What to do with half-dead plants?

1302 Views 5 Replies 6 Participants Last post by yildirim, Feb 5, 2009

michelle767

Discussion Starter · Jan 20, 2009

I'm running a fairly low-tech tank - medium lighting (2+ wpg, though I could increase to 4.5 if I wanted), sand with a little laterite mixed in, flourish and flourish excel. I've ordered plants from the for sale and trade section of this site twice now and had the same problem with a few plants, the first time with rotala and now with some Myriophyllum mattogrossense.

The plants arrive healthy, I plant them, and then a few days later, part of the plant dies while at the same time new growth starts. I ended up trashing the rotala, but I'd like to keep the myriophyllum. There are sections of the bottom half that have turned brown and mushy, but the tops have already shot up an extra two inches. So what do I do with the brown parts? And is this a fairly common acclimation process or am I doing something unusual?

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freydo

· #2 · Jan 20, 2009

what kind of sand are you using? and what is the ratio of laterite in your substrate? sand is generally not the greatest as it compacts and doesn't allow for proper growth of roots.

also, you don't say what other fertilizers you're providing, so i'm going to assume that you're not. you should read up some of the posts in the Fertilizer forum. right now you're not providing sufficient nutrients for your plants, as you're only providing micro nutrients, and need to provide macro nutrients.

you should also look into going either DIY co2 or pressurized if you can afford it. but this depends on how big your tank is, because even though excel is a great source of carbon, it's also a pretty expensive alternative.

hopefully this gives you some answers to why things are happening in your tank.

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Bert H

· #3 · Jan 20, 2009

Toss the dead/dieing sections, and plant the healthy ones. But as Freydo pointed out, you need to provide the plant needs for healthy growth. You might find this link helpful to you.

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customdrumfinishes

· #4 · Jan 29, 2009

have you checked your water parameters lately? low high gh kh could be a problem to. you have to rule out all possible problems to get the right answers.
sand does compact and roots cant grow well. i once had the melting problem when i 1st started and solved it with ferts.

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Fishtory

· #5 · Feb 5, 2009

I bought rotala about a month ago, and mine was pretty sorry too. I think it's a really delicate plant that gets damaged in transit. I cut off the (very large) dead parts and planted the (very small) branches that had at least 4 leaves....seems like it is taking root and will do okay soon.

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yildirim

· #6 · Feb 5, 2009

This is a common problem seen with most of the submerged species. When you change the environment of a submerged plant it will usualy require the same conditions and if not will get bad in a short time after consuming what is stored in the plant. But that shouldn't be considered very critical. As most of the plants have a great adaptation capability they will start to produce new growth adapted to new conditions. After you have a few nodes of new growth you can top it and trash the remeining part.

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