Plant Looks Sick, Should I Trim It?

[Florin Andrei]

Pretty new 40 liter aquarium. I'm having some problems with it - following the instructions on the box I replaced the water filter and now it's cycling again. A couple fish died. Anyway, that's a separate issue and I'm dealing with it better, now that I learned the correct information on this forum. But nevermind that.

I've a different question about one of the plants. Ever since I bought it, it didn't look very well:

I thought it was going to get better, but it looks pretty much the same. Should I trim down the parts that are looking sick? The photo looks a tad worse than in real life, there's more green in reality than the picture shows. Maybe the camera got confused by the weird pink hue of the fluorescent lamp.

The other plant I bought before it (different species) looked kind of bad too, but it quickly got better, so I'm not worried about that one (just a few black spots, but it's a deep green overall). Here's an image of the whole box:

 

[KittyKat]

First, un-bunch it and spread it out. Secondly, tell us some more about your lighting and how long the lights are on for.

Feel free to pull off any dead leaves too..

 

[This Old Spouse]

I've never had luck with water wisteria. It always ends up looking just like yours! I've gone to elodea, hornwort and pennywort for the most part. Just got an anubia and crypt yesterday so we'll see how that goes.

I'd take as much brown stuff off yours as possible. I'd also get your other plant rooted.

 

[CrazyAirborne]

my plant looked just like that, even tho my other plants were thriving. I planted it in a little fry tank just cuz i dont like throwing my money away, and low and behold, it has completely turned around and looks all green and nice now. maybe they just need more time to settle in.

 

[Florin Andrei]

tell us some more about your lighting and how long the lights are on for.

Uh... It's just the fluorescent tube that came with the whole box? I guess it's a 14 watt or 17 watt or something like that. Looks pretty bright.

I turn the light on when I wake up in the morning. Then I turn it off at night when I go to sleep.

 

[hanny93]

On for too long, unless youre only awake for six hours ata time!

Depnding on when you look at the tank, either turn it on when you wake up and then turn it off at say 3pm (if you wake up at 8), or turn it on at 3 and off at 10 (if you go to sleep at 10.)

Also, you need to separate the stems and spread them out, they won't grow proper root sytems like that, and the othe rplant is java fern, attach it to one of the rocks using a touch of superglue or cotton thread wrapped around.

 

[Kelly-Jo]

I don't know the times you wake up and go to sleep but that could potentially be quite a long time. If you don't already, try limiting the time the light is on to between 7-10 hours maximum for a time and see if it improves at all. Get a timer for your light so that you don't have to remember to turn it on/off

 

[Kelly-Jo]

On for too long, unless youre only awake for six hours ata time!

Depnding on when you look at the tank, either turn it on when you wake up and then turn it off at say 3pm (if you wake up at 8), or turn it on at 3 and off at 10 (if you go to sleep at 10.)

I think this is more accurate than my post actually, considering there are only a few plants But yeah, limit the light.

 

[Florin Andrei]

It's on at 7...8am, off at 9...11pm.

Is that long time bad only for the plant, or could it be detrimental for the fish too? If it's just the plant, are there any species that tolerate longer times? The other plant I have seems fine.

Currently I've 2 tetras, but the intended target is 3 tetras and 1 small pleco (that was the population a while ago but some of them died due to my ignorance). I did notice the plecos don't like bright light.

 

[hanny93]

Very long time, way too long, invest in a timer, I've just bought one from seapets for about £7 and its a 24hr one aswell,

set it for when you want it to be on for, no longer than say, eight hours, for when you'll be looking at the fish.

The java fern is an incredibly hardy species of plant, its a good beginners plant

Get some more rocks and some more java fern and maybe java moss, tie it down to the rocks, dont plant the fern in the gravel, it needs to be tied to something.


I'm not sure about the fish, maybe someone can back me up in saying I think they'd appreciate a shorter, more stable light time

Also stay away from pleco's, i cant think of any that would be suitably housed in a 40litre

What tetra's have you got?

 

[Kelly-Jo]

From your photo it looks like you have Black skirt tetras/Black widow tetras, like me. It's crazy how quickly they grow! I had some which were literally about 2cms long and within about 2 months they were around 2 inches They're certainly quite large tetras.

 

[CrazyAirborne]

yeah get a timer from any store, preferably NOT a fish store, as they will mark the price up a bit, and set that thing for 8 hours max. i do mine from 12 to 8pm personally. too much light is bad for plants, but fish, i wouldnt think its a big deal, since light times vary greatly in the wild. but u will notice plecos like to have wood or decorations to hide in. and those things should be provided for them imo.

 

[This Old Spouse]

+1

Once I finally got a timer for my lights, my plants started improving and now they're doing very well. Except for my water wisteria (like yours) but only because my fiddler crab keeps stripping it!

 

[Kelly-Jo]

Some plants just never seem to do well. I guess some just have stricter care requirements