New Plants Are Dying/rotting Away

Some plants cannot be buried directly into the substrate,they need to be rooted on a piece of wood or suspended out of the gravel some how, it looks like 1 is a type of sword those can be put in the substrate. The other looks like java fern which needs to be on wood.
What are the water parameters?

When I bought them I was told the green one was something like Anubia but thats all I remember, and I was told not to bury it in the substrate but instead wrap it around a rock which I did. The other smaller one is 3-4cms in the substrate and underneath that is a small layer of plant soil (if thats how its called, english isn’t my first language). The water parameters are:
Temperature: 26 degrees Celsius
pH: 7,2
NO3: 25mg/l
NO2: 0mg/l
gH: around 16
kH: 15
Ammonia: 0 mg/l

 

When I bought them I was told the green one was something like Anubia but thats all I remember, and I was told not to bury it in the substrate but instead wrap it around a rock which I did. The other smaller one is 3-4cms in the substrate and underneath that is a small layer of plant soil (if thats how its called, english isn’t my first language). The water parameters are:
Temperature: 26 degrees Celsius
pH: 7,2
NO3: 25mg/l
NO2: 0mg/l
gH: around 16
kH: 15
Ammonia: 0 mg/l

Maybe not enough nitrates ? I could not tell that one is wrapped around a rock so at least your on the right path.

 

Maybe not enough nitrates ? I could not tell that one is wrapped around a rock so at least your on the right path.

If there isn’t enough nitrates should I skip the water change to prevent reducing them and is that harmful for my betta?

 

EasyLife Profito contains no NO3 or PO4 both of which plants need in larger quantities. They also don't advertise what comes in their fertilizer which... is very off-putting to say the least. That might be part of the issue. Unfortunately your lighting also looks very low, it should work but expect very slow growth.

 

EasyLife Profito contains no NO3 or PO4 both of which plants need in larger quantities. They also don't advertise what comes in their fertilizer which... is very off-putting to say the least. That might be part of the issue. Unfortunately your lighting also looks very low, it should work but expect very slow growth.

Okay, thank you so much! What do you think I should do about NO3 and PO4? Can they be healthy without them or do I need to add those as well?

 

Okay, thank you so much! What do you think I should do about NO3 and PO4? Can they be healthy without them or do I need to add those as well?

I would look for a complete all-in-one fertilizer such as Thrive or something similar.

Make sure it's a true all in one fertilizer, NPK and Micro's

 

I would look for a complete all-in-one fertilizer such as Thrive or something similar.

Make sure it's a true all in one fertilizer, NPK and Micro's

Thank you for the advice, I’ll look up what I can find here. Just one more question, should I cut off the brown, dying leaves or? I’m not sure what to do with them since I don’t know if they can get better or not.

 

The first thing I would do is remove all of the damaged leaves. By doing so the plant can put all of its energy into getting healthy instead of trying to heal the damaged leaves. Lots of plants will die off as they are getting used to their new home. I agree with Chanyi about getting Thrive. My plants really started taking off once i started using it.

 

The first thing I would do is remove all of the damaged leaves. By doing so the plant can put all of its energy into getting healthy instead of trying to heal the damaged leaves. Lots of plants will die off as they are getting used to their new home. I agree with Chanyi about getting Thrive. My plants really started taking off once i started using it.

I’m not sure we have Thrive in Serbia but I’ll definitely look up what I can find. Thank you all so much for helping!

 

Damaged leaves will not recover. They are damaged because the plant is cannibalizing them to supply nutrients it's lacking for new growth.

 

If there isn’t enough nitrates should I skip the water change to prevent reducing them and is that harmful for my betta?

Theories differ but I say anything under 40ppm of nitrates is acceptable, I do not think it will hurt the betta.
My 28 gallon tank has seen 160ppm of nitrates and not hurt my fish. Hold off on changing the water unless ammonia gets out of hand.
But try and get nitrates to rise and see if the plants get better.
Dont clean the decor or substrate either.

 

The anubia needs to be taken out of the ground. Stick it on a driftwood or a rock above ground, and it’ll do better. Also the other one looks like some sort of crypt. The crypt I notice mine do really bad with liquid carbon. I would stop dosing the liquid carbon and maybe it’ll start doing better.

 

I would not allow NO3 to build up, that's a recipe for algae (not strictly because of NO3, but because of added organics in the tank).

I also would ensure to keep the tank spotless, remove all decaying organic material to avoid feeding algae and increasing organics within the tank. Algae are much more capable of using these dissolved organics than plants are.

