plant woes

[clutterydrawer]

If I can't sort this out soon I'm going to have to resort to plastic ones and it'll be a sad day.

I have a java fern which was doing ok till the other day but now looks like it’s been run over by a truck. It’s actually lying down on its rock. Also, most of the major leaves detached themselves and floated away in the space of about an hour, for no apparent reason?
My other plants are amazon swords. They grow very slowly, most of the time they have a fairly healthy-looking crop of bright green leaves at the bottom but any slightly older leaves are yellowish brown with huge tranparent patches. There’s no healthy foliage over about 3”. Some of the younger leaves have little transparent patches aswell.They do however have enormous healthy root systems which I found out when I moved one a while ago (I know I probably shouldn’t have, but it was in this state before and hasn’t declined since).

I suspect that this is down to the lighting because I think it’s low – 15W over a 10g (UK) tank, which is why I picked plants that I heard could tolerate low light. However the tank looks really bright – my fish look exposed as it is, like they’re being picked out by a spotlight, I don’t really want to make it even brighter in case it distresses them! Also there’s quite a proliferation of algae which I don’t want to make worse…

Basically I’m at my wits end and very confused. does anyone have any opinions on whether i need more light, or whether its something else like some kind of nutrient deficiency? Thankyou…and I profusely for asking so many idiotic questions.

 

[Dubby]

It could be a combination of several factors. The light you have is quite low but that alone may not be the cause. I have grown plants with that kind of light.

What are the water parameters? Nitrates, nitrites, PH etc.?
What sort of fish do you have?
What kind of substrate? Gravel, sand.....

For nutrient deficiencies take a look at Nutrient deficiency page by Chuck

 

[tstenback]

I wouldnt panic just yet. Often plants will die back when you plant them in you r tank as the water parameters are very different in your tank or the plant may have been grown above water and you are now putting under water. Just pinch off all the yellowish stuff as far down the stem as possible that way the good growth will get all the nutrients.
For the plants you mentioned 1.5 watts per gallon should be fine to keep them healthy but as you mentioned they wont flourish. I have jave fern growing like crazy in a tank with about .6 watts per gallon. So stick with it and give them sometime and as Dubby mentioned if they dont start to pick up in the next couple of weeks then try adding the nutrients or fertilizer. Just be careful as sometimes an algae outbreak may accompany the nutrient addition. HTH

 

[Bol]

Also there’s quite a proliferation of algae which I don’t want to make worse…

That's worth a raised eyebrow, especially at that low light level.

What kind of algae?

Also, as dubby mentioned, pH and nitrate readings (and KH, if you have it) would help.

Also, is there anything else you've added to the tank? Specifically, any fertilizers and/or pH-altering products?

 

[elgecko]

Do you use any ferts?
Amazon swords are heavy bottom feeders and like to have a good amount of iron, which from the sound of it is a problem. Lack of iron causes sword leaves to go yellow and transparent holes in them.

 

[Lateral Line]

Did you "plant" the java fern? If so, it probably took a while for the rhizome to rot, therefore it looked okay for a while then turned over quite quickly. Java fern rhizomes should be attached to a piece of wood or stone and not buried - just a thought.

 

[clutterydrawer]

thankyou all for your help, here are my answers, in the order the questions were asked.

Nitrates are a bit over 5mg/L i think, though the colour doesn't seem to bear any resemblance to the scale. Nitrites are <0.3mg/L.My pH is 7 i think, again i need to find a better indicator cos the scale colours all look the same. I've never tested for KH, should i? i only have plain gravel substrate (about 3-4 mm pieces if that's relevant?) and the only fish i have currently are two black phantom teras. the rest had a nasty acccident with a broken heater a couple of weeks ago but before that i had more tetras and some panda cories.

although the java fern is new-ish, I've had the amazon swords for ages, so I think they must have had time to get over being planted by now....they've survived, just never seemed really healthy. I’ve been removing dead leaves but this means they never get over 3” which is disappointing for a sword plant!

I've never altereed the pH or added anything to the tank and I've refrained from using any fertilisers in case if aggravated the algae.I have quite a collection of algae. there are hard spots on the glass, tricky to get rid of. there's flat fuzzy stuff which also grows on the glass, starting from the bottom going upwards, bright green like grass. then there's dark green fuzzy stuff on the rocks, with flat brown stuff underneath. last but not least, thick fluffy dark green that grows on the plants. sometimes with long traily bits. i don't really think that was any use cos i don't have the right words to describe it all. There's a window in the room from which sunlight hits the aquarium - i know this isnt recommended but I don't have any windowless rooms/rooms with dark alcoves. I've noticed when I don't clean off the algae there's more of it on the window side of the tank.

i tied the java fern onto a rock with a piece of thin fishing line type stuff...it's attached itself with lots of nice roots but isnt doing so well with its leaves.

 

[tstenback]

sounds like the algae may be winning the battle for nutrients in the tank. If you can block the sun from hitting the tank you may see an improvement on that front. What i have done in the past for this is cut a piece of cardboard big enough to block the sun from hitting the glass of the aquarium and either taping it to the tank or lean it against the tank but only on the side(s) that the sun hits and it only needs to be there when the sun is directly on it. HTH

 

[clutterydrawer]

thankyou, I will try that. The sun hits on the short side so i can black that out whilst still being able to look at the tank from the front.

 

[Bol]

That's a good first step. Blocking most of the sun will probably help quite a bit with the algae.