My plants die

Hi everyone. I been having problems keeping plants alive. They eventually start to turn mush and brown/black goops. I use Seachem #1 (3 bottles) once every two weeks. It has led light from the tank. Today I bought a new plant hopefully it will survive? I didn't separate the new one bc I like to let them settle and grow roots a bit more.

There is a pic. The plant to the left is old one as you can see dying slowly. The other one is new got today,
hydrocotyle?
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B0_K1FZY2wgBYVhtemJDR2FuSm8/view?usp=drivesdk

Fluval spec 19L
Betta
Running for 6months?
I use Caribbean substrate.

The plant on the left in the photo is Wisteria, Hygrophila difformis. This is a rapid-growing stem plant, which means it needs good light. I kept this fairly well in my 70g with two fluorescent tubes, but in other tanks it falls apart. It also needs good nutrition to balance the light.

On this aspect, can you detail what "Seachem #1" is? I am familiar with the Seachem Flourish line, and the new AquaVitro line. Each has several different products under those names.

The Pennywort, Hydrocotyl leucocephala, is less demanding when it comes to light intensity. From the photo your LED light seems fairly good, so this plant should fare better. It also grows nicely if left floating on the surface.

I'll have more (probably) when I know about the fertilizer.

Byron.

It is called, Seachem plant pack fundamentals level 1. Flourish, flourish excel, flourish iron.

The Hygrophilas has nice roots but it keeps dying away.

omega59 said:

It is called, Seachem plant pack fundamentals level 1. Flourish, flourish excel, flourish iron.

The Hygrophilas has nice roots but it keeps dying away.

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I'm thinking this is likely a nutrient issue (the light in the photo seems fine spectrum-wise and it is not dim), so a few more questions to pin it down.

I take it you are dosing all three products, the Flourish Comprehensive Supplement [to give it its full name, yes?], Flourish Excel and Flourish Iron, and each of these only once every two weeks? What dosage are you using?

Do you know the GH (general hardness) of your tap water? I ask because this is an essential source for the "hard" minerals which are in Flourish Comprehensive but minimally. You should be able to ascertain the GH from your water authority's website. I see you are in Canada, but don't know where, and the GH of local water differs a lot from region to region; out here in Vancouver we have very soft water, and this makes a difference. So pinning the GH down will help us.

One thing I do know about the Fluval Spec that lets it down is the standard LED lights, which is actually fairly basic, to be fair is perfectly fine for low tech plants but perhaps an upgrade with some red leds and around the 5,000 to 7,000k range may help the growth of your choice of plants.

Not essential, but an option worth considering imho.

Also I suspect, as Byron says, there is a bit of a nutrient imbalance with the ratio of the light the plants are recieving, so Byron is on the case with that side of things

I only add the supplements each water change, which is every 1-2 weeks. That said I don't do a full cap (from bottle) as it states that is for 10galls as I have 5. (19l).
I'm not sure which GH. I live in Vaughan, Ontario which is north of Toronto here in Canada.
Another note. It's the fluval spec V
And I'm wondering if the carbon sac would be removing the Seachem product?

omega59 said:

I only add the supplements each water change, which is every 1-2 weeks. That said I don't do a full cap (from bottle) as it states that is for 10galls as I have 5. (19l).
I'm not sure which GH. I live in Vaughan, Ontario which is north of Toronto here in Canada.
Another note. It's the fluval spec V
And I'm wondering if the carbon sac would be removing the Seachem product?

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Yes to the last question here, but with a caveat that it won't be much. Don't worry about the carbon, it will give out after a few weeks of use and just don't bother replacing it.

You should increase your water changes, to one every week on the same day, and change about half the tank volume. What conditioner are you using?

On the plant additives, do not use the Excel. This is a so-called liquid carbon supplement, but it contains glutaraldehyde which is a highly toxic disinfectant. Some plants wi8ll be killed by this, and should it be overdosed, it can kill plants, bacteria and fish. You don't need this, it is not the issue, so leave it out.

Iron I would not use at this stage. There is iron in the Flourish Comprehensive Supplement [I assume this is the first product]. This is a complete and comprehensive nutrient supplement. Use the dose but every week after the water change, or the following day. I don't know how much this matters, but Seachem say that the minerals can be negated by a conditioner like Prime (this is why I asked above about the conditioner).

I dug around trying to find some water data but nothing was mentioned about GH, so we'll let that pass.

I use nutrafin Betta+ conditioner 1cap full.
I always do half the tank water changes. So if I understand,

Water change 50% once a week.

Use flourish once a week, and day after water change add a cap.


