Hi guys I purchased some Cryptocoryne Wendtii green 5 months ago and everything was going fine but now suddenly the plant is starting to turn black!!

[Yohance1130]

My plant started to turn black and have more rougher texture like the image to the left, I was wondering if this is normal. BTW this is a image from the internet


I have sand substrate with seachem fllourish,api leaf zone and seachem root tabs. and i have had no issues until suddenly. I also have red leaf ludwigia, twisted leaf valisneria and red leaf ludwigia which are perfectly healthy and have no issues. I have medium light (fluval aquasky).

 

[PheonixKingZ]

It is common for C. W. leaves to rot when they are added to a new aquarium - it all has to do with the new water conditions.

 

[Yohance1130]

It is common for C. W. leaves to rot when they are added to a new aquarium - it all has to do with the new water conditions.

Ohh ok thx, How long does it usually take for the plant to recover from rotting?

 

[mbsqw1d]

Ohh ok thx, How long does it usually take for the plant to recover from rotting?

To be honest the whole plant may die back, as @PheonixKingZ said, its common with crypts. Google crypt melt and you'll soon see. They're very sensitive to changes in water parameters. Don't move them from where you've planted them, and try and keep water parameters stable and stay patient. They'll start to grow back new healthy leaves.

 

[Byron]

There is some other issue here. The plant if acquired five months ago would have melted within a few days if it did not settle, not now. Of course, it can melt from other reasons, but what is described here is not the melt; melt is when the leaves all disintegrate into a pile of mush within a day or two. Leaving the roots alone can sometimes allow the plant to re-grow, depending.

I cannot tell much from the small photo. Can you give us a photo of your plant?

One thing I can mention is that you are probably over-fertilizing, and more specifically, providing too much of some nutrients especially iron. Seachem Flourish Comprehensive Supplement is a proportionally-balanced complete nutrient supplement, as are the Flourish Tabs. This means the nutrients are in the proportion to each other than plants require. If this is a low-tech or natural method planted tank (not using mega light and diffused CO2), these two supplements should be sufficient for all nutrients; the only exception are the "hard" minerals calcium and magnesium, which may be sufficient in the source water depending upon the GH. But I have grown this species in my very soft (zero GH) water with just the liquid Flourish Comprehensive.

AP Leaf Zone is only iron and potassium. Potassium excess has little if any issues, generally speaking anyway, but iron excess is toxic to plants and then fish. Given that there is sufficient iron in FC adding more can be toxic; I have killed floating plants with iron overdose. Not saying that is what you have, but it is one possibility. Photos may help.

 

[WhistlingBadger]

Does the plant look normal other than the color change?

 

[Yohance1130]

Here are some photos, I see your point about the Iron. But I know that if I overdosed with iron most likely i would have algae and I have minimum to no algae. Also my substrate is inert that is why I have root tabs and crypts are heavy root feeders so that is why I got them and I got flourish comprehensive for the other plants that are not heavy root feeders. Also I ran out of root tabs and I did not have any for 2 weeks since my order was backed up from Amazon. I just recently replaced the root tabs so I will see if in a couple weeks I see any improvement. FYI the plant started to change colour with the root tabs in. And there are no fish in the tank.

 

[Byron]

There are several things here, so I will respond one by one.

Here are some photos, I see your point about the Iron. But I know that if I overdosed with iron most likely i would have algae and I have minimum to no algae.

Not necessarily; I have never had algae increase from the overdosing of iron, but the floating plants all melted; they recovered after I stopped the additional iron. But there is also the issue that when iron is in excess, the plants will shut down assimilation of other necessary nutrients. This means the "visible" issue may be an insufficiency of "x" but the actual cause is an excess of iron. This again is why it is important to use a balanced single fertilizer, and is also the principle behind massive water changes in high-tech planted tanks with daily overdosing of nutrients.

Also my substrate is inert that is why I have root tabs and crypts are heavy root feeders so that is why I got them and I got flourish comprehensive for the other plants that are not heavy root feeders. Also I ran out of root tabs and I did not have any for 2 weeks since my order was backed up from Amazon. I just recently replaced the root tabs so I will see if in a couple weeks I see any improvement. FYI the plant started to change colour with the root tabs in.

It is true, but I have never used substrate fertilizing with crypts including this particular species. Crypts are slow growers, which is why they need less intense light and are often recommended for lower-light situations, but with the slow growing also comes less nutrient requirements. Which root tabs do you use? The Seachem Flourish Tabs are superior to the API brand, the latter has been said to have issues. There can be more than one issue here, it is difficult to pin things down with plants because so many "problems" have the same external symptoms, but light and nutrients are behind them all.

And there are no fish in the tank.

This is certainly an issue here. There is inevitably a shortage of nitrogen. Flourish fertilizers are low in nitrogen because with fish present, nitrogen is almost never going to be insufficient. Fish produce ammonia, and decomposing organics in the substrate especially produce a lot of ammonia (along with CO2). Aquatic plants need nitrogen, and they prefer it as ammonia/ammonium. Plants can assimilate a lot of ammonia/ammonium, especially the faster growers. Floating plants are referred to as ammonia sinks for this reason. But without fish respirating and producing organics (excrement breaking down) the ammonia/ammonium will be much less. And this is a macro-nutrient for plants.

I have a permanently-running QT for new fish acquisitions, and it is planted. It can sit for months without fish, and then I notice the plants slow considerably in growth, but as soon as fish arrive, things improve.

