Whats happening to this plant?

1285 Views 6 Replies 3 Participants Last post by Sir_BlackhOle, Feb 27, 2004

Sir_BlackhOle

Discussion Starter · Feb 25, 2004

Steve and I found a few of these growing on a local riverbank. Mine was doing well for a while and I see new shoots, but something is destroying the stems. Its like they have been shredded apart. I lose a new one or two every day or so. I have noticed the SAE nibbling on the frayed ends of the stems, but I havent caught him messing with any of the other plants. I dont know what to do...Im hoping the plant will recover though. Any info would be appreciated. We still dont know what kind of plant it is. In the picture it is the plant that is almost dead center.

Its a ten gallon, 30 watts incandescent, dosing with flourish, KNO3, and fleet enema twice weekly with weekly 40 percent water changes.

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Steve Pituch

· #2 · Feb 25, 2004

Kevin,

My similar plants are actually doing better than I expected. They usually disappear within a week. The ruffled one shown below actually has a new leaf on it. To me its looks similar to a spatterdock.

It could be that the leaves were injured before you planted them or a fish damaged them. That tetra looks pretty sinister. :twisted: It also looks a little dark in the back of your tank. We'll check all this out when we pick up your new tank.

The other plant has stayed green and the leaves haven't fallen off. Time will tell.

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Sir_BlackhOle

Discussion Starter · #3 · Feb 25, 2004

Thanks Steve. It is actually a bit darker in the back of the tank. It never seems very bright normally, and for shooting photos I supplement with flourescent over the front of the tank. I think either my pleco or my SAE have been picking at it. Its really irritating because I like this plant a lot.

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Steve Pituch

· #4 · Feb 26, 2004

Just some advice on fish.

Its really hard to remove them from a planted tank once you put them in. So I would not add any to the 75 until you have really thought about it. Plecos have a raspy mouth. They actually require a piece of wood in the tank to chew on. Sometimes they don't hurt the plants and sometimes they will do damage.

Steve Pituch

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Sir_BlackhOle

Discussion Starter · #5 · Feb 26, 2004

I plan on adding a small piece of driftwood I bought the other day at TFH to the tank tonight. Im hoping if it is the pleco, the driftwood will get his attentions and not the plants. I dont really want to add any fish to the tank right away, other than maybe some sailfins or something for the cycle period. I want to get a bunch of plants in there first and get conditions to stabilize.

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HeyPK

· #6 · Feb 27, 2004

The problem may be that this is a plant that does not do well submersed. I think I recognize it as a common plant around here in Central Mississippi that grows in damp places and is sometimes temporarily flooded, but is essentially terrestrial. It has a thick underground rhizome that stores food. I went to Google and looked at pictures of common weeds, and the one I am thinking of is curly dock or yellow dock, Rumex crispus

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Sir_BlackhOle

Discussion Starter · #7 · Feb 27, 2004

That does look very similar to the plant we collected. It was not submersed when we got them. It appeared to be doing very well untill something decided it didnt like it. I believe Steve's is still doing okay submersed, but only time will tell.

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Whats happening to this plant?

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