Amazon Sword Deforming

[Zikofski]

Simple question what is causing my amazon sword to do this,

not 100% if this leaf started growing before or after co2 injection

but i am injecting co2 and adding neutron+ at the daily dosing of 25ml per day i have medium light but will be getting high light soon, and i did have root tabs under the plant? and i have over 20x flow in my tank

any help much appreciated not only is this happening but my twisted vallis are dying back and the algae is getting allot worse in my tank since adding co2

Picture of plant in question

Picture taken on the 19th of Nov

Picture taken on the 30th of Nov

 

[SO19Firearms]

Do you have hard water? You can see some plant deficiencies here which could mean a lack of calcium/magnesium if you have soft water. That might also answer your vallis problem.

Usual answer for the algae - Identify it and work out why that should be the case.....(If CO2 related)

 

[Zikofski]

thank you Firearms, with the hard/soft water is there a test i can do or look up some where not sure where to look tbh to get my hardness of water i think this leaf was growing aka above the sand before i put co2 in, was growing slowly but since co2 it has just shot up in a week, haven't checked for any newer leafs which i will do in 2 weeks i shall cut off all the algae leaf's enough to not kill the plant and remove these

 

[BigTom]

It's a little hard to tell from the photos, but are you sure your swords aren't just switching from emersed to submerged growth forms?

Also, I would recommend reducing the amount of light you're using, not increasing it. If you've got issues with algae already then increasing the amount of light will just make things worse. Look at improving your distribution of co2 (flow) and cut down the light, either by reducing the hours its on or introducing some floating plants to diffuse it.

 

[Zikofski]

hmm okay that is interesting i am trying to go towards a high tech high light setup, the algae was a problem before i injected co2 and only just added co2 so

looking at the list firearms posted its hard to tell they are distorted and yellow ish they are not growing slowly but growing fast, which is good for me, i did get these plants from P&H they where submerged as i bought them so not sure really about that

my co2 distribution is really good tbh the only thing i was lacking was maybe low co2 and low light, i cant remember how long my lights are on for and i shall reduce that a couple of hours until this is sorted, like with my vallis i may get rid of them and get new ones, see how they go there cheep and not a problem to just get new ones, il be honest i don't know if they are die'ing off or not just looks like in the picture i am not with my tank for another week and a half, i shall look and make decisions then,

i was told the algae is BBA but not 100% sure i shall try and get a better close up pic of the algae when im next down to hopefully get a 100% ID on the stuff then i can start looking at what i need to do, to help this

 

[SO19Firearms]

Don't read too much in to that list - Its just gives you an idea. I'd guess that if you're seeing an increase in distortion after you're CO2 it's becuase of the increased growth rate.
You should probably consider Steveo's method of spot dosing liquid carbon to kill off existing BBA or removing effected leaves.

A GH test kit will help establish the Magnesium/Calcium issue and that along with a KH test kit could highlight your Vallis issues......but that's my own theory.
A local water report would another option.


Also as Tom says, using CO2 doesn't give a free pass to lighting, if it needs to be lower for 30ppm CO2 thats the way it has to be as to go higher on the CO2 will lead to dead critters.

 

[Zikofski]

hmm yes this is all so confusing haha, from more studying on my picture, i can see new leaves growing under the cave look bright green and okay so i am hoping it was before i added co2 i shall get a GH test kit and KH test kit just so i know what hell my tank actually has in it, will ferts effect these readings so after a water change test before adding ferts?

with liquid spot dosing i tried that and it didn't work sadly, makes me wonder if its not BBA, there is far to much to do it now so i will just cut of the worst effected leafs which is not an issue to for me to do that i think my light is on for to long so i shall reduce that, i shall up the co2 a little making sure the drop checker is still lime green and not to yellow, is there any other test of knowing 30ppm for co2 or is the drop checker the only way?

whats the best way to trim my plants, take it out and pull the leafs and stems of or just snip it with scissors i unsure, along with my vallis i usually just cut them as close to the sand as i can

 

[SO19Firearms]

Fert containing Magnesium and less likely Calcium will affect hardness readings....but that's the point so test after.
If you have a KH test kit and pH you could in theory work out the CO2 levels in your tank, but you'd be measuring 2 variables with innacurate kits so not a good idea. Thats why we have 4 dKH water in the drop checker so that variable is fixed.

You could move the drop checker round the tank to see if it changes in the same way each day....

 

[Zikofski]

yes i used to move it around for 3 or 4 days and when i was happy the whole tank was getting co2 i kept it in one place and its stayed there since, but in the last week, nothing has changed to the tank but the 4dKH solution has turned white im guessing because it needs changing im not there to change it sadly but will do when i do get down there