Plants really not doing well

AilyNC · Aug 25, 2020

Hi I've a 58L (~16US gallon) tank.

Tap PH 7.2
Tank PH 8.2
GH 12
KH 21
Water company says current mg/l of CaC03 in my water is 307
Temp 30.8 (treating ICH)
Ammonia 0, Nitrite 0, Nitrate 5-10.
Lights on 10-12hrs a day. 1 LED lighting system CLA60 Ciano (8W – 18VDC)

Use Seachem Flourish Comp. 0.5mls twice a week. Water changes done with API Tap Water Conditioner. Test using API Master Kit.

Tank has mangrove root & driftwood.
Fish - 1 Black Molly, 2 Adult Platy, 7 Platy Fry (3 weeks old) & 4 Neon Tetra. Gravel substrate.

Plants -

Salvinia (great growth, mostly ok but some browning)
Moss ball (looks fine)
Taxiphyllum barbieri (mostly looks ok, but brown in places)
Amazon Sword (some leaves looking shriveled, others have transparent spots)
Anubis (developing brown patches & some leaves appear shriveled. Did have new leaf sprout)
Hygrophila difformis (some browning, mostly looks shriveled)
Egeria densa (looks skinny and stunted)
Spiky moss (totally turned brown. Sorry I can't remember the proper name)

These plants were added over the last 4 weeks. All doing great until I'd a 36 hr power cut. The tank was covered and kept dark. This was last Friday & since they've not been doing well. Water Changes Fri, Sat, Sun to stabilise Ammonia/Nitrite.

I've ordered Seachem Flourish root taps. Is there anything else I can do to revive the plants?

PheonixKingZ · Aug 25, 2020

The Anubias and the swords actually look OK, the moss on the other hand, is another story...

You may actually be keeping your lights on for to long. Java moss can die from a multitude of things...

1( To big of a clump: the moss in the middle has no access to water, hence it died and so does the rest of the moss.

or

2( The moss is being “choked out” by algae, caused by to much lighting.

Your pH is also high, which may be affecting the plant growth as well.

HoldenOn · Aug 25, 2020

The swords look fine IMO. I think a lot of people including myself expect the plants to be perfectly green and with no brown spots or folds or anything. Not the case, they are after all, living things not pieces of plastic.

PheonixKingZ · Aug 25, 2020

HoldenOn said:
The swords look fine IMO. I think a lot of people including myself expect the plants to be perfectly green and with no brown spots or folds or anything. Not the case, they are after all, living things not pieces of plastic.

I concur, for example, my Anubias isn’t exactly perfect...

It is very common for Anubias, java fern, and amazon swords to develop brown spot algae on their leaves, especially if they are new to the tank, or if they have access to excess light.

mbsqw1d · Aug 25, 2020

Your PH isn't high. What filtration system do you have?
Your nitrate level is low, you have been doing regular water changes, and this amount of fish arent going to be pumping out a great deal to feed those plants. Seachem Flourish doesnt dose nitrogen (many ferts don't as they expect the fish waste to cover this base). TNC complete however does dose nitrogen, because this is designed more for a plant only tank. I'm not advising that you buy TNC complete, just to say that you can't rely on the plant fert alone to feed your plants.
In summary, I personally think your plants are deficient of nitrogen due to recent multiple water changes, and the low number of fish.

mbsqw1d · Aug 25, 2020

Oh, and I thought my anubias was doing great a few weeks after getting it. Did a rescape and found 3 leaves had rotted at the stem and they just fell off. Some plants just need time to adapt to their new environments!

AdoraBelle Dearheart · Aug 25, 2020

I've had java moss return from the dead too, so don't panic even if it looks totally dead for a while. That stuff can revive from almost nothing!

PheonixKingZ · Aug 25, 2020

mbsqw1d said:
Your PH isn't high. What filtration system do you have?
Your nitrate level is low, you have been doing regular water changes, and this amount of fish arent going to be pumping out a great deal to feed those plants. Seachem Flourish doesnt dose nitrogen (many ferts don't as they expect the fish waste to cover this base). TNC complete however does dose nitrogen, because this is designed more for a plant only tank. I'm not advising that you buy TNC complete, just to say that you can't rely on the plant fert alone to feed your plants.
In summary, I personally think your plants are deficient of nitrogen due to recent multiple water changes, and the low number of fish.

Water hardness certainly does take its tolls on plants such as Anacharis.

mbsqw1d · Aug 25, 2020

PheonixKingZ said:
Water hardness certainly does take its tolls on plants such as Anacharis.

Different plans evolved to thrive in different conditions. Non-soft water plants will struggle in soft water whereas soft water plants do ok in harder water. Most plants need harder water. Some specialist plants may require more acidic conditions

AilyNC · Aug 25, 2020

Yeah I probably have lights on too much. I'll try reduce by an hour or two and see how it goes. Fish would prefer that anyway. And that's a fair point @HoldenOn about them not needing to look plastic haha

@AdoraBelle Dearheart will I leave the moss there for a while so? To see if it revives?

I suppose since the power cut I also donated 2 Plecos and all their poop.

@mbsqw1d my filter came with the tank & is:

1 Biological filter CFBIO150 Ciano®

1 Water Pump 260 l/h;

No idea about filters.

The root tabs have 0.28% nitrogen per 1g so hopefully they'll help too. Today all my levels were fine so no water change & I do think I've things back on track since power cut whacked my cycle out.

I don't want to add more fish until ICH is treated + I can address the imbalance of stock. I'm plotting my new big tank too :rofl:

Thanks @PheonixKingZ for your comments too. You're always really helpful.

AilyNC · Aug 25, 2020

Oh I should've said that my nitrates are actually 20 from tap water and today were an additional 5-10 from tank. So really my Nitrates in the tank are 25-30 but 20 of that comes from tap water.

Make sense?

AdoraBelle Dearheart · Aug 25, 2020

Yep, I'd leave the moss and give it a chance to revive. You can always trim it slightly shorter if you think the middle underneath part isn't getting enough light, then net up the trimmings, put them in a net bag or similar, and leave those in the tank too. Check on them after two weeks or so and look for fresher growth. It's looking a little ropey, but most of it looks salvageable.

I think most if not all the plants will pick up again, they just took a bit of a battering from the lights out/cold spell from the storm, but you know from your gardening how plants can bounce back.

mbsqw1d · Aug 25, 2020

AilyNC said:
Oh I should've said that my nitrates are actually 20 from tap water and today were an additional 5-10 from tank. So really my Nitrates in the tank are 25-30 but 20 of that comes from tap water.

Make sense?

Hmm not sure I follow sorry

is 5-10 the measure of your tank water's nitrate?

AilyNC · Aug 25, 2020

mbsqw1d said:
Hmm not sure I follow sorry is 5-10 the measure of your tank water's nitrate?

Sorry. I tested the tank water and it was 25-30. But I tested the tap water and that is 20.

Basically my tank water is always minimum of 20 because the tap water is 20.

When I say 5-10 I mean that's what is created in the tank.

Jesus I've really made it unnecessarily complicated

mbsqw1d · Aug 25, 2020

AilyNC said:
Sorry. I tested the tank water and it was 25-30. But I tested the tap water and that is 20.

Basically my tank water is always minimum of 20 because the tap water is 20.

When I say 5-10 I mean that's what is created in the tank.

Jesus I've really made it unnecessarily complicated

Ah i see lol no worries

Ok, Nitrogen seems ok then. I'd concur with @AdoraBelle Dearheart then. The lights out plus this temp fluctuation, going cold then quite warm for the ich treatment. Plus they're relatively new plants, most die back a bit before becoming established

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