Hornwort

[DuaneV]

I got some hornwort (haven't had any for like 20 years) and threw it in a tank with some other plants (ludwigia, bacopa, banana plants, dwarf water lettuce, pondweed and frogbit) and within a day it dropped every single needle on it. Not sure why or what happened, but should I leave the stems in there? Will it grow more needles?

 

[-Mak-]

Was it new from somewhere like a store? Sometimes plants die back a bit in a new environment. Is the stem mushy, or is it still healthy? I don't have experience with hornwort so I don't know if they'll regrow, but in general healthy stems will put out new leaves.

 

[Piaelliott]

Are you sure it is Hornwort? Cabomba looks similar and is known for shedding leaves when water is alkaline.

 

[DuaneV]

Definitely hornwort. The stems are still nice looking, not mushy or rotten. Just can't figure out why every needle came off.

 

[Piaelliott]

Never had that problem. It may be salt if you use any or just adjusting to new tank/temperature.
It prefers cooler temperatures. I actually saw it in a lake close by, almost fell in the water, I was so excited

 

[DuaneV]

Yeah, it does thrive in some lakes. My tank is well established (5 years old?), no salt and is 78 so maybe that's the problem.

 

[OnTheFly]

Not much help but the exact same thing happened to me with guppy grass this week. Perfectly healthy plant melted in a couple days. Dropped all it's leaves. I do have alkaline water. My hornwort looks good.

 

[DuaneV]

Weird

 

[OnTheFly]

It is common for rooted plants to melt initially because they were grown out of the water before you receive them. I don't think that is possible for hornwort and floating plants to be grown that way so I just don't know.

 

[BeanFish]

How did you get the hornwort? When I first got the plant (came from a pond) I cleaned it with a hose and the ammount of debree and needles that came from it was amazing. I probably discarded quite a few "stems" from it which just shed half their needles. Rough shipping or transport can definitely affect it.
Anyways, after that I had no problems with the plant so I do find it weird that it just shed all its needles like that. I had it in a tank that was kept at 80 Farenheit, sometimes even higher (thank the weather for that lol) and again I had no problems with it so I wouldnt say the temp killed it.

 

[DuaneV]

Bought it from a member here. It came in a plastic bag in wet, packed in paper towels in a box. The packaging was fantastic. It was fine for a day after I tossed it in, the next day all the needles fell off.

 

[Jocelyn Adelman]

Heard of it happening in warmer tanks from cooler tanks, haven't experienced it myself though... I have noticed that in my cooler tank the needles are very thick, and in warmer tanks they are softer... I would leave the stems... most likely will grow from tips, but might get a few along the stem as well....

 

[purslanegarden]

My recently purchased hornwort did that too, but I can't say how different my conditions are from the person I bought it from. The tips didn't lose the leaves though, just the inner stems (what I would consider as the beginning of the plant, since the leaves are pointed in such as way that makes me think the plant grows in that direction). So the tips are still full of leaves but I don't see any noticeable growth yet, but at least those leaves didn't fall off, just the ones earlier on the stem (older leaves?)

 

[jmaldo]

Bought it from a member here. It came in a plastic bag in wet, packed in paper towels in a box. The packaging was fantastic. It was fine for a day after I tossed it in, the next day all the needles fell off.

Happened to me also, not that all the needles fell off but quite a lot. I thought what a mistake. But it came back to the extent I was able to remove a bunch and trade it in at my LFS. Good Luck. My temp is around 76-77.