Vallisneria Dying Please Help

[andy36yr19]

About 2 weeks ago I got some Jungle Vallisneria from Petco and about 2 days later the leaves started to split and one of the leaves is rotting and turning transparent by the crown. The roots seem brown but large and the crown is above substrate which is seachem flourite. I dose flourish, excel, and iron in the tank. It's a 10 gallon with some amano shrimp, betta, and neon tetras. There is also some anubias and ludwigia repens doing good in there with a spider plant with roots in water that shrimp love to be in.i just want to know why they're splitting and dying. Please Help! (Parameters: ph,6.8 ammonia,0 nitrite,0 nitrate,35)

 

[Colin_T]

Jungle Vallis (aka Giant Vallis) is usually from cold water ponds and when you put it in a tropical aquarium it falls apart and dies. If you plan on trying to keep it in an aquarium, get it in summer when the pond water is warm and there will be more chance of it surviving in a tank. It also doesn't travel that well and lots of people damage the leaves when they pack it.

Narrow Vallis is a better option.

 

[Byron]

The prime cause is the Excel. This so-called liquid CO2 is glutaraldehyde (and water), a highly toxic disinfectant. It is well known to often kill Vallisneria outright along with certain other species. I'll come back to the CO2 momentarily, but there are some other issues too.

Second is iron, which is a micro-nutrient but plants do not need very much of it. And iron is present in Flourish Comprehensive Supplement (which I assume is the "Flourish" you mention using) and at a level sufficient to balance the other ingredients. It is not safe to dose any of these further, as it can upset the balance. "Hard" minerals like calcium and magnesium are the exceptions; if you have very soft water, these might need more than what is in Flourish Comprehensive (another story), but this is certainly not the case with iron. I experimented with iron a few years back (using it with FCS) and there was no doubt at all that it killed my floating plants and harmed others.

Third thing to mention is light. Vallisneria is relatively fast-growing, and thus light has to be more intense than it would for slower growing plants. I mention this just to have a complete picture, but the Excel and possibly iron are the culprits here I am certain.

Now back to CO2. There is a fair bit of natural CO2 in most fish tanks. Not only the respiration of fish, plants and some bacteria species, but primarily the breakdown of organics principally in the substrate. This is or may be sufficient depending upon the plant species and numbers, and light and other additives. If the balance of light/nutrients is sufficient for the specific plants, they will grow fine. Adding CO2 artificially whether diffusion or chemicals will create a very different balance level that may be detrimental.

One further thing on the Excel, it does harm fish. This toxin gets into the fish by osmosis (every substance in the water does) and enters the bloodstream. While the fish may survive this toxin, it still weakens them. If the Excel should be overdosed, it has been know to rapidly kill all plants, fish and bacteria. I do not think it wise to be adding a chemical that is potent enough to sterilize medical instruments in hospital, and is in antifreeze and embalming fluid, to any fish tank especially as it is not needed anyway.

 

[andy36yr19]

The prime cause is the Excel. This so-called liquid CO2 is glutaraldehyde (and water), a highly toxic disinfectant. It is well known to often kill Vallisneria outright along with certain other species. I'll come back to the CO2 momentarily, but there are some other issues too.

Second is iron, which is a micro-nutrient but plants do not need very much of it. And iron is present in Flourish Comprehensive Supplement (which I assume is the "Flourish" you mention using) and at a level sufficient to balance the other ingredients. It is not safe to dose any of these further, as it can upset the balance. "Hard" minerals like calcium and magnesium are the exceptions; if you have very soft water, these might need more than what is in Flourish Comprehensive (another story), but this is certainly not the case with iron. I experimented with iron a few years back (using it with FCS) and there was no doubt at all that it killed my floating plants and harmed others.

Third thing to mention is light. Vallisneria is relatively fast-growing, and thus light has to be more intense than it would for slower growing plants. I mention this just to have a complete picture, but the Excel and possibly iron are the culprits here I am certain.

Now back to CO2. There is a fair bit of natural CO2 in most fish tanks. Not only the respiration of fish, plants and some bacteria species, but primarily the breakdown of organics principally in the substrate. This is or may be sufficient depending upon the plant species and numbers, and light and other additives. If the balance of light/nutrients is sufficient for the specific plants, they will grow fine. Adding CO2 artificially whether diffusion or chemicals will create a very different balance level that may be detrimental.

One further thing on the Excel, it does harm fish. This toxin gets into the fish by osmosis (every substance in the water does) and enters the bloodstream. While the fish may survive this toxin, it still weakens them. If the Excel should be overdosed, it has been know to rapidly kill all plants, fish and bacteria. I do not think it wise to be adding a chemical that is potent enough to sterilize medical instruments in hospital, and is in antifreeze and embalming fluid, to any fish tank especially as it is not needed anyway.

Ok thank you that really helps me a lot