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Red tiger lotus leaves keep rotting... plant hardly has any left..

C

candymancan

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8 Nov 2014
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This was my red tiger lotus when I got it about 4 months ago, actually it was even bigger then that lillys on the top of the tank so many of them it was blocking all the light.. I trimmed all of them off to keep it growing near the bottom of the tank. and it worked it stopped sprouting lilies every day to the top and it grew them on the bottom..

However the last 2 months the plant seems like its dying.. The leaves all get mushy in a spot and then melt away, but grows news ones back literally overnight.. However they wont stop dying.. they keep melting.. I thought it was buried too deep so I put a anchor on it and pulled the bulb out of the substrate.. that didn't do anything.. All the roots rotted away and all I have is the bulb and about 7 small leaves on it.. and the new ones that do grow rot before they even get big... What is wrong with my tiger lotus ? I upped my lighting its in the 27g tank and I have 83 watts of light over it. a Power Compact light and a T8.. All of my plants are growing fantastic.. they all have color in them too.. So I don't understand this... Im using excel, API leaf zone, flourish and seachem iron... Temps were 86f because I had discus in this tank temp while I got my new tank setup... I figured maybe it was the temps.. but the discus have been out for like 4 weeks now and the temps are now at 80-82 (I have electric blue rams in the tank) PH is always around 6.8

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How do I check co2 ? I don't use airtanks for co2 in my fish tanks.. Never had the need too.. I dose excel occasionally but I don't have the funds or patience messing with co2 when I have 8 planted tanks in my house...

As for water flow. its a 27g hexagon, doesn't require much flow and the internal filter I have actually pushes so much flow in the tank my taller stem plants lean in the current. I did notice when I got this plant that my PH went from like 6.6 to 7.4, so it is probably sucking all CO2 I have in the tank.. But why is it the only plant doing this ? I have others that are high maintenance plants in the tank and they grow just fine.

Should also note im using floramax substrate.. its enriched for plants and I rarely gravel vacuum this tank


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Hi all,
I've never had much luck with them low tech., with only submerged leaves. They've always dwindled over time.

The only one I have left is in a 2', and after a while I just let the leaves grow to the surface. I maintain it by just letting it have 3 surface pads, I take the oldest leaf off as soon as the newer one has expanded. It produces a new leaf about every 7 days.

This plant I've maintained like this for ~4 years (may be longer), and the only "problem" with it has been that when I've been away for 3 weeks when I've come back the leaves cover the entire tank surface.

cheers Darrel
 
So should I raise the plant higher in the tank then.. Right now its leaves are really low.. its a 25 inch tall tank.. none of my red plants grow red that far down.. only when they are higher up in the tank like midpoint. Should I transplant it in a shorter tank and see if it starts to grow better ?
 
candymancan said:
don't use airtanks for co2 in my fish tanks
Click to expand...
Oops...I assumed you injected CO2 with a lotus not reaching the surface you usually would need CO2, as Darrel stated.
I think raising the plant higher would help, I have mine about 16 inch from the surface and I keep cutting away leaves, but I have a high tech tank.
 
I used to have one in a low tech tank too and had a similar problem... once i upgraded my tank and finally added CO2 from an FE it wouldnt stop growing and never had a problem with it again :)
 
I think there's a common consensus, that added CO2 is needed if you plan to grow Tigerlotus fully submerged. It will thrive nicely then.
The nature of the plant is to go for surface-leaves, though, so you will need to trim away those - preferably before they reach surface.
This species is so widespread geographically, that different plants will be even VERY different in both appearance and growth-habit. Most, if not all, plants sold commercially are collected in the wild and distributed by wholesale..........so it's impossible to know where a specific plant originates.
As a sidenote, Tigerlotus usually go dormant during dry season, in their natural habitat - so I wouldn't be surprised if some actually need this. Like dormancy is needed with some Aponogetons, but not others.
 
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well whatr I did was added some substrate to those floating baby things that you put pregnant fish in or sick fish and I put the tiger lotus in it.. so now the leaves are touching the surface and obviously its right below the light now... Moving the plant it lost like 3 more leaves.. it has only 4 1-2 inch sized leaves left..

so lets hope this bring it back to life
 
The plant seem to be reacting better being higher up in the tank.. It has grown 4 new leaves and so far only 1 has rotted away.. and the leaves are all turning towards the light... they are about 1 inch from the surface inside that floating container in my first pic.. obviously I cant put a lot of substrate in that thing or itll sink but I got 1/2 inch in there and I can see new roots growing towards it...

Soo could this be because the plant is getting more CO2 by being close to the surface ?? Or is it because its right up against my 65w PC bulb ?
 
I had a tiger lotus in my tank last summer and after a few months it started melting inexplicably. The tank is a 30 litre low tech and I had let grow surface pads.

Anyways I left the healthy bulb on the substrate and to my surprise a few weeks ago it sprouted again and already has four underwater leaves.

I am sharing because it seems that Mick is spot on once again. It probably needs a resting period.
 
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