[sleepy.nadia]

Hi all,

I have a 30 gallon tank that is low/ambient light with a several anubias in there. I thought that since it was just anubias I would not have to fertilize or do much, but I think since I have so many there is some nutrient deficiency in the water. The most delicate plant has some leaves that went from dark green to bright solid yellow. These leaves eventually die. I have only had this plant for maybe a couple weeks and this starte almost immediately. Other plants have yellow/brown spots and browning tips. These areas eventually turn transparent and disintegrate away.

I thought this might be a potassium or iron deficiency and started dosing just a couple days ago with Kent iron+manganese which contains potassium, iron, manganese, molybdenum, and zinc. Does anyone know for sure what's wrong with the plants and whether I am doing the right (or wrong) thing?

Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!!
Nadia

 

[Zapins]

Difficult to say without a picture. Sounds like nitrogen deficiency though especially if the old leaves are turning yellow and dying.

Can you do a nitrate test and post some clear close up pictures?

 

[Seattle_Aquarist]

Hi sleepy.nadia,

It does sound like a nutrient deficiency; it could be iron or nitrogen. The easy way to address this would be to start dosing Seachem Flourish (Comprehensive) per the dosage recommended on the bottle. It is probably one of the better balanced ferts on the market today, I used it when I was starting out.

 

[joshvito]

Are your anubias buried in the substrate?
How long have you had the plants? Which species of anubias?

If so, this may have some affect. Anubias are pretty forgiving, I know many hobbyists that keep them in unlighted tanks that only get ambient light, myself included. These are great for breeding tanks.

These plants tend to do best when attached to drift wood or a rock.

 

[sleepy.nadia]

Hello,

Thank you for the responses. I checked the nitrates this morning and I believe they were around 5ppm. These plants are not buried in the substrate but actually either floating or in pots at the moment. They will eventually be buried in eco complete (I know not to bury the rhizome) and the only reason that hasn't happened yet is that petco has put it on backorder so it's pretty late now, and I had to set up my tank with only two bags (waiting on the third).

I have a few different species of anubias and they are all responding differently. The A. nana and A. barteri seem mostly fine, for the moment.

The one affected the worst is A. gabon. It has some leaves that have turned solid yellow and others that are just dying from the tips inwards:


The A. congensis got this spot about a week and a half ago, and it hasn't gotten bigger but the yellow part did turn brown. Also you can see, the baby leaf turned yellow and is dying:


Anubias hastifolia, some of the smaller leaves are turning yellowish and the older leaves have a couple of spots, but doing alright overall so far:



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The Anubias coffeefolia was doing just fine but I saw this a couple of days ago. This is just one of about eight plants I have though, and the others look fine. It has made me worried that the A. gabon and others weren't just sensitive (I went from emersed to submerged and I was hoping that was the problem):


Thanks for your help!!

Nadia

 

[kamel_007]

you will not believe me, i have anubia since 2007, its an amazing plant, it can tolerate almost everything, and the same plants still alive and produced more, just give a good ferts, N,P and K, iron and it will do the rest

 

[Zapins]

Nadia, this is a very late reply but I believe this was phosphorous deficiency. Possibly nitrogen, but more likely phosphorous. The irregular placement of damage on old growth only is a sign of phosphorous deficiency. Nitrogen deficiency would show up towards the tips of the leaves and new leaves would steadily get smaller which doesn't show up in the pictures you posted. Did your plants end up surviving?