Upper Leaves Curling On Hygrophilia Polysperma

[scottward]

Hi,

I have a 6 foot planted tank containing a variety of plants. I have kept Hygrophilia Polysperma in the tank for years; just the other day I noticed something about the plant that I haven't seen before. I noticed that the leaves at the top part of the plant are tightly curling, whilst the lower leaves look fine. I am suspecting that the reason the upper leaves are being affected is due to the fact that the upper part of the plant is the active growing portion.

Has any body seen this before with this plant? Any suggestions as to what could be causing it?

All the other plants in the tank appear ok.

Scott.

 

[George Farmer]

Very likely a nutrient deficiency. Polysperma is an excellent indicator plant and will display symptoms earlier than most.

What light, CO2, ferts, substrate etc. are you using?

 

[Themuleous]

My H.poly does this when the NO3 is low. Which it current is in my tank. As George says it one of the firsts plants to show deficiencies, but equally should pick up again quite quickly once there is more N available to it. I think Im going to have to run my low light tank on EI just to be sure it gets enough.

Sam

 

[scottward]

Hi guys - here are the details of my tank -

- 6 foot (405 litres)
- 240W T8 tri-phosphor lighting (NEW Biolux-HG's)
- Eheim 2217 external canister
- Red Sea CO2 Pro System + 2kg Red Sea CO2 bottle
- Plain gravel substrate with JBL fertiliser balls at the roots of the gross feeders (echinodorous tenellus)
- Aquasonic Basic Grow added only at water changes
- Aquasonic Daily Grow added each day, 8 drops.

The only thing that I have changed lately is the addition of the CO2 system and the Aquasonic fertiliser.

I did notice something the other night - when I stuck my hand in the tank I felt a slight tingle - a stray electrical current! I managed to figure out that this was coming from a small cheap power fiilter that I was using to help circulate the water.

I wonder if this stray electrical current could have been messing with the plants growth? Have you ever seen this type of thing before?

I'll check out the nitrate levels.

I'd be suprised to find that it was a nutrient deficiency given that I am now fertilising more than I used to.

Scott.

 

[DevUK]

With my H. Polysperma the top leaves on some of them started to grow crinkled. I wondered what might be causing this.

 

[scottward]

One thing I did notice, which may be the cause, is that the GH (General Hardness) of the water is around 13-14 degrees (~ 230 - 250 ppm). This is quite high considering my tap water comes out at 5 degrees (~ 90ppm).

I know that H. Polysperma is a very 'all-round' plant, but could the water be too hard for it and therefore that could be what is causing the leaves to close up along their length and also feel a little harder than usual (normally the leaves feel soft; at the moment they feel kinda firm).

I wonder if the fertiliser I am using is increasing the GH too much, or perhaps I am just overdosing at this stage and need to ease of until the plants have grown in a bit more?

Also, let me know what you think about the electrical current thing in case that's a potential cause?

Got me stumped because I have never seen this happen before!