uprightandlocked

Hi All:

I am BRAND new to keeping live plants after years of keeping aquariums.

I purchased some live plants from Petco for my red cherry shrimp tank. They are Wisteria, Aqua Fern, Umbrella Plant and White Ribbon - per the Petco labelling. They are the kind that they sell in the little tube with the "plant gel" around their roots. I went this route because I do not want any uninvited snails moving into my tank.

Today I noticed that some large leaves on the umbrella plant are turning brown. The plants are in a heated, filtered tank which is cycled. The temperature is about 80 degrees. They currently get 2-3wpg of light. I don't remember if I have the 10w bulbs for 15w bulbs on this tank - but I know the least I have is 20watts. The substrate in this tank is gravel only.

I have not added any fertilizer or anything to this tank. Do I need to?

Thanks,

Tony

pepetj

Do you have the scientific (latin) name of the umbrella plant? It may be that it is not a true aquatic plant.

If you determine that your plant is indeed aquatic, then consider the possibility of lack of available iron. Leaves usually turn yellowish due to this. As a rule of thumb for aquatic plants, chelated iron supplementation (as in feeding or fertilization) is desired and not harmful for fish.

There are two main ways of dosing iron: by adding it to the water (say weekly or even daily) in prepared products that can be liquid or in tabs (such as API Leaf Zone or Tetra FloraPride to name two) or by using enriched soil-based substrate (either by preparing your own soil -not recommended; or using commercially available nutrient rich substrate, such as Eco-Complete or Azoo Plant Grower Bed, to name two).

That said, I have found that some of the plants that are sold in the plastic vials are not true aquatic plants.

Pepetj
Santo Domingo

uprightandlocked

Thank you for your help. I do not have the latin names for the plants, unfortunately. They are not printed on the plastic tubes! I will look into getting some plant-specific water supplements. I need to find something without copper as that is harmful to my shrimp!

-Tony

aquarist48

Hello Upright. Here are a couple of links you may find helpful if you don't have them already.
PlantGeek.net - Echinodorus amazonicus
Plant Profiles - All Plant
Here is one that may help you to diagnose what your plants need:

Plant Problems

Ken

Nate McFin

I dont believe umbrella plants are aquatic either. Do you have pictures?

jprime84

I bought several similar plants from Petsmart, they are NOT true aquatic plants and will die underwater. The "white ribbon" plant is just "lucky bamboo". All the others live in marshy damp environments but not underwater.

eiginh

I bought an umbrella plant a little while back ago and it didn't turn brown on me but my mystery snail ate it up quick. That was the only plant he ate in my tank. From what I've read from here and other forums pet chain stores usually don't sell aquatic plants so customers could keep coming back to buy more once their older plant dies.

jprime84

Petsmart did have Amazon Swords and Anubias plants though. These are aquatic. I bought some and most of their leaves were dead when I brought it home. However, I trimmed all of the questionable parts and planted them, and the have all sprouted new leaves and are doing ok.

uprightandlocked

Thanks all ... seeing as how from what I can tell the aqua fern, umbrella plant and now the white ribbon are not actually underwater plants ... should I just leave them in there until they die or take them out now and reintroduce my silk plants?

pepetj

Why not plant them in clay pots and keep them as terrestrial plants? You might end up with some nice little clay pot garden... and maybe later set a terrarium or even a paladarium?

Pepetj
Santo Domingo