Help With Plants. Dying?

[Paul70]

Hi.
Please forgive my noobish questions lol. I am completely new to tropical fish and especially plants.

I am coming to the end of my fishless cycle (amm and nitrite processing in 12 hours for 3 days now). I decided to put some plants in to help with nitrate levels. I did this 2 days ago and got 3 red swords and a green amazon sword (I think). The red swords seem to be doing fine but the green amazon sword developed several brown leaves over the past 2 days which I have today removed and I will attach a photo for your viewing pleasure!

Could this be just a rogue plant? could it be as a result of me still adding ammonia daily or could it be that I am not adding any type of fertiliser. (more of that in a minute). The plant did look a tiny bit brownish when I got it so I'm hoping it was just a poorly plant.

The plants are planted in sand substrate, water temp currently 29c and pH is 8.0

Last question (honest). Is the fertiliser that can be added to tank water harmful to fish? It seems to contain a lot of different minerals and metals which to my mind (noobish) is surely poisonous to the fish?

anyway folks, thanks in advance for any help you can offer and I will now try to upload my pic.
paul

 

[KittyKat]

I am coming to the end of my fishless cycle (amm and nitrite processing in 12 hours for 3 days now). I decided to put some plants in to help with nitrate levels. I did this 2 days ago and got 3 red swords and a green amazon sword (I think). The red swords seem to be doing fine but the green amazon sword developed several brown leaves over the past 2 days which I have today removed and I will attach a photo for your viewing pleasure!

The "red swords" are not aquatic, take them out and put them into a pot and on your windowsill.

The amazon sword, I wouldn't worry about. It's probably just adjusting to your hard water and the fact that it now has to grow underwater (they are grown out of water at the nurseries, so the non-aquatic leaves will die back once they are placed under water and new aquatic leaves will grow to replace them.

Last question (honest). Is the fertiliser that can be added to tank water harmful to fish? It seems to contain a lot of different minerals and metals which to my mind (noobish) is surely poisonous to the fish?

Long term problems of the sort you notice are caused by mineral deficiency, but not in your case (see above). Mild fertilisation is definitely not bad for fish in any way, although excess use of fertiliser could be (no studies have been done, that I know of). Look at my planted display tank (Flickr link in my sig), I only occasionally use root tabs for that which is basically no fertiliser. I don't think it is something you have to worry about until you have a lot more plants or unless you use over 2 watts per US gallon of lighting.

 

[Paul70]

many thanks kat. I am currently at 26 USG and my total light output is 36w. there 1x 18w daylight tube and 1x 18w warm bulb so this should be fine light wise.

I am annoyed with the LFS for selling me the red swords! I shall remove them and possibly get some india fern or some other surface cover plant and some more amazon swords and possibly some vallis. I purchased some king british aquatic plant food yesterday and doesed the tank as instructed and after this the fish seemed to become lethargic and my pH jumped to 8.1 from 7.6 but on your advice i don't think I will bother dosing it again.

 

[KittyKat]

many thanks kat. I am currently at 26 USG and my total light output is 36w. there 1x 18w daylight tube and 1x 18w warm bulb so this should be fine light wise.

1.4 wpg, that's not too bright actually (not enough to be bothering most fish, in my experience).

I am annoyed with the LFS for selling me the red swords! I shall remove them and possibly get some india fern or some other surface cover plant and some more amazon swords and possibly some vallis. I purchased some king british aquatic plant food yesterday and doesed the tank as instructed and after this the fish seemed to become lethargic and my pH jumped to 8.1 from 7.6 but on your advice i don't think I will bother dosing it again.

Indian fern = water sprite? It's a good plant.

On the other hand, I'd pass on more swords (big root system), just one should be enough.. but Vallis, definitely worth getting

pH will gradually drop as your tank matures, but you really don't need fertilisers yet! In a tank with so few plants, they may encourage algae growth (depending on what exactly they contain).