released a bit of gas, nothing excessive but could this be causing the issue? I've rinsed off the bad root and replanted. I've got quite a few MTS in there but maybe not enough? I'm not sure what to do now moving forward. Do I ride it out and see what happens? I've spent an absoloutely fortune planting this tank out as I replaced the gravel with manado, added the clay balls and then fully planted with crypts. I'm gutted at the state of it tonight. Whilst stirring the gravel I have manage to disperse a clay ball too so had to do a fairly big water change to remove that and any potential gas before putting my fighter back in.
I can't reduce the temp as the fish needs the hotter end of the tropicals.
The plants did look to have healthy roots but they were extremely root bound so I had to cut them out of their pots. I also split the plants to spread them out in the tank, is that OK to do?
 
Hi there,

I have some success with crypts and in my experience they flourish best with a nutrient rich substrate and quite high water flow and it's well known that they do not like to be messed with. I suggest that you add root fert tabs but then stop any further disturbance to the substrate. I'm pretty sure getting the temp down from 28c will also help but do not despair they require patience and settling in time. In my Lazy Asian Biotope tank (linked in my signature) it's currently running at around 24c rather than 22c due to it being summer and for certain the crypts love the high level of water movement. They don't need a lot of light or water fertilisation just a nutrient rich substrate and lean dosing seems to work very well.
 
Your fighter doesn't need to be kept at 28
24 is fine
I presume it's an import
In which case he has spent all his life previously in a rum bottle with 250ml of water
So he is use to big temperature fluctuations
15-30
At a constant 28 all you are doing is speeding up his metabolism

I keep lots of Bettas and I heat the room the temperature fluctuates from day to night etc and I don't have any problems at all
The most common problem with Bettas is bloat due to a change from live food to dried food once they are in the uk home

So if def drop the temp


Regards
Dean
 
Are there any particular root tabs recommended? I bought some unbranded ones from eBay last time which are the clay balls.
I've knocked the temp down to 27 this morning and will look to knock it down one more tonight
I can't up the flow though

Annoyingly I have some crypts in a couple of other tanks. Standard gravel, no ferts and they are doing great
 
Chris Jackson said:
Hi there,

I have some success with crypts and in my experience they flourish best with a nutrient rich substrate and quite high water flow and it's well known that they do not like to be messed with. I suggest that you add root fert tabs but then stop any further disturbance to the substrate. I'm pretty sure getting the temp down from 28c will also help but do not despair they require patience and settling in time. In my Lazy Asian Biotope tank (linked in my signature) it's currently running at around 24c rather than 22c due to it being summer and for certain the crypts love the high level of water movement. They don't need a lot of light or water fertilisation just a nutrient rich substrate and lean dosing seems to work very well.
Click to expand...

Hi Chris, when you say lean dosing what would be your recommendation? At the moment I'm dosing the weekly dose over six days so they are being dosed daily
 
Staffylover said:
Hi Chris, when you say lean dosing what would be your recommendation? At the moment I'm dosing the weekly dose over six days so they are being dosed daily
Click to expand...

I like the finesse of adding an all in one solution according to how the plants are growing. In my crypt tank I'm adding Tropica Specialised at about half recomended dose or less combined with a high number of fish and generous feeding. However I've made a DIY fert brew from a James's planted tank recipe that I'm using in my other tank very successfully but again at lower than recomended dose for the most part. Learning from the condition of plants takes some experience but Darrel's "duckweed index" method makes for great assistance if you can accomodate some floaters.
I've got some Dennerle root tabs that I've used occasionaly but I suspect TNC plugs are probably as good as any but as you've already added your ebay ones it may actually be better just to stick with patience and regular small water changes to help keep conditions stable.
 
Hi all,
Staffylover said:
The plants did look to have healthy roots but they were extremely root bound so I had to cut them out of their pots. I also split the plants to spread them out in the tank, is that OK to do?
Click to expand...
Staffylover said:
when I pulled it out it was a bit smelly and had what looked like talcum powder around the roots. The roots had rotted! So I've checked a few plants and their roots are the same, they are mushy but not completely like the balansae was
Click to expand...
I think that is probably your problem. If you look at a <"Cryptocoryne"> plant.
alb_PB-SRL4-4-05-01_B1191_3787.jpg

The "roots" are actually two different structures, the rhizome (below)
cri_TI_5397.jpg

and the roots that grow from it. You can see new roots (and shoot) growing at the rhizome apex.

It is the rhizome that is important.

The rhizome produces roots, but damaged roots usually don't re-grow, they rot back to the rhizome. If the rhizome is undamaged this isn't usually a problem, but if the rhizome is damaged as well you can lose the whole plant.

Older sections of rhizome can potentially grow new plants, if they have sufficient nutrient reserves. Have a look at <"What to do .....">.

cheers Darrel
 
I don't recall seeing any rhizome when I split them up. I have two plants that are still potted but are quite root bound so I'll have a look at them when I get them out of their pots. I won't split these and see how I get on.
I'm probably going to have to cut some roots off to get the pots off the plants though, will that be an issue?
 
No it won't hurt to cut the pot's carefully from the root's.
The clay ball's you mention unless impregnated with nutrient's by perhaps soaking in nutrient solution will only ad/absorb nutrient's as they become available via substrate or water column dosing.
Not familiar with the substrate you are using, but if it hold's nutrient's and as mentioned the root's are in fair to good shape,then I would not fret over losing leaves straight away for new ones better suited for their condition's will sprout in my experience.
 
I am fairly brutal when getting root bound crypts out of pots. I then trim the roots to around 1-2 inches, remove one or 2 outer leaves and anything damaged and then it gets planted.

Sent from my SM-G920F using Tapatalk
 
I lost all my crypts bar three Balansae, the roots turned to mush and smelt awful. I'm leaving the tank as it is for now to ensure the remaining crypts survive and then I'll decide what to do next
 
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