Dwarf Hairgrass Problems

[mike455555]

my dwarf hair grass look's abit like its been "cut" some of the stems are frayed and are short (like really short)

the tank was recently running at 1wpg but now its at 2wpg of T8
no dosing ferts
no CO2

what could be the cause of the grass dieing back or being cut?.

stock list for tank is 10 amano shrimp, 8 neon tetra, 1 sunset platty, 1 female betta, 4 oto's and one endlers

any suggestions?

 

[JenCliBee]

Lack of ferts, 2wpg is quite high even with it being T8's not to have some sort of fert regime.

 

[Caprichoso]

It's likely your fish. My emperor tetras, cardinals, green fire tetras, and platy's all nibbled my grasses down to the root. I have many types of shrimp and they have never eaten the grasses, they only browse the bits of algae off them.

 

[mike455555]

iv only just gone to 2wpg before like 2 days ago and i noticed this before then (hence the increase in light)

im going to start Ei dosing (as soon as the chemicals arrive)

 

[Caprichoso]

Seriously, if the grasses are "cut" looking, it's your fish nibbling it. I started paying more attention to them and I caught them in the act, the lil buggers lol.

 

[mike455555]

ohh right. i like my neons is there anything i could do (the grass never really had time to establish) it sent off afew new shoots but not much.
what could i do to protect the grass? (besides moving the neons)

a net over it? so the tips grow though? then they can eat them and help propagate them a little? good or bad idea?

 

[ian]

have you got any pics Mike?

 

[mike455555]

i'll go take some quickly

 

[Caprichoso]

I would first see who is nibbling before you decide to move any fish(if that's what you wanted to do). There isn't much you can do to protect it. I don't feed my fish a lot so I thought if I increased their feeding, they would stop eating the grasses but it didn't work. Sorry, I don't know what to suggest. Another thing to consider is if the grasses are weak from lack of nutrients it may make it easier for the fish to nibble. My grasses seemed healthy to me but I am no expert.

 

[mike455555]

heres some photos =]

i swear that shrimp was eyeing up my grass >.> lol

sorry about the quality

i'll try to get some good ones up

 

[ian]

hmmmmm, it looks like a little die back to me??

The problem is it looks healthy on some pics...You got me stumped.

 

[mike455555]

yer its not like its turning brown then dieing... its just getting short and frayed

any hints? if its the fish i could make a net big enough to put over a big patch of it. let it get established a little more. suggestions on that idea?

 

[ian]

Just throwing ferts in isn't always the answer. With the lighting you have you may again need some C02 addition. Then comes the ferts... If the light is low enough, you won't need anything as the plants will take the C02 from the water as the light is the driver. The higher the light, the more drive for the next thing in line, which is C02.

so, it goes Light, CO2, Nitrate, Phosphate, K, Micros (Fe, Mg etc etc), in that equation near the front needs to be good flow as well, this will ensure all the plants get what they need.

 

[mike455555]

thanks. i wont use ferts just yet then. but as for the grass i'll try to get some better pics (using my dads SLR) and a net over them good or bad idea?

 

[ian]

the problem is with the net, is it going to block light?