Rescuing my C. Aponogetifolia - Cryptocorynes

JJman · 08-18-2006, 03:34 AM

One of my C. Aponogetifolia that I received from Roland at GreenChapter (great guy btw) is shrinking. The larger leaves dropped and now the entire plant is about 1". How should I best rescue this plant? Should I move it to a different location in the aquarium that gets more light (right now is slightly shaded)? Will the move kill it? Or should I just plant it in a totally different substrate? Right now I'm only using normal gravel in my aquarium.

Purrbox · 08-18-2006, 08:04 AM

Sounds like Crypt melt which is pretty common when a Crypt gets moved or water parameters change, both of which happened in your situation by putting it in a new tank. Just leave it alone and give it some time to get used to its new surroundings and it should spring back.

Purrbox · 08-18-2006, 08:05 AM

One other thing that you can do to help it out is to put a root tab under it. This can help prevent Crypt melt when moving them too.

Xema · 08-19-2006, 04:17 AM

I have no experience with submerged C. aponogetifolia, beacause I have a soft water in my city, so I only can keep them emersed, and without Ca and Mg leaves grow up quite little.

Anyway, providing a good soil with clay and a water with Ca & Mg they should be ok.

ragn4rok · 08-24-2006, 09:54 PM

Mine reaches 3+ft in length.

It's a very rare event to see my C. aponogetifolia flowering in submersed condition.

Xema · 08-25-2006, 05:14 PM

Really huge plant!!!

What kind of water do you Keep them?? and soil??

ragn4rok · 08-25-2006, 08:59 PM

water parameter : NO3 25; pH 7; gH 7; kH 4; natural sunlight
substrate : silica sand + JBL AquaBasis Plus
fert : bought some PMDD root tablet from LFS. I don't know the formula, but it works.

My C. aponogetifolia suddenly grow its inflorescence after 2 weeks.

Here's the picture of my PMDD root tablet

JJman · 08-28-2006, 07:42 AM

Wow.. those pictures are awesome! Thanks for the suggestions everyone. I took the plant out and re-planted in a mixture of clay/sand/peat. Hope it will recover. Do I need to add any fertlizers to my substrate mixture?

HeyPK · 09-03-2006, 05:27 PM

C. aponogetifolia should be established in a low nitrogen environment with moderate, but not high light and plenty of room for the plant. Nitrogen should be added sparingly until the plant has one or more runners. Nitrogen levels should be below 1 ppm---basically not measurable with hobbyist test kits.

Axeru · 09-04-2006, 04:54 AM

this is one of the giantplants, that my freind pulled out of his tank...