Amazon Sword

[bevs34]

just added my first fish today to my first tropical tank a juwel 150 litre tank, i planted some plants last week but the amazon sword is turning yellow and black shall i take it out or wait a bit longer thanks.

 

[MegaZerino]

is the entire plant turning brown or jsut a few leaves?

 

[bevs34]

the leaves are turning yellow and the stalks black.

 

[MegaZerino]

ive never even heard of that before
1) how are the other plants in the tank doing
2) are there any other plants in the same area
3) does it look like theres anything on the plants i.e. snails
4) how long have they been in
5) what substrate do you have

 

[bevs34]

other plants doing fine just this plant the substrate is coral sand i washed it before putting it in.been in now since last wednesday the plant is in the middle of the tank.

 

[MegaZerino]

you really shouldn't be using coral sand, either gravel, normal sand or a plant substrate. also the coral substrate wont have any nutrients in it so the other plants will die soon as well. You need to either get a specific plant substrate like fluval stratum, or get sand or fine gravel and put root tabs in it. That's the basics of what you need to do, I've probably missed some stuff so if you have any questions please feel free to ask. The reason the sword died is probably a mix of lack of nutrients, and that when plants are added to a new tank parts of them sometimes die anyway.

 

[bevs34]

the substrate is a course coral sand not the fine sand but i now understand, what plants would you reckon for a starter tank set up i have java fern,hemianthus callitrichoids on coconut shell and some grass plants.

 

[ian]

roll back...

This is normal for amazon swords, they are grown out of water, as they grow quicker with an abundance of C02. When we submerse them they loose there emersed leaves. This normally happens in the first few weeks. The best thing to do is to cut the old leaves off, from the crown of the plant. This will also encourage new growth.

IME Swords always do well with some trace elements added to the water at least.

 

[bevs34]

ok thanks i have added tropiflora to the tank before i put fish in today

 

[MegaZerino]

you could try some val, some people say its hard to grow but i find that its incredibly easy. Hygrophila guanensis is easy, as are anubis and rotala. Wisteria ive had a little trouble with but apparently thats really easy. There are many other easyy plants but those are the ones i have in my tank (also ludwigia but you need to does different nutrients so it's awkward to grow)

 

[bevs34]

thanks for all the advice.