tony

my plants keep dying and i don't know why. they go through a period where they grow like crazy and do wonderful, but then they start to die. nothing else in the tank changes, the water parameters are all good and fairly constant. this has happened with a couple different tanks, even after cycling was completed

Alessa

how many watts per gallon do you have?

Hmm... same thing happens in my betta tank with my hornwort, everytime I do a water change.

tony

2 WPG, and 5500k, but even the low-light plants die too

Alessa

Weird thing... same is happening to my hw as I said. I have 2wpg too... mine begins to die when I change the water... how about yours? any pattern? how long does it take?

lew2000

Do you check your nitrates and phosphates (usually of course in you should have enough of these in a tank with fish). However, if you have a heavily planted tank these can be used up. When you buy plants from a good source, they usually have been supplied with all of the nutrients that they require. Plants even low light of course need trace nutrients like iron, mg, etc. You can find additives souch as flourish, flourish that provide trace elements without adding phosphates.

Alessa

Thanks Lew, I was wondering than in a tank that small (like mine) that could be the problem since I had only one betta in it.

Since I added the snail it has gotten better.

Nate McFin

My plants (swords) did not do well until I added fertilizer tabss (Flourish) to the gravel. Once I did this and cut off the yellowing and opaque leaves the plants went crazy. I started with two swords and now have 4 with more new ones on the way. I do not use a special substrate and have 48 watts in a 20 gln aquarium. I would give the tabs (for root feeders) or liquid (for water column feeders) a shot and see what happens. DONT O.D. or you may end up with an Algae problem!~

lew2000

"BILL" the snail. You sure it's not Billy-Jean Interesting that adding a snail would fix lessen problem. If your nitrates are less than 5ppm, how are your annubias doing? low nitrate and possible low phosphate since they work in conjunction.

Alessa

Hahaha... no, not "Billy Jean" Just plain "Bill"


Well, the numbers in my tank info are general... the average.

Usually since I added the snail nitrates go around 10ppm, or 15ppm until I do the water change, then go down around 5 again... and I still have experienced die-offs in the hornwort but not as bad as before, when I almost lost the whole plant.

lew2000

Try the flourish liquid - this is a cut from a link on planted tanks that i used when dosing my planted tanks:


From a member name: djlen
"When I started dosing Fe I was following the directions on the bottle to the letter. Then someone said if I have a moderate to heavy plant load I could dose 10mls at water change and 5mls at mid-week, so I took the cautious approach and went with 5 and 5. When I saw improvement and no algae problem I went to 10 and 5. Then I read that dosing Iron was better done on a daily basis because more of it is absorbed into the plants when dosed that way so I went with 1ml/day(14mls/wk) which was 1ml/wk less than what I had been dosing, but the difference it created was dramatic in many of my plants. My Cryptocorynes, which had been just so-so, took off. They are responding like never before with the new dosing regimen."

Seachem also replied with this information:

Seachem recommends 1ml per 25 gallons twice a week- if day 7 is a water change, then dose on day 1 and day 5. Also dosing depends upon amount of plants in tank/lighting, and if CO2 is used - these are recomendations to start with.