ambulia dying

[Rainbow_fish]

I have about 3 or 4 bunches of ambulia in my killifish tank but they look like they are dying. One bunch, the first i bought, has gone rotten it just falls apart when i touch it. It also has got black algae on its leaves, is it the cause? Some of the others have started to get black leaves but not really bad yet. How can i stop it happening?its a heated tank with a ph of about 6.8 but i am lowering it to about 6.4. Help me please.

John

 

[Colin_BC]

First, since this is the forum for it, tell me more about your plants and your tank parameters. Are they new to the aquarium? Do you have other plants living well in the tank? What is your light levels and what is your tank size? What are your test levels for any tests you have? If you don't have a phosphate test, take a sample of water to your LFS and ask them to test for phosphates.

I'm pretty sure most limno's are medium light plants, meaning 2PWG would suffice. As well, I believe the "ambulia" variety you mentioned is also known as limnophila sessiflora. This is one of my favourites. I've had problems with this, but the plant was not to blame. In my case it was extremely excessive phosphates that got quite a few of my plants causing a dark brown/black algae to coat all affected growth, sufficating them from light. the limno was the only one that didn't fully recover before my patience ran out. I replaced mine after fixing my phosphates and have since overstocked my LFs in cuttings and had to throw out much, much more...

Now I have to ask what sort of killies you keep? they're one of my fave's, as you can tell from my avatar. I have only been able to find various Panchax varieties so for, though. My avatar is my first killi trying to eat an algae wafer twice the size of his noggin. Unfortunately that male taught me how important it is to have the tank covered. Even more unfortunately, the next male I got taught me that even leaving them a 1/2" hole is to much; a killie's tank must me 100% covered, or they will find the hole and make very poor use of it. I still love those fish!!! In fact, other than keeping the tank covered, they're one of the easiest fish to care for. See here for a bit more info (if anyone's interested) on basic Killie care.

Colin

 

[Rainbow_fish]

The ambulia is still growing, some bits are quite healthy. I'll try to get the water tested. I have 3 clown killi's and i female golden lyretail, the male died when i was on holidays in new zealand.
John

 

[Colin_BC]

Is the plant new to your tank? I've had this many times with newer plant, a couple times caused by me burying the plant a bit too deep. Do you have other plants in your aquarium? Are they affected by this as well? What is your lighting situation and for what size tank? Do you use CO2? Sorry to repeat myslef here, but these are important questions to answer when trying to identify and fix problems in a planted tank. Let us know what the test results are, and if going to your LFS for it, be sure to test you phosphates. I'd really recommend keeping one of these test kits handy. I always make sure I have test kits for ammonia, pH, Nitrates, Phosphates, and kH for my planted tanks.

Colin