Vallisneria Dying Back

[FoundMoney]

I've had some valisneria in my tank for about 3 years. It seems to go through cycles where it grows very well and then after a while it dies back. At one point I thought it had died completely and then from out of nowhere it started growing like wildfire.

Now it is starting to die off again and I'm wondering if there is anything I can do to stop it. I have several other plants in my tank and most of them are doing well so I'm wondering why the val is dying off.

The tank is 30 gallons, 0 ammonia, 0 nitrite, 5 nitrate, pH 6.8. I have two flouresent lights on the tank one with 50 watts the other with 25. The 50 watt light is on for about 12 hours per day. The second light comes on in the middle of the light cycle for about 5 hours. I also have a bunch of snails in the tank and I thought at first they were eating the val, but I don't think that's the problem.

I read online in a few places that other people have had similar problems and that it's normal for valisneria. I'm wondering if that's true or if there is some other cause for it.

 

[Bufo Bill]

It's something I have seen with Vallis in my own tanks, but I can give no reason as to why, unfortunately.

All the best from Bill.

 

[ShoC]

Same with me,
I have 6 pieces in my tank and they never got more than an Inch... they have been like this for 1yr now roughly
everything else grows just fine, I'm changing my dosage regeim to smaller and more frequent see how that goes

 

[FoundMoney]

Same with me,
I have 6 pieces in my tank and they never got more than an Inch... they have been like this for 1yr now roughly
everything else grows just fine, I'm changing my dosage regeim to smaller and more frequent see how that goes

The funny thing is that with mine they grew up to about 2 feet long and provided cover for my anubias and my rummy nose tetras. It sent off lots of runners and there were new plants popping up. Now it's slowly all rotting away. My tank is low tech with low lighting and no CO2 so nothing grows very quickly but over time everthing seems to thrive. I suppose this will eventually come back if it follows the cycle but it sure isn't as pretty to look at.

 

[Bufo Bill]

everything else grows just fine, I'm changing my dosage regeim to smaller and more frequent see how that goes

I am in a similar position with my tank, and changing my dosing of Flourish from weekly to daily seems to be starting my vallis putting out new runners. But people seem to do fine dosing weekly... So still a mystery to me!

All the best from Bill.