Whatever nutrients you remove when removing rotting material you can easily add back with clean, pure fertilizers.

 

I’ll try to turn around the rock if that’s what you’re suggesting, so the root is above it and not beneath. Would it be okay if I added NO3 and PO4 along with Profito because thats all I seem to find here, instead of all in one fertilizer?

 

I’ll try to turn around the rock if that’s what you’re suggesting, so the root is above it and not beneath. Would it be okay if I added NO3 and PO4 along with Profito because thats all I seem to find here, instead of all in one fertilizer?

Yes that's fine. Try and figure out what is in Profito and lets see if it's missing other things.

 

Yes that's fine. Try and figure out what is in Profito and lets see if it's missing other things.

On the bottle it says this: “N 0,0005%, K 0,7%, P 0%, Fe 1,2 mg/l, Mn 400 mg/l, B, Cu, Mo, Zn, NI, Co, I, Li, Al, Sn, F, V, Se less than 50 mg/l”

 

On the bottle it says this: “N 0,0005%, K 0,7%, P 0%, Fe 1,2 mg/l, Mn 400 mg/l, B, Cu, Mo, Zn, NI, Co, I, Li, Al, Sn, F, V, Se less than 50 mg/l”

So basically it's just bottled water sadly.


I would look into another all-in-one option.... Use it up as is while you source more fertilizers. Since you've got an NO3 reading you might be able to get away with Flourish Comprehensive, Flourish Trace, Flourish Potassium and Flourish Phosphorous

Or, you can go with one of the thrive products.

 

So basically it's just bottled water sadly.


I would look into another all-in-one option.... Use it up as is while you source more fertilizers. Since you've got an NO3 reading you might be able to get away with Flourish Comprehensive, Flourish Trace, Flourish Potassium and Flourish Phosphorous

Or, you can go with one of the thrive products.

One of better supplied stores here only has Profito, Easycarbo and Liquid NO3 and PO4 separately. I’ll try with that and hopefully my plants start growing more since my little betta loves swimming all around them.

 

If one of those plants is a crypt then your gravel might not be "aged" enough. From my experience growing them (im sure others experiences are different) they do really really well in substrate that's very "poopy" and been in the tank with fish for a while. I've been experimenting with growing them and mine get super overgrown every week keeping them in a tank with 3 year old substrate and medium light. Although if you want a fertilizer I highly recommend easy green from the aquarium co-op, I also dose my crypt tank with it and they took off with it, as did all my other planted tanks- couldn't recommend it enough!

 

If one of those plants is a crypt then your gravel might not be "aged" enough. From my experience growing them (im sure others experiences are different) they do really really well in substrate that's very "poopy" and been in the tank with fish for a while. I've been experimenting with growing them and mine get super overgrown every week keeping them in a tank with 3 year old substrate and medium light. Although if you want a fertilizer I highly recommend easy green from the aquarium co-op, I also dose my crypt tank with it and they took off with it, as did all my other planted tanks- couldn't recommend it enough!

That probably crypt one had like 3-4 leaves fall off in the first few days but other than that seems to be doing much better than the anubia. I think I even see two small new leaves. Hopefully anubia grows some new leaves as well I will do my research on what I can find here, thank you all so much for your recommendations and help, I was super lost on this before.

 

Everyone is recommending USA fertilizers, which you probably won't be able to get or will have high shipping costs. You can go through the process to see if shipping is reasonable though! I second the Seachem line if you can get it, several bottles to use. See if you can also find Tropica fertilizers. If you can get cheaper shipping from the UK, Aquascaper liquid plant food is a good option.
Gravel is not the best substrate, especially for smaller plants like those you have. You might want to get a stronger light, it's looking a little dim in there.
I also might be wrong but those crypts on the left may be in their emersed form, and will melt before growing submersed leaves.

 

Everyone is recommending USA fertilizers, which you probably won't be able to get or will have high shipping costs. You can go through the process to see if shipping is reasonable though! I second the Seachem line if you can get it, several bottles to use. See if you can also find Tropica fertilizers. If you can get cheaper shipping from the UK, Aquascaper liquid plant food is a good option.
Gravel is not the best substrate, especially for smaller plants like those you have. You might want to get a stronger light, it's looking a little dim in there.
I also might be wrong but those crypts on the left may be in their emersed form, and will melt before growing submersed leaves.

I saw on one online store Tropica fertilizers so yes I could get those if they are good. About the light, I guess it does look dim on pictures but I personally sometimes feel like it’s even too much If they don’t improve I’ll try and invest in a stronger light. Thank you!