Plants Dying Rapidly

[KeddyPie]

I recently set up a heavily planted 10 gallon tank for my new betta girls. 1 week ago, I took my 2 biggest, bushiest, healthiest Water Sprite plants out of the 20 gallon and put them in the 10 gallon. They were both about 8 inches high and very, very thick and dense.

Well, now, they are very thin and ragged, the leaves are almost clear, and there is no chance of recovory. I'm removing them today, and shall be replacing them in a week or so. As far as basic testing, this tank s no different than the 20 gallon. What reasons might there be for the very sudden, dramatic death of my plants?

The Vallis also endured the same fate, though the Java fern looks as healthy as ever.

 

[kenneth_kpe]

are they both equally lighted and fertilized ? did you medicate the 10 gallon ? did you put salt into the 10 gallon tank ? is the substrate the same ?

 

[KeddyPie]

The only obvious difference between the 2 are the substate. 20 gallon has sand, 10 gallon has fine gravel. I highly doubt this would make a major difference, since some of the plants are floating. The 10 gallon has a slightly different amount of light, but considering I have7 aquariums and this is the only one withthis problem, I don't think light is causing it. Could be, though. They were both treated the same.

*shrugs* I'm at a complete loss for this one. Neither of them use fertilizers, but I might put some plant tabs in there just to see if it helps

 

[cometcattle]

Can you tell us exactly what bulb(s) you are running in the 10g?

If your tank has the screw-in fixture that came with incandescent lighting, I'd recommend the All-Glass 6500k mini-compact bulbs that are on sale for $4.99. I've had good results with these over a 10g:
http/www.drsfostersmith.com/Product/Prod...4+113346+113565

If your tank has the 15w single fluorescent strip, I'd go for a bulb that is around 6700k or lower. I would suggest to AVOID this bulb: http/www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod...5&N=2004+113350. I haven't had any luck with it.

The root tabs should help, but you also might want to consider picking up a bottle of Seachem Flourish.
http/www.drsfostersmith.com/Product/Prod...4+113221+113565
It's very concentrated, and a small bottle will last you a long time.

 

[Lateral Line]

The quantity and quality of light is very important to plants. They use specific frequencies of light. Just because a tank looks bright to human eye, or 2 tanks look equally bright, does not mean that the plants "see" them as that. Human eyes are more sensitive in the green/yellow parts of the spectrum, plants are sensitive to the red and blue ends.