Plants Are Not Doing Well

So HI guys. Have had my 10 gal. fresh water tank since August now have gone through several plants I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong. They get this slimy stringy stuff on them, turn black or just disintegrate. I am now feeding them Seachems Flourish, but some seem to be doing worst. Some of the leaves are totally black though not wilting & I've had to replace approx. 3-4 of them. Java fern, and a few of the sword varieties completely disintegrated. I now have 2 of the original plants: driftwood w/annubias & Cabomba (my favorites) are looking pretty sad, but hanging in there. Any suggestions on what I might do to help them or get equally as pretty plants that will flourish? Funny how when I was a child & had goldfish my Mother would get me just a simple live fluffy looking plants that would do great. No food, filter, temp regulation - nothing. No care & it always looked great.

 

Fluffy plant sounds like anacharis. What light do you use? Is flourish the only product? The swords might be melting and would regrow after. Turning black seems like a lot for the java. Is something black growing on them or just they die?

 

Fluffy plant sounds like anacharis. What light do you use? Is flourish the only product? The swords might be melting and would regrow after. Turning black seems like a lot for the java. Is something black growing on them or just they die?

Fluffy plant sounds like anacharis. What light do you use? Is flourish the only product? The swords might be melting and would regrow after. Turning black seems like a lot for the java. Is something black growing on them or just they die?

Actually what I meant by "fluffy" is the Cabomba & I've found more on line. It's not the Java that turned black It disintegrated & it's the annubias that has the black all over it's leaves though it otherwise looks relatively healthy. The Amazon Sword (which is my newest purchase is just brown & the mid sized sword that should have red on it also has a lot of brown definitely not red.
Yes Flourish is the only product I'm using on recommendation from the aquatic store. I'm not real intelligent about lights, but the light is build into the hood and came w/the Aqueous 10 gal tank set up. I do leave it on about 8-10 hr.s a day.
Thanks for your replyl

 

Issue closest at hand is inadequate light. You mean aqueon right? Is it 9 white nodes in a led bar? Something with rgb and more nodes.

 

Issue closest at hand is inadequate light. You mean aqueon right? Is it 9 white nodes in a led bar? Something with rgb and more nodes.

Yes sorry I meant Aqueon & it is the 9 white nodes in a led bar. Thanks for the link to a better light. Hope it won't hurt or bother Flash, Spock or Sheldon. They are my main concern

 

Mm that's a tough call. It seems like fish do like low light. But plants just need more. It's hard to say how your particular ones will take to it. Other than the light, I'd say check that there isn't a nutrient problem causing the algae. Adequate water changes and not too much fertilizer. After those things, we might see if you need to dose things like iron or get root tabs to make it easier.

 

Mm that's a tough call. It seems like fish do like low light. But plants just need more. It's hard to say how your particular ones will take to it. Other than the light, I'd say check that there isn't a nutrient problem causing the algae. Adequate water changes and not too much fertilizer. After those things, we might see if you need to dose things like iron or get root tabs to make it easier.

Thanks Carbeo. I took some pics to our local Aquatic store where I bought the original plants. Only 2 of those are still living. The same sales person who always helps me said they were still alive & that the black stuff on their leaves was partially "dirt" from my substrate. She also said that I could finally do a partial water change -it's been approx. 2-3 weeks since the last one. Other than that - no suggestions. Seems like every time I add the liquid fertilizer the whole tank starts getting dirtier. As I mentioned earlier I bought a siphon to clean the substrate - well- what a COMPLETE HEADACHE that is!!! I can hardly get the dumb thing to work & when I do it dirties up the water so horribly that I can't even see my fish or snails and it empties way too much water to where I end up replacing almost 50% instead of 20-30. So I decided to buy some "tank mates" while I was there to help keep the tank cleaner & keep Flash company. 3 Cory's, another Mystery snail & one Albino Pleco. They are doing their job apparently well, but Flash doesn't seem to care anything about them basically ignores them. For the first time ever I actually saw him "flare" when he first met the Pleco now he just ignores him. Prior to getting his tank mates I wasn't real happy w/the way he was acting - slightly lethargic still eating well though. Now there's been no change in his behavior still acts uniterested in everything except food.