Note. Since I already added all three seachem products yesterday should I start over do a water change and then just add flourish?

omega59 said:

I use nutrafin Betta+ conditioner 1cap full.
I always do half the tank water changes. So if I understand,

Water change 50% once a week.

Use flourish once a week, and day after water change add a cap.


Note. Since I already added all three seachem products yesterday should I start over do a water change and then just add flourish?

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I wouldn't bother, just add the Flourish Comprehensive the day following next time. I don't really know if this is an issue or not, Seachem's suggestion is logical, that a water conditioner that detoxifies heavy metals will detoxify the iron, copper, zinc, manganese in Flourish Comp. Which brings me to your water conditioner, it detoxifies heavy metals, so you could henceforth add the FC the day following the WC. And yes, a 50% WC once a week is a good plan. One larger volume WC is actually more effective than multiple smaller changes because you are removing more "pollutants" with the larger change. Be careful not to overdose the conditioner; you only need the amount for the fresh water, not the whole tank. No point in mucking up the fish's gills with unnecessary conditioner.

Okay. I always was told any extra conditioner added isn't going to harm, so I put a full cap in the bucket. So do you suggest half a cap of conditioner in the bucket of new water. My bucket is 10kg not sure what's that in litres, but I do half of the bucket.

Note. My Hygraphila plant has lots of roots, can they be saved still??

I grew this one from a leaf I cut the original leaf off of it the other day, gonna see if it grows another.

Nice wow.

When it comes to water conditioners, fertilizer, and especially Excel correctly measuring the quantity and adding it is critical. To much can cause issues. Using the supplied bottle caps is a rather inexact way to do it. You can buy on line good syringes allowing you to measure precisely the quantity of each bottle before adding it to the tank. Go to amazon.com and do a search for 1ml syringes. You will get a lot of hits. Be sure to exactly follow the directions on the bottle. Failure to follow the directions on the bottle is a common mistake that can cause a lot of problems.

As to the the sachem products you have the Flourish comprehensive by itself in my experience should be enough in most cases. It has all the elements and nutrients plants need. If properly dosed according to the directions on the bottle you shouldn't have any nutrient deficiencies in the water. If you have good aeration of the water, good lighting, and do a 50% water change once per week, your plants shouldn't be dying. I have used this myself in my tank with very soft water.


Excel is a liquid alternative to carbon dioxide. With good aeration it is not necessary. If over dosed it will kill plants. i also see no need for the iron supplement. If you are using a custom fertilizer mix, iron would be needed. Iron is not needed in my opinion.

It would be helpful to know the PH, GH, KH, ammonia, nitrate, and nitrite levels in your tank and tap water. You can get tests for these at most fish stores. I found a water quality report for Vaughan, Ontario. I was surprised there was almost nothing in it. Do you know if your water comes from a dam or well?

Overall it appears you have the following problems:

• Insufficient water changes.
• inconsistent measurements of fertilizer and or conditioners.
• And not correctly following the instructions for all additives.
• Don't know if your water hardness GH.

Correct those and your plants should recover. Now your tank lighting might be an issue But I wouldn't worry about that until you correct the above issues.

omega59 said:

Note. My Hygraphila plant has lots of roots, can they be saved still??

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Maybe. Once the fertilizers are sorted out as we have been suggesting, new leaves may appear.

omega59 said:

Also is the Nutrafin Aqua+ better to use in my case, over the Betta+ Conditioner?

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No. When you mentioned the Betta+ previously, I went to the Hagen website and checked its ingredients. The problem with Nutrafin AquaPlus is that it contains aloe vera, and there are studies suggesting this is harmful to fish gills. Betta+ does not contain aloe vera (according to the data at the website); it does contain almond leaf extract, but this should not be detrimental. Many aquarists put dried almond leaves (bought in some fish stores) in their tanks to help create blackwater-type conditions. I wouldn't expect issues from the extract from these leaves.

The problem with over-dosing water conditioners is not that they directly harm fish (so in this sense the manufacturers are correct), but that you are putting more chemical mixes in the water than you need for any benefit. Aquarists need to keep in mind that every substance added to the aquarium water will get inside the fish. Water passes into the fish via osmosis through every cell, as well as in the gills. The fish don't need any of this, so it is best to only use the minimum that will be effective.

As for the amount of conditioner you have a 19 litre (5 gallon) tank, so if you change half the tank volume, call it 2 gallons (the substrate and decor displace some of the water so it is less than 19 litres to begin with) and add the conditioner for that amount, whatever it works out to. Same principle for the Flourish Comprehensive.