Plant recovery after shipping

So i ordered new plants. Hygrophila and frogbit.

Well, fedex needs to learn to read labels saying fragile and needs to get on top of their service.

1, seller had package ready to go, fedex created the tracking label, but fedex didnt pick up the package the day it was supposed to go out, so it sat.

2, fedex did not handle the package gently, my plants arrived shattered to bits.

3, fedex did their famous "no knock leave at the door outside in 98F weather"


My hygrophila isnt too bad, one broken stem and some broken off leaves but otherwise intact.

My frogbit though... leaves broken off everywhere.

My question is, will these recover? I removed many already this morning that began to melt.

This is what i had yesterday.


This is today


What didnt survive shipping at all

As long as the leaves are green(ish) and firm just throw them into the tank - they will turn into new plants. If they are brown / yellow and squidgy chuck them.

seangee said:

As long as the leaves are green(ish) and firm just throw them into the tank - they will turn into new plants. If they are brown / yellow and squidgy chuck them.

Click to expand...

Awesome thanks!!
It came with free duck weed too but ive already killed half of that just looking at it haha

That Slalvinia looks terrible...

PheonixKingZ said:

That Slalvinia looks terrible...

Click to expand...

Right? Looks a lot like amazon frogbit!

(Though my salvinia in the same tank is getting eaten by my snails so... lol)

The frogbit looks quite good! When I got frogbit 5 months ago, all leaves were burned and most died but the one that survived quikly multiplied

Meg0000 said:

The frogbit looks quite good! When I got frogbit 5 months ago, all leaves were burned and most died but the one that survived quikly multiplied

Click to expand...

A lot of the leaves are loose broken off with no roots.

Is the Hygrophila water wisteria? Did any of your stems come rooted? I bought a variety of stems, including water wisteria off eBay and they all came in fairly rough shape. Most of the original stem on the Wisteria melted away in my tank, but eventually every piece grew roots and are now doing pretty well. Don't throw away if the base starts to melt/get mushy, just cut away the mushy portion under the healthy node.

In my experience, plants ordered online tend to melt quite a bit when you first introduce them, but usually bounce back alright. I've ordered many plants online and the only thing that didn't survive was some hornwort (broke off into a million pieces ugh) and some salvinia.

NCaquatics said:

A lot of the leaves are loose broken off with no roots.

Click to expand...

When you want more frogbit you break off the leaves and throw them back in the water. They will soon form roots. If you have healthy looking but broken stems on the hygrophila plant these too - remove the bottom few leaves first. Once they start growing and you trim the tops just plant the cuttings. Trimming them also makes them bush out more.

PNWAquatic said:

Is the Hygrophila water wisteria? Did any of your stems come rooted? I bought a variety of stems, including water wisteria off eBay and they all came in fairly rough shape. Most of the original stem on the Wisteria melted away in my tank, but eventually every piece grew roots and are now doing pretty well. Don't throw away if the base starts to melt/get mushy, just cut away the mushy portion under the healthy node.

In my experience, plants ordered online tend to melt quite a bit when you first introduce them, but usually bounce back alright. I've ordered many plants online and the only thing that didn't survive was some hornwort (broke off into a million pieces ugh) and some salvinia.

Click to expand...

No, hygrophila polysperma. I got wisteria in another tank though. The hygrophila i cleaned off the broken leaves, the bottom most leaves and planted it. Had lots of healthy roots and new shoots already on it. Just some minor damage, plant is overall a nice plant. Got 6.5 stems. Some algae on it but thats okay with me. It's soft algae so my nerite will enjoy that free snack.

seangee said:

When you want more frogbit you break off the leaves and throw them back in the water. They will soon form roots. If you have healthy looking but broken stems on the hygrophila plant these too - remove the bottom few leaves first. Once they start growing and you trim the tops just plant the cuttings. Trimming them also makes them bush out more.

Click to expand...

This is good to know about the frogbit. I was worried how it would recover. Im a bit relieved about this.