Am I the only person in the world who can kill Anubias?

Ok, this is embarrassing. I have 4 tanks currently- all are heavily planted and the flora is thriving...except for the 6-month old multi tank. I have lost about 100 dollars of Anubias due to melting. Its not just leaf melt- the whole plant turns to mush. And I have attempted anubias twice. The java fern and sword are barely hanging on but still look better than the anubias, which needs last rites (to be honest, though, I never had great success with java fern). There is also black brush and green hair algae trying to take hold. I took out all the sad looking anubias survivors and moved them to the betta tank, where I have a ton that is doing well. I am thinking of trying jungle val as a last resort with the multies since it even works in brackish water. Would the anubias melting be due to high pH?

Substrate- sand with some very small amounts of crushed coral
pH 8
Temp 78
GH and KH: 89.5 ppm and 179 ppm respectively
Ammonia 0
Nitrites 0
Nitrates 20 ppm
Light: Finnex stingray 2 on a timer- down from 7 to six hours a day
Niloc G thrive c weekly, vibrant weekly and excel daily all at label doses.

Has anyone here experienced similar issues and if so do you have any advice? Thanks for your thoughts!

 

Maybe they just don’t like the sand?

 

Thanks- the rhizomes are not in sand- they are on lava rock or in baskets on top of the sand

 

The question is, are anubias growing well in the other aquariums? If the answer is yes, what is the difference between those aquariums and the problematic aquarium? Main things would be water parameters and temperature, secondary factors would be substrate and lighting.

 

The only big difference is pH but I am not sure the difference is enough to cause a problem. The Anubias goes nuts in the 3 other tanks: the temp is about 74 F in two of the other tanks and 78 ( same as in multie tank) for the third. Substrate is samurai soil in the non- multie tanks but Anubias is not planted in the substrate in any of the tanks. pH is 7.4 to 7.8 in the other tanks. Lighting for the other 3 tanks is either stingray 2 ( which is what I use for the multies) or fluval planted.

 

Ok, this is embarrassing. I have 4 tanks currently- all are heavily planted and the flora is thriving...except for the 6-month old multi tank. I have lost about 100 dollars of Anubias due to melting. Its not just leaf melt- the whole plant turns to mush. And I have attempted anubias twice. The java fern and sword are barely hanging on but still look better than the anubias, which needs last rites (to be honest, though, I never had great success with java fern). There is also black brush and green hair algae trying to take hold. I took out all the sad looking anubias survivors and moved them to the betta tank, where I have a ton that is doing well. I am thinking of trying jungle val as a last resort with the multies since it even works in brackish water. Would the anubias melting be due to high pH?

Substrate- sand with some very small amounts of crushed coral
pH 8
Temp 78
GH and KH: 89.5 ppm and 179 ppm respectively
Ammonia 0
Nitrites 0
Nitrates 20 ppm
Light: Finnex stingray 2 on a timer- down from 7 to six hours a day
Niloc G thrive c weekly, vibrant weekly and excel daily all at label doses.

Has anyone here experienced similar issues and if so do you have any advice? Thanks for your thoughts!

Good Morning Sputnik,
Your Anubias are not melting from your high pH they are melting because you are double dosing chemicals which are anti-algae inhibitors ( vibrant and excel ) the chemicals in these two components are so strong that they will cause severe leave meltdown. Rhizome plants are especially extremely susceptible to these chemicals and you are using two of them at the same time.

if your having cloudy or dirty water problems than it comes down to either over feeding the fish which will lead to excess organic material in the water column and this is the number one food source for algae. Black hair algae is a very strong indicator of just plain dirty water; it is the only time you will get this type of algae.

You have to remember that nature’s filters are our plants so you want to establish that delicate balance. Your plants will do that for you better than any aquarium filter in today’s market. Your dosing your plants with Thrive C which will indicate to me you have no CO2 injection in your tank. This is fine but you have to remember plants need three things to thrive. Lights, nutrients, and carbon dioxide. But the factor that will control the growth of your plants is lighting duration / intensity. If your lighting is strong but the nutrients and carbon dioxide is not-at the adequate levels algae will take over and be relentless in its attack of your ecosystem. You have the stingray 2 so is at least 7500 Kelvin. That light will grow any kind of plant which most aquarist will have in their tank. The point I’m trying to make is that you have to find that balance that your tank needs so your plants can thrive and be healthy. In a planted aquarium if your plants are healthy everything else inside that tank will follow suit. Lighting will be the driving force that will directly affect the amount of nutrients your plants need and also the amount of CO2 required by your plants.

In my tank (75 gallon dirted) I have the same light as you do and I run my lights for eight hours. I fertilize the plants with the EI method and I use Thrive also to include their root tabs every three months. I do a 50% water change once a week and I only feed the fish once a day. My nitrates stay consistently at 40ppm .

