juleslorand

I do not know why, but every time that I try to kep Lobelia Cardinalis in my Tank, they melt the next day. I have a 55 Gal tank with CO2 injection, HQI Lamp 150 W , 10,000 Kelvin, EI Dosing fertilizers, a big fish population and high temperature for the Discus (29 degree Celsius). The other plants are doing fine an pearling like crazy. It seems that the plants that I have bought from deferents sources have been grown emersed and are unable to adapt themselves to the immersed culture. Do I something wrong or is it a magic trick to grow this plant in an aquarium???
Thank you for your help.

BryceM

I dunno. I've had perfectly well established Lobelia melt in my tank in a matter of days. I suspect it was related to a time when I let the nitrates bottom out. The other likely possibility is that it isn't tollerating the high temperatures very well. The vast majority of plants prefer temps in the 21-24 degree C range.

Aquaspot

Most Lobelia species you find are grown emersed. However, they adapt to submersed growth quite readily.
When you mention a melt, is it the whole plant (including stem, roots etc) or just the leaves? To have just the leaves melting is a normal process that the emersed plants will go through.

BryceM

When I had a Lobelia melt every last molecule of the plant turned into goo and died in a matter of days. Even the roots turned to mush..........

freydo

i don't think it's temperature, because mine are doing fine when the temp gets up to 30C. the plant does produce large roots... maybe you don't have enough substrate to support it?

juleslorand

Yes, the whole plants including the roots are melting. My nitrates are high (50) ppm nd the phosphates 2 ppm. I have also tried to adapt the plant from emersed to submersed slowly ( in an little tank and raising the water level slowly until the plant is completeley immersed, but the next day under the water, they melted.
Jules

mrbelvedere138

A single halide over a 55? How do you get light to the edges of the tank?

dennis

Lobelia does not seem to like change, imo. Allowing the plant to become shaded, or allowing nutrient levels to deplete or climb signifigantly seem to trigger a melt. I have often lost the top half of the plant but fixing the issue allowed the bottom portion to branch and reproduce itself before to long. Try to stabalize your water parameters and make sure the plants are not being shaded. Check your CO2 levels.

Bert H

I have kept Lobelia for years without any issues. (Knocks on wood...) FWIW, my tanks hit the mid 80's in the summertime. I've never noticed any change in growth rates between winter and summer.

John N.

I have some Lobelia dwarf form at 78 degrees, and at first most of the plant leaves and roots deteriorated in the first week or two. Despite the ugly and disheartening mess, I left them as they were and I noticed that new leaves bushes out to replace the dying parts. So it seems LC doesn't like change, and needs a transition period, either from emersed to submersed, and/or from tank to tank.

-John N.