Banana plants and diatoms!

Hey guys!!

I've tried on several occasions to have a banana plant in my tank. All my other plants are doing okay. I did have diatoms on my driftwood but this was during the first months of setup and they went away. The tank has veen running for over 6months now.

I'm not sure why but every time I buy a banana plant it just ends up getting completely coverer up in diatoms and eventually dying!!! Has anybody else ever had this on problem? Idk what to do

 

Bumping this up for you

 

Appreciate that! I'm losing yet another plant to diatoms. I take it out of the tank everyday and clean it with tank water and the next day it's all covered in a huge white fuzz ball again

 

huge white fuzz ball? aren't diatoms brown...ish? like a rusty color

 

Not sure, I may be completely wrong. The diatoms that grew when my tank was newly set up did look greyish-brown but towards the top they looked a little more like white. This is what it looks like, I cleaned it in the morning and 12 hours later its like this again!

 

It looks more like mold or some type of fungus. That's strange though, since it's green underneath I'm assuming the plant is alive. I don't know why it would be degrading like that..

 

not diatoms. looks like that same mold or fungus that driftwood gets.

 

Have you tried to scrap it off? Take off the infected leafs?

 

Agreed. Not diatoms. Diatoms look like brown algae. To be honest I have no idea what that is.

 

Have you had it for a while? There are no leaves or anything on it currently, and all of the stems are already dying/dead looking at the picture. Honestly, looks like a rotting, moldy banana plant to me. Where there leaves on it when you initially got it?

 

Yeah the leaves were on it, but they started to melt so I trimmed them off. I've had it for maybe two weeks only! I had it in a bit of a shaded place before, more towards the front and a little under the driftwood, that's when it started growing. I continuously scraped it off and when I saw it wasn't working I moved it right under the light to see if there was a difference. Still nothing! I'll scrape it off everyday and by the next day it's all covered again.

It's just weird.. I have tons of other plants in my tank and driftwood too, everything else is doing wonderful and growing, pearling and just looking super healthy. Banana plants just always seem to get this as soon as I put them in my tank.. This plant looked super healthy at the store!!!

 

ime, (and it's only a total of 3 banana plants, so it is somewhat limited experience), if the leaves are gone, the plant will die and do exactly what that one is doing. I have one I purchased that didn't look overly healthy in the store, than did exactly what yours are doing, and I have two doing well.

They seem to be very happy around 76. The one in my betta tank, that sits around 80, is doing alright, but not as well as the one in my other tank at 76.

Some leaves/pads will melt, but there should be other new ones forming around the time that the old ones are melting, so you should be seeing a new stalk coming up. If you are going to trim melting leaves (I usually leave them for the tank inhabitants to munch on), make sure you don't trim the new ones. They'll have new leaves on them, so they'll look almost like shriveled leaves when forming because they haven't opened up yet.

Are you using any fertilizers for them?

 

Yeah! I dose my tank with flourish comprehensive once a week, and extra potassium and iron in very small dose separately twice a week. Also a small amount of excel every other day to help keep the algae at bay, I had an issue with algae a couple months ago but since I changed my lighting/fert routine its gone! I also added root tabs for my DHG and other plants, but I'm sure they don't do anything for the bananas. Should I just throw it away then? I love this plant, i've wanted it for such a long time it just sucks I can never keep it alive!

 

Honestly, I'm not convinced the root tabs don't do anything for them. Once they get a little bigger, their roots actually go down into the substrate. I actually use root tabs for both of mine (one directly under each one). My betta tank gets a small amount of liquid ferts, and the other tank, where the plant is really flourishing, doesn't get any.

That one, I would personally throw away or maybe put into a vase with water and see if there's any chance you can salvage it, but without any leaves, I don't have a ton of hope for it.

I agree with you, I think they really are one of my favorite aquarium plants, so I'd love to see one survive for you

Not the best picture, but it at least gives an idea of what the roots will do. Sorry for the air tube holder, but with the snails, that's the only way I've found to keep it in place in that tank...

 

Well, once again my banana died. I tool it out to clean it again and noticed the bananas were literally starting to fall apart, so I threw it away. They say third time is the charm, I might go get a other one tomorrow and try with this plant one last time! This time I'll follow your advice and just leave it in there without trimming the melting leaves.

Plants usually go through the melting phase when introduced to a new aquarium, which is what really got me confused, since they usually tell you to trim them off so the new leaves have more nutrients to grow, but maybe this plant is just different! Cant say I'm not a little frustrated, I give my plants all they need to thrive and I guess it sucks when you try and try and can't get it right I really appreciate all of your help, I love the kind people in this forum! If I do decide to get another one, I will post here and update on how it's doing.

<3

 

I'd try giving it a root tab too, just for good measure

 

So, just wanted to add something in here. I just moved one of mine from my 5.5 gallon into my 10g, which will give it more room and is a little cooler, and I pulled out about an 8-10 inch root structure from under the substrate.

 

I always thought a banana plant was easy to care for. I had one in my 10 gallon and it grew, but I sold it to a pet store for some swords

 

Bithimala that's awesome! I have yet to see my plants root like that and they've been planted for a while. I'm really not sure what I'm doing wrong at all but I have a feeling it has to do with the algae that accumulates at the bottom and doesn't allow for healthy and proper rooting. My algae issue has gotten way better, but at the same time I gently scrape off my plats daily with a toothbrush and always get a bunch of it out. The hairgrass is the worst! Its like the algae knows its the hardest one to get it out of so it grows there more than anywhere else

And yes everyone says theyre so easy to care for! That's why its a little frustrating that I can never get it right. My betta is a little sick and I might have to medicate so I haven't bought another one yet, but I'm gonna try again soon and do as advised and leave the melting leaves there to see what happens.

 

Hopefully the new one works out for you when you get it!