 

[utahfish]

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Here are some photos, I see your point about the Iron. But I know that if I overdosed with iron most likely i would have algae and I have minimum to no algae. Also my substrate is inert that is why I have root tabs and crypts are heavy root feeders so that is why I got them and I got flourish comprehensive for the other plants that are not heavy root feeders. Also I ran out of root tabs and I did not have any for 2 weeks since my order was backed up from Amazon. I just recently replaced the root tabs so I will see if in a couple weeks I see any improvement. FYI the plant started to change colour with the root tabs in. And there are no fish in the tank.

Looks like a phosphate deficiency to me. Leaves that are deficient in phosphate grow darker than normal. The leaves also look a little wrinkled to me that could be a calcium deficiency, also keep in mind that calcium and magnesium work hand in hand.
Crypts are heavy root feeders so require heavy root fertilization. They are also heavy calcium feeders and will struggle in soft gh water. Flourish tabs have calcium but very little magnesium and not much phosphate at .17% and hardly any nitrogen at .3%
I actually use two different root tabs flourish root tabs which are 10$ for 10 tabs and planted aquarium concepts tabs 20$ for 40 tabs. planted aquarium concepts have higher levels of phosphate at .65% and nitrogen at 1.33% and magnesium at .215% to .22 calcium.
From the looks of your plants id suggest a root tab or a combination of root tabs with more phosphates and calcium/mag.
While phosphates can be provided by fish food and waste many times those phosphates have a difficult time getting to roots in that form so the crypts get what little they can from water column which doesnt look like they are getting enough. From your pics your crypts also are flattened out instead of growing vertically, crypts do well in lower light in bright light they flatten out instead of grow up which would suggest light is too bright for them. Either try re positioning them to a shadier part of the tank, provide floating plants over to diffuse light or decrease light intensity.
Good luck hope this helps.

Redirect Notice

 

[Yohance1130]

There are several things here, so I will respond one by one.



Not necessarily; I have never had algae increase from the overdosing of iron, but the floating plants all melted; they recovered after I stopped the additional iron. But there is also the issue that when iron is in excess, the plants will shut down assimilation of other necessary nutrients. This means the "visible" issue may be an insufficiency of "x" but the actual cause is an excess of iron. This again is why it is important to use a balanced single fertilizer, and is also the principle behind massive water changes in high-tech planted tanks with daily overdosing of nutrients.

OHH!! I see, it is possible but I have not been dosing the recommended dose for API leaf zone(10ml) I dose (5ml) Yea it is possible. Im gonna change my water change schedule to once a week instead of once every two weeks. Thx for your help.


It is true, but I have never used substrate fertilizing with crypts including this particular species. Crypts are slow growers, which is why they need less intense light and are often recommended for lower-light situations, but with the slow growing also comes less nutrient requirements. Which root tabs do you use? The Seachem Flourish Tabs are superior to the API brand, the latter has been said to have issues. There can be more than one issue here, it is difficult to pin things down with plants because so many "problems" have the same external symptoms, but light and nutrients are behind them all.

I use the seachem Flourish Tabs.


This is certainly an issue here. There is inevitably a shortage of nitrogen. Flourish fertilizers are low in nitrogen because with fish present, nitrogen is almost never going to be insufficient. Fish produce ammonia, and decomposing organics in the substrate especially produce a lot of ammonia (along with CO2). Aquatic plants need nitrogen, and they prefer it as ammonia/ammonium. Plants can assimilate a lot of ammonia/ammonium, especially the faster growers. Floating plants are referred to as ammonia sinks for this reason. But without fish respirating and producing organics (excrement breaking down) the ammonia/ammonium will be much less. And this is a macro-nutrient for plants.

Since I had no fish I have been adding ammonia to keep the bacteria in my tank from starving since my tank is fully cycled. I just tested my nitrogen and it said it was at 20ppm. But I see your point it sucks that the fish stores in my area just started opening up.

I have a permanently-running QT for new fish acquisitions, and it is planted. It can sit for months without fish, and then I notice the plants slow considerably in growth, but as soon as fish arrive, things improve.

 

[Yohance1130]

Looks like a phosphate deficiency to me. Leaves that are deficient in phosphate grow darker than normal. The leaves also look a little wrinkled to me that could be a calcium deficiency, also keep in mind that calcium and magnesium work hand in hand.
Crypts are heavy root feeders so require heavy root fertilization. They are also heavy calcium feeders and will struggle in soft gh water. Flourish tabs have calcium but very little magnesium and not much phosphate at .17% and hardly any nitrogen at .3%
I actually use two different root tabs flourish root tabs which are 10$ for 10 tabs and planted aquarium concepts tabs 20$ for 40 tabs. planted aquarium concepts have higher levels of phosphate at .65% and nitrogen at 1.33% and magnesium at .215% to .22 calcium.
From the looks of your plants id suggest a root tab or a combination of root tabs with more phosphates and calcium/mag.
While phosphates can be provided by fish food and waste many times those phosphates have a difficult time getting to roots in that form so the crypts get what little they can from water column which doesnt look like they are getting enough. From your pics your crypts also are flattened out instead of growing vertically, crypts do well in lower light in bright light they flatten out instead of grow up which would suggest light is too bright for them. Either try re positioning them to a shadier part of the tank, provide floating plants over to diffuse light or decrease light intensity.
Good luck hope this helps.

Redirect Notice

Yea I think that would make more sense since I do not have any fish and I am not adding any fish food my tank would be deficient in phosphates. I will try to get a floating plant and a combination of root tabs Thx!

 

[Byron]

In post #10, you wrote:

Since I had no fish I have been adding ammonia to keep the bacteria in my tank from starving since my tank is fully cycled.​

This is another problem. Ammonia is highly toxic to all life forms, plant and fish. This is why I never recommend adding artificial ammonia if plants are present. Use the plants to silent cycle. Do some major water changes to get rid of the toxic ammonia, feed your plants adequately, and they should be fine.