What's wrong with my plants!

[King puff]

I am not sure what is causing my plants to look like this.

First let's start with the water lettuce. I got this a few months ago and it was doing great. Soon, it exploded in number and this is when everything started going downhill. The leaves started becoming small and yellow at the tips and the snails started eating the the yellow leaves. At first I thought it was too much light which doesn't make sense to me now as people keep them outside. My next thought is water flow which may also be causing shedding roots. Right now I am thinking about removing them because of the constantly shedding roots.

Second there's the crypts. I have never had any luck with these in my tank and am not sure why. All my other plants are doing fantastic. The Anubias sent out a flower, the Val's are sending off countless runners and the Java moss is uncontrollable. This also may be a plant that I get rid of if I an not find out what's wrong.

I'm using premium fertilizer by tropica and light is a finnex 24/7.

 

[Colin_T]

If you have a cover glass on the tank it is probably too humid for the water lettuce. Or it could be too cold but in aquariums it is usually too humid.

Crypts will rot if they get damaged when moved. This can happen at the growers, the pet shop or when you get them home. They also rot if the nitrates get too high.
Have you checked the water chemistry and if so what was the ammonia, nitrite, nitrate & pH of the tank?

How often do you do water changes and how much do you change?

What is the fertiliser you use and how often do you add it to the tank?

 

[King puff]

There is no cover. I have had the crypts long enough for them to recover so I do not think this is the cause. I am not able to give you the water chemistry at this moment but will try to do it as soon as possible. I do not think it is nitrate any way as I do 50 percent water changes weekly and have a load of plants that would soak it all up.

I also just got a cheap co2 system by waterplants. I also got seachem flourish which I am replacing for tropicas primium fertilizer. We will see how this works.

I think it all comes down to water flow for the water lettuce as I have a HOB filter which could send out too much flow as well as get droplets on the leaves. I tried putting straws around the output but the splash still got to the plants.

 

[Colin_T]

A hang on back (HOB) style filter that splashes the water lettuce leaves will do the same thing as too much humidity, basically cause them to rot.

A sudden change in pH can affect plants like Crypts. The CO2 unit might be dropping the pH too much and the acid water could be affecting them. Do you add a KH buffer to stabilise the pH?

Overdosing with fertilisers can cause issues too but with lots of plants in the tank it is unlikely to be an issue.

I would check the pH and KH and if possible the CO2 levels in the water.

The HOB filter might be removing a lot of the CO2 you add. If you raise the water level in the tank, the filter outlet will create less splash and cause less water to get on the water lettuce, and reduce the CO2 from bubbling out from the surface turbulence.

You can make a loop of plastic hose (airline or bigger diameter plastic hose from the hardware) and join the end ends together with an airline joiner or polypipe fitting. Then use a couple of suction cups or some string to hold the tube of hose to one side of the tank. Then put the floating plants inside the plastic loop. It will stop them being drawn to the filter outlet and might help keep them drier.

 

[StevenF]

The hooked shape of your submerged plants is a common symptom of calcium deficiency. What is the GH of Your water? Most fertilizers do not have calcium which is an essential nutrient for plants and it is 6th most abundant element in plant tissue. You might need to boost your GH with sulfate GH booster (sachem equilibrium is one example. Increasing your GH by 2 degrees hardness should be enough to eliminate any calcium deficiency.

The fertilizer you are using doesn't list the ingredients or the amount so it is possible that there are other deficiencies but it is impossible to know. Also make sure the GH booster you use has Calcium sulfate and magnesium sulfate listed as ingredients. The sulfate in these ingredients is also a essential plant nutrient as well as potassium (which is also frequently added to GH boosters)

 

[Ch4rlie]

Something that I use for my crypts is seachem flourish root tabs.

Simply push tabs into substrate near the crypts and the roots will feed on the nutrients of the tabs.

Remember that most crypts are heavy root feeders.

Btw seachem root tabs do contain calcium and potassium as well as other essential nutrients which Steven F mentions in his post. So that will help a little.

 

[King puff]

Colin-t, I just added the co2 system yesterday and I took the pictures before I added it. The system is for 10 to 20 gallon tanks and mine is 29, I figured I was under dosing than overdosing which is why I didn't get the buffer. I also have a mesh strip and put inside the filter. This toutches the water and makes no splash. Except for some dripping on the side.

StevenF, the fertilizer I used before does not list ingredients (tropica premium fertilizer). I got the co2 system yesterday along with a new fertilizer (seachem flourish) which I heard is very good. It also lists ingredients. I do not know much about KH and GH, I'm sorry, but I do know that our water should contain a good amount of calcium. We live in Arizona.

Ch4rlie, I have some API root tabs from awhile ago. Would these work or would they have expired now. They are a few years old. Remember, I was never using root tabs before so if I did use them, it would probably help a little.

 

[Colin_T]

The root tablets should be fine because they are minerals. As long as they haven't been wet you can continue using them.

 

[King puff]

Ok thank you! Will do.

 

[StevenF]

StevenF, the fertilizer I used before does not list ingredients (tropica premium fertilizer). I got the co2 system yesterday along with a new fertilizer (seachem flourish) which I heard is very good. It also lists ingredients. I do not know much about KH and GH, I'm sorry, but I do know that our water should contain a good amount of calcium. We live in Arizona.

Gh is a measure of the calcium and magnesium in the water. Since these minerals can be in the form of sulfate/ chlorides, carbonates and others. Since the test doesn't know what form the calcium (Ca) or magnesium (Mg) is in the reading is traditionally listed as Calcium carbonate even though no carbonate maybe present in the water.

The KH test measures the amount of carbonate salts in the water such as sodium bicarbonate, ca/mg carbonate, and other metal carbonate salts. KH is not a measure of Flourish comprehensive does contain calcium and magnesium. But if you use a fertilizer calculator like rotalabutterfly.com you will find flourish only adds about 0.1ppm of calcium and magnesium to the tank. I recommend adding 2 degrees of GH. 1 degree of GH is equivalent to about 17.8ppm. So flourish doesn't add a lot of Ca or Mg.

Sometimes when water has a lot of calcium there is little mg in the water. And as a result sometimes a Ca excess can cause a Mg deficiency. Also since Ca and Mg 6th and 7th most abundant metal in plants well growing plants may consume more Ca / Mg that the tank water has. Adding CO2 to the water also increase the rate of plant growth which could make a nutrient deficiency worse. Also changing weather can cause the GH of your water to change from time to time.

The best thing to do it to start to monitor your GH in the tank and your tap with a GH test kit and use a GH booster to keep the levels stable.

 

[why]

I request you to take my suggestion as a newbie advise..as i am new to this ones.. from the forums i have read (also directed by the peers here).. i will try Seachem
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B001EUL3F6/?tag=ff0d01-20

also i request you to please share your findings and suggestions once you solved your issue.. i have just started my aquarium hobby . Thank you..