can a plant ever recover from this?

[The-Wolf]

ok I posted the other day that my plants were dieing
this is what they look like now
(click thumbnails for bigger pics)

can they ever get back to being healthy,
or is it best to throw them on the compost heap?

Also I need ID on these three plants (again click thumbnail)
fluffy green one


Red on left and varigated on the right


Thanks, in advance, to all you plant experts

 

[sub.42]

Hiya,

Very bottom two look like (right-hand) red-ludwigia(mullertii) or ludwigia-repens, and ludwigia-palustris, or maybe morelikely hygrophilia rosanervis.

The other one at second top, I'm guessing mygriophyllum of some sort.

I'll keep looking, but they are my best guesses.

On the rotting mess front, I would remove all dead leaves, taking care not to upset the roots, and see what gives. I have had swords grow to twelve inches plus from a blob left in the gravel. There is hope for them yet.

sub.

 

[George Farmer]

I would say your sword has little hope of recovery.

The "fluffy" plant is Mayaca fluviatilis. http/www.plantgeek.net/plantguide_viewer.php?id=159

I would agree with sub's last suggestion and say the plant on the bottom right is Hygrophila polysperma 'Rosanervig'. The left looks like a Ludwigia repens - obviously newly planted judging by the intense red colouration.
http/www.plantgeek.net/plantguide_viewer.php?id=139
http/www.plantgeek.net/plantguide_viewer.php?id=156

 

[sub.42]

)

Might help if I get my left and right right eh?

I'm blaming the man in the pub for serving me too much beer this afternoon. )

sub.

 

[The-Wolf]

obviously newly planted judging by the intense red colouration.

aww there's no putting one over on you is there

Thanks, I guess it compost time for the swords

 

[Matt_Didg]

what a waste

 

[Opcn]

Dont compost the whole thing yet, just the rotting leaves, and be sure its getting enought light. My swords were constantly the same way till i boosted the light and improved the spectrum.

 

[RobertH]

Mayaca and ludwigia. To pinpoint the cause of the problem, you need to know the size of the tank, how much lighting you have, if you are adding C02 or not, and what you are feeding the plants. It is probably a combination of all those things.

To figure if you have enough light, you can go by the watts per gallon rule, which is based on US gallons and flourescent light. There is a sticky here on that subject right? If you have high light levels and no added C02, then the plants are having a hard time going thru photosynthesis. Plants also need about 10ppm of nitrate in the water if you have enough light, and they need sufficient potassium and iron to be able to utilize light and C02 properly. Then there is the issue of light duration. Most tropical plants need 10 to 12 hours of light every day, and it should be consistently the same time period every day.

 

[mrV]

Plants also need about 10ppm of nitrate in the water if you have enough light,

Hmm, where has it been said something like that?

Okay, 10 mg/l is usually ok for fishes and for plants, but they are also som plants that suffer if there is too much nitrates.

But back to the topic... Is there any fish that eat this Amazon sword(?, E. amazonicus). And that's not bad at all, your plant will start to grow well when you do as it was told earlier.

 

[The-Wolf]

opcn
all the leaves look the same, there will be nothing left of the plant if i take of the affected leaves.

my problem was light, as sussed out in my previous thread, this is now rectified, hopefully.
additionally this is a blackwater tank, so that adds to the problem.

my nitrAtes are always around 50 to 60 ppm (or mg/l) as I use a plant food and a blackwater extract.

oh well, never mind, time to buy different plants; good job I get 25% discount

 

[Opcn]

if its a sword you can take off all the leaves.

 

[George Farmer]

my nitrAtes are always around 50 to 60 ppm (or mg/l) as I use a plant food and a blackwater extract.

Does your fert and blackwater extract contain nitrate?

I would think that your high nitrates are more a consequence of your bio-load. What is your stocking level?