 

Beautiful tank! Yes, balance is difficult- I could find it easily with the other tanks but not this one- I feed a lot because of all the breeding but see few leftovers have a ton of filtration ( 2 sponge filters and 2 hobs) and vacuum and do a 30 percent water change weekly. Nitrates stay at about 20 ppm. Vibrant is a bacterial supplement so I didn’t think it would harm the plants in conjunction with excel but I will revisit that. Thank you!

And yes- low tech only for me! I don’t want any plants that need CO2 injection!

 

I've had anubias turn to mush when I put some my brackish tank and also had some melting when I used excel.

 

I've had anubias turn to mush when I put some my brackish tank and also had some melting when I used excel.

Thank you for helping me narrow it down!
Oddly I use excel ( all the same chemicals, actually) in all the other tanks and the anubias looks great in the rest of the tanks, but maybe its the harder water in conjunction with the chemicals that is part of the problem.

 

And yes- low tech only for me! I don’t want any plants that need CO2 injection!

In all reality all plants require CO2. Carbon is the building block of everything organic and plants are no exception. For years I have disagreed with how these retailers within our hobby label plants. All of them will benefit from Carbon Dioxide injection. What happen in a tank that does not have it, you are relying on the CO2 generated by your fish, which can be a really tricky thing to do. But also, from the exchange of gases at the surface of the water. There is a certain amount of carbon dioxide that does get introduced into your water column this way but the amounts are very minute. So if you have a heavily planted tank or even a moderate planted one, you will always struggle to attain that manic number of 30 ppm of CO2 within your water. It’s basic biology. Your plants need light to be able to photosynthesis, the carbon dioxide is an energy source for plants, they convert it into glucose ( sugars ) and thus, being able to carry out the Kelvin Cycle. Plants are amazing and the process is mind blowing. So if your going to have a tank with plants and not have CO2 injection the trick is to not over plant the tank so there is no competition for the available Carbon Dioxide. And I would recommend you take a look at the Estimative Method of fertilizing your plants. It works wonders with your plants. Under this method there is a dosing formula / amount for low energy set / low tech tanks. There is a fellow on YouTube that talks about this topic in detail. His name is George Farmer and he is a world renowned aqua scaper who uses this method and has perfected it. I have been following his advice on this matter and my tank exploded with growth. Hope this help further.

 

Thank you- I will have a look at those videos!

To give you an idea of why I am so perplexed-
Tank 1 ( betta tank- with rescued anubias- the tank is sitting in a sterite container in case of leaks)


Tank 2 ( shrimp tank)


Tank 3- shrimp and heterandria


And my sad problem tank:

 

To give you an idea of why I am so perplexed-
Tank 1 ( betta tank- with rescued anubias- the tank is sitting in a sterite container in case of leaks)
View attachment 735795
Tank 2 ( shrimp tank)
View attachment 735796
Tank 3- shrimp and heterandria
View attachment 735797
And my sad problem tank:
View attachment 735798

On your last tank the one with the issue, do you run air stones during the night when the lights are off? Plants will consume oxygen and produce carbon dioxide during the night. If there is an excess of carbon dioxide during the night your carbonic acid will fluctuate and thus will make your pH move and will drop during this period of darkness. Any fish you have in this tank will also contribute to the carbon dioxide levels at night. So would I recommend run at least two air stones on a timer and for the entire duration period that your lights are off run those air stones. And then have them turn off when your lights come back on. You will be surprise how beneficial this process is to your tank. It helps with moving the detritus around within your water column and that way it gets picked up by your filters, it helps with gaseous exchange in your water column, and also it creates a slow current within your tank that your fish and plants will get accustomed to. Think of it like an artificial biological clock for them. It should help tremendously with your issue. Also, if you have any biofilm at the surface of your water it will help dissipate this issue.

 

That is an awesome idea!!! Right now I only have airstones in the sponge filter but have a ton of extras I can add tonight! I never would have thought of that-big thanks!

 

To give you an idea of why I am so perplexed-
Tank 1 ( betta tank- with rescued anubias- the tank is sitting in a sterite container in case of leaks)
View attachment 735795
Tank 2 ( shrimp tank)
View attachment 735796
Tank 3- shrimp and heterandria
View attachment 735797
And my sad problem tank:
View attachment 735798

As far as for the plants you have planted into your substrate you might want to use root tabs. Sand makes en excellent substrate for planting, unfortunately it is inert and thus, cannot provide any nutrients to the plants. So putting a root tabs every three to four months should help with this matter. This in conjunction with your liquid fertilizer should do wonders for your plants.

 

Thanks- I forgot to mention the Flourish tabs I use for the root feeders. In the ugly tank the only plant I have that primarily feeds through the roots is the sword. I have a root tab next to that plant and put in new tabs for all my tanks every 3 to 4 months. Should I use more than one for the sword?