Amazon Sword

[fatheadminnow]

Okay, I have a lot of Echinodorus bleheri (Amazon Sword) in my tank, and I am having a little bit of difficulty growing them.

I have light on 12 hours a day, pH is right around 7.6-8.0.

I dose micro elements; Seachem flourish, 1 cap, per directions, once a week.

When I had the plants in my 29 gallon tank, they did really well, dosing weekly, but when I got my 55 gallon tank going, I decided to keep dosing the Seachem flourish once a week, but then I decided to does Seachem excel (Carbon) once a week as well. I later found out that carbon remains in the water for 24 hours, so I would need to does once a day, but I never did. I just recently stopped dosing Seachem excel, and just kept dosing Seachem flourish.

However, it seems that ever since I switched tanks, and started dosing Seachem excel, my plants have not been doing good at all. So, that is why I stopped dosing Seachem excel once a week, thinking that is was doing more harm then good since I was not dosing it every day. I am in college and my tank is at home, so I am unable to dose everyday, just on the weekends when I go home.

Oh yeah, light is T8 at 1.5 WPG.

Symptoms: Some of the plants leaves seem transparent/yellow, some are curled up and some have little holes in the leaves that keep spreading very slowly. And, all plants that I have added to the tank do not seem to grow at all. They just seem to stay at the same size as when I bought them. NOTE: This only happened when switched over to the 55 gallon tank? ALSO NOTE: I was dosing Seachem flourish, 1 cap once a week in my 29 gallon tank, where the plants did really well, and I am also dosing 1 cap once a week in my 55 gallon tank. Should I do two cap fulls a week now on my 55 gallon tank?

Any ideas as to why my plants may not be doing so well? IMO, I think that is had to do with only dosing the carbon once a week, and not everyday.

What about dosing in Iron, as I guess yellowing is a sign of Iron deficiency?

All input will be greatly appreciated!

Thanks guys! Looking forward to hearing back from you!

-FHM

 

[baron von bubba]

flourish only contains trace/micros, it contains no N P or K.
lack of these is possibly the cause of your problems.

 

[Jallen]

Sounds like emersed leaves dying off.

Can I see a picture? Emersed leaves are more spoon shaped and have a thicker stem on them. Immersed leaves are longer, more sword shaped and have a rounded and thinner stem.

 

[Mr Bliss]

Yeah, sounds like nutrient deficiency. If you only have swords in the tank, the easiest way to fix it is to get some root tabs/sticks.

Placed in a thick substrate with enough nutrients available, E. bleheri can grow like crazy. If you allow them to start growing emersed leaves out of the tank, they'll grow to about a meter high and equally wide.

 

[fatheadminnow]

Wow, thanks guys for the responses! Yeah, I have some smaller more narrow leaves, and then I have three E. bleheri, which are not doing so well.

So, I should get some root tabs for my tank then? I saw them at my LFS and was thinking of getting them but never did. I really hope that will help the plants spruce up. I also bought some Seachem Flourish Iron, as I read that E. bleheri like a lot of Iron; am I right in thinking this?

Here is a video of my tank. It is hard to tell that the plants are doing bad, but trust me, they are...lol.



-FHM

 

[fatheadminnow]

Anyone?

So I should get some root tabs/sticks? What about dosing Iron?

Anyone?

Thanks for the responses so far!

-FHM

 

[Aphotic Phoenix]

Still learning how to diagnose plant nutrient deficiencies, but I'm guessing...potassium and/or iron deficiency. Expanding pinholes are normally attributed to potassium, while translucent pale new leaves are often attributed to iron. Problem is that a lot of deficiencies cause leaves to turn yellow, and I'm no expert (yet *crosses fingers*) XD

I'd definitely go ahead with the root tabs, especially if you don't have a rich substrate in place, and maybe try dosing a little potassium and iron supplement to see if that helps.

You can actually make your own root tabs from recipies online, and buy/mix your own chemical ferts. Compare spending $6 on 250ml of brand name trace, vs $0.22 on 250ml...all you have to do is provide the bottle and water! XD

 

[Bluefintuna]

I read somewhere in this forum that Amazon Swords can't heal themselves, once the leaves are holed that leaf is done for. Snails cause me this problem occassionaly and I remove the bitten leaf immediatly to avoid any danger of poisoning the fish's water.

My amazon swords are in water that is un-fertilized except for nitrates from the filter cycle, lights about 1w per gallon on a 12hour cycle, temp ranges from 22c in cory tank upto 26c in guppy tank, 6.8 ph. The Amazon in the guppy tank is huge, it's a monster that keeps shading out the light to the other plants.

Hope that maybe something here in my stats might help you to find your problem. Good luck FHM.

Nick.

edited jus to add that I don't use carbon in filters unless it's a real need.

 

[fatheadminnow]

Thanks guys fro the replies! The only difference I can see is between mine and your tank is, I have 1.5 WPG, and you have 1 WPG. And My pH is 7.6 while yours is 6.8. So, this could be s difference?

Also, since I have a little more light then you, this could mean that the plants are demanding more nutrition to aid in their photosynthesis, because of the higher level of light. And since I am not giving them some of the nutrition, like from root tabs which I will tonight when I get home, they are not doing so well.

-FHM