My frogbit is melting

[KuhliDude]

Does anyone know the cause of the leaf decay on my frogbit?

 

[connorlindeman]

Too much water movement, too much iron, not enough nutrients, too much humidity... we need some more info.

 

[KuhliDude]

I do have a lid on the aquarium, I dose seachem flourish every 2 weeks, if there's too much iron, there's not much I can do about that, and I have a hob filter but the glow is gentle.

 

[Aqua67]

It very well could be the humidity under the lid keeping the tops of the leaves damp or even dripping right onto them. It looks like you have a small circular LED light ring which may not be bright enough for them.

 

[KuhliDude]

The circle is the tube I use to keep the frogbit in place. it works pretty well.

 

[MaloK]

As @Aqua67 mentioned. Not enough water movement around them, air and light. That gooey film has bacterial origin and is feeding on your decaying plants.

In sufficient quantity it will digest everything in the tank except the rocks.

Overfeeding is the principal cause, it's normally manageable in any lightning condition.

From the incandescent era to this day.

 

[gilltyascharged]

I find these responses interesting because I've never had an issue with my frogbit in poorer lighting, or with extra nutrients (in fact, they seemed to enjoy the latter)...whenever I had decay, it would always start on the outer edges of the leaf and begin to "melt"--turns out is because of moisture getting on the top of the leaves. Unlike duckweed, which does just fine underwater, frogbit leaves are designed to stay strictly ON TOP of the water, with small amounts of moisture being shed by the waxy coating. I would suggest trimming off all dead/decaying parts (those seemed to drag the rest of the healthy plant under the water), and making sure that your HOB filter isn't splashing too much of a mist onto the leaves. Even a sponge filter was able to disrupt mine; you're definitely doing the right thing by using a ring to keep them in one area!

 

[Ram419]

I've recently have seen decaying (yellowing and spotting of leaves) on the one tank that I have that it has been thriving. I put this down to perhaps during cleaning I cut some of the root stems and also perhaps due to more mature frogit roots taking over others. This metlting you are seeing though, I agree with others that there isn't enough water flow, or disturbance of top layer of water that it causing caustics conditions that are causing the melting. This is evident from the images showing a film on top the the water that you posted.

 

[StevenF]

My experience with floating plants is that humidity and water drops on the leaves has no effect on the plants. They typically get the CO2 they need from the air and in full sun they are exposed to more heat and brighter light than in any aquarium. There is only one thing that causes this. A nutrient deficiency. you probably should try a fertilizer. In my experience this only appears when there is a nutrient deficiency in the water. Even duckweed will succumb to nutrient deficiencies. In your case you I think you likely have multiple deficieies.