Anubias Dying...help

[busterbrit]

I put some Anubias in my tank a week ago and its dying. The leaves one at a time get brown spots with yellow edges which spreeds to the whole leaf. They end up a think brown which falls apart or the fish nip at.

I've added potassium and iron which has not helped.

Any suggestions?

I have a 10w in 16 gallons. I know its not a lot but this is a low light plant and I was told it would work. The tank is in a well lite kithen as well.

 

[Ben M]

have you buried the rhizome? the fat bit that the leaves come out of. anubias needs to be planted with the rhizome above the substrate, ideally attached to wood or rocks.

 

[aly_starh]

Is there an actual light on the tank, or are you just using the lights in the Kitchen?

 

[busterbrit]

The root part is sticking above the rock substrate. Just the white roots are below the rocks.

It has a 10w halogen lamp at the top in a 16 gallon which is on the low side but with the extra kitchen light and this being a low light plant I thought I would be ok.

Thoughts?

 

[flyhawk]

are you dosing any nutrients?

 

[busterbrit]

are you dosing any nutrients?

yes. API's iron and potassium. Should I do anything else. Now most of the leaves are turning yellow.

 

[Truck]

Yellow leaves could be either lack of phosphate or nitrogen, get some TPN+ and dose 2ml's daily.

 

[busterbrit]

Yellow leaves could be either lack of phosphate or nitrogen, get some TPN+ and dose 2ml's daily.

I will get some tomorrow when the stores are open. Thanks!

Is it weird that this happened 3 days after getting the plant?

Would lack of light cause this that fast?

 

[Truck]

Possibly, but I doubt it, 3 days is very fast! do you add anything else other than the Iron and potassium? how much Iron and potassium do you add?

Also, TPN+ is only available online in the UK, if you're in the US then you'll have to get the seachem nitrogen and seachem phosphate.

Did you do anything to the plants before adding them to the tank?

 

[busterbrit]

Possibly, but I doubt it, 3 days is very fast! do you add anything else other than the Iron and potassium? how much Iron and potassium do you add?

Also, TPN+ is only available online in the UK, if you're in the US then you'll have to get the seachem nitrogen and seachem phosphate.

Did you do anything to the plants before adding them to the tank?

Maybe I did something wrong when I got them. When I brought them home they were in pots. There were snails on them and I didn't have time to clean them well. So instead of putting them in the tank I just put them in a bowl of water for a day. when I got back a day later I took them out of the pots and cleaned them well to get all the snails and possible eggs off. I then put them in the tank. Did maybe having them not in a running tank for about 36 hours cause the problem?

I have not added anything besides the Iron and potassium API plant supplement. Is there something else I should be adding?

with this info do you think I should still add the nitrogen and phosphate?

THANKS!!!!

 

[Truck]

did the bowl have any detergent or anything else in it? Are you following the instructions on the API potassium and iron? there really isn't any need for the nitrogen and phosphate because of the lighting, I recommended it before because I didn't know how long they've been in the tank.

 

[busterbrit]

did the bowl have any detergent or anything else in it? Are you following the instructions on the API potassium and iron? there really isn't any need for the nitrogen and phosphate because of the lighting, I recommended it before because I didn't know how long they've been in the tank.

the bowl was just a clean bowl but I used regular tap water without any conditionar for the chlorine. I have studied a lot about fish but I will admit I have not done a lot of research regarding plants. Now I'm doing some catch up.

So the nitrogen and phosphate is not needed with how knew of a tank this is?

did the bowl have any detergent or anything else in it? Are you following the instructions on the API potassium and iron? there really isn't any need for the nitrogen and phosphate because of the lighting, I recommended it before because I didn't know how long they've been in the tank.

Yes I have been following the instructions on the API bottle. All the levels have been good but I just realized I have not checked the PH since I added the fish. I will check that right now and let you know in a few minutes.

The plants have been in the tank for 2 weeks now.

PH is 7.9 and was that before I added the fish.

 

[Truck]

Because 3 days is too short for any deficiencies to show, I'm stumped on this one, Give Aaronnorth a PM and see what he says.

 

[aaronnorth]

Hi,
Plants are often grow emmersed so it may be adapting to submersed conditions. Give it a few weeks and watch for deficencies on the new leaves too.
This doesnt really apply due to the low light levels but anubias does better in shaded regions, with lots of flow over the leaves.

In setups like this, it is advised you do a water change every 1-6months to keep the CO2 levels constant, as the weekly water changes (providing you do that) fluctuate the levels and algae can attack. I have also found echinodorus species do better with method so it might be worth a try.

This is ok as long as you dont go mad on the stocking levels.

some other plants you may want to try:

moss balls
egeria densa
cryptocoryne sp (these also suffer from 'crypt melt' which is similar to what you are experiencing now, but they are fine once they have settled in)

 

[busterbrit]

Hi,
Plants are often grow emmersed so it may be adapting to submersed conditions. Give it a few weeks and watch for deficencies on the new leaves too.
This doesnt really apply due to the low light levels but anubias does better in shaded regions, with lots of flow over the leaves.

In setups like this, it is advised you do a water change every 1-6months to keep the CO2 levels constant, as the weekly water changes (providing you do that) fluctuate the levels and algae can attack. I have also found echinodorus species do better with method so it might be worth a try.

This is ok as long as you dont go mad on the stocking levels.

some other plants you may want to try:

moss balls
egeria densa
cryptocoryne sp (these also suffer from 'crypt melt' which is similar to what you are experiencing now, but they are fine once they have settled in)

thanks for the great info!!! I'm going to be adding some cherry shrimp and want a moss ball for them. But I read they need a lot of light except for the fake java moss balls. So can I use a real moss ball with low light?