# The Great Anubias Disaster of 2016



## kitkat67 (Mar 10, 2015)

I could cry. Or kill someone. So much went wrong today. The new tank where the juvie snails are in all of a sudden had this horrible odor and while I was siphoning the water out I noticed all of these anubias leaves and my heart just sunk. My anubias log has over 20 anubias plants on it, some expensive varieties, and I just kept pull handful after handful of leaves out of the water. I spent more than a year and a lot of money attaching anubias plants to that log and now they're all dying. Attached roots are rotten and falling off, rhizomes are rotting, leaves are falling off with every touch. I have no idea how this happened. Did my newly-forming cycle crash? But how does that affect anubias? Rhizome rot? I am so frustrated and depressed. I changed out the water and put in an old, well-established sponge filter from another tank to see if the cycle was the problem. I am also wondering if it was the shock of a new tank. I had it out for a while, maybe the leaves dried up and then rotted off being reintroduced into the tank. God, so much work and money down the toilet. It was just starting after a year to look nice and full and all but a couple were fully attached.


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## Aqua Aurora (Oct 4, 2013)

I'm so so sorry! I know that pain/frustration all too well!! I've not considered cycling to be a possible issue for disintegration of an anubias (seeing as I've kept them in unfiltered tanks with snails and black worms (aka plenty of ammonia), but if they were out and dried out that could be the cause.
Did you quarantine all new anubias for at least 4 weeks in a separate container/tank before putting in with the ones you already had? If not it may be that some you got in the past 1.. maybe 2 months had the rhizome rot and just spread it over the log.
Don't give up hope though! My most recent anubias purchase some had rhizome rot but I recovered 75% of them and have new growth. As long as the entire rhizome has not gone to mush there is hope-but you may want to separate the ones in real bad condition from those that aren't as dissolved/leaf-less.


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## 206Betta (Jan 28, 2016)

Sounds almost exactly like what happened to my tank. So, I feel your pain. It's most likely a combination of an ammonia spike and rhizome rot. This will explain the disgusting smell as it's a combination of ammonia, snail poop, and dying plants. 

How many snails do you have in the tank? If they reproduced then the extra bio-load created will cause ammonia levels to obviously spike out of control or in other words, your tank got overcrowded.

Since you already have rhizome rot present in your tank. I would suggest switching to easy rooted plants since most are immune to rhizome rot.

You should definitely do extra water changes to fix the problem. Think 50-80% for a week is good. Also, dose your tank with Seachem Prime as you would in the beginning of the cycling process. After a bit, the ammonia levels should be perfect again.


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## sabrinah (Jan 2, 2015)

So anubias problems are going around apparently. I had half of my anubias in one tank turn to mush. The other half lost all their leaves but the rhizomes are fine, as are the rhizomes of the java fern. I'm pretty sure the fungus on my new spider wood played a roll in mine though because it absolutely took over the tank and covered all my plants and the betta.


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## kitkat67 (Mar 10, 2015)

Aqua Aurora said:


> I'm so so sorry! I know that pain/frustration all too well!! I've not considered cycling to be a possible issue for disintegration of an anubias (seeing as I've kept them in unfiltered tanks with snails and black worms (aka plenty of ammonia), but if they were out and dried out that could be the cause.
> Did you quarantine all new anubias for at least 4 weeks in a separate container/tank before putting in with the ones you already had? If not it may be that some you got in the past 1.. maybe 2 months had the rhizome rot and just spread it over the log.
> Don't give up hope though! My most recent anubias purchase some had rhizome rot but I recovered 75% of them and have new growth. As long as the entire rhizome has not gone to mush there is hope-but you may want to separate the ones in real bad condition from those that aren't as dissolved/leaf-less.


I did not add any new plants to that tank since maybe March


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## kitkat67 (Mar 10, 2015)

206Betta said:


> Sounds almost exactly like what happened to my tank. So, I feel your pain. It's most likely a combination of an ammonia spike and rhizome rot. This will explain the disgusting smell as it's a combination of ammonia, snail poop, and dying plants.
> 
> How many snails do you have in the tank? If they reproduced then the extra bio-load created will cause ammonia levels to obviously spike out of control or in other words, your tank got overcrowded.
> 
> ...


I did not have rhizome rot in that tank, previously. And that was my other bare bottom tank with just mopani wood. I do not want other plants in there. That's what my other tank is for.

I've been dosing with stress zyme to start the cycle, I don't use prime. Stress zyme is like magic.


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## Crash (Jul 19, 2015)

Jeez, RR seems to happen more and more often. I had caught it from an anubias that seemingly came in healthy and I rushed to put it in. Bad idea. Killed off half of my anubias' and I was so discouraged I gave any survivors to my father for his tank. Only sp. I kept and still do keep to this day was/is my pintos (which I prayed for them not to become infected, they're my favorites and more pricey). 

I would try to separate any Rhizomes that still look healthy, and cut away any that are mushy or look rotten/brown. You said a majority are rooted to a log, in which I would suggest cutting away any clearly affected Rhizome and keeping a close eye on those that still look healthy. If in a month's time you see no rot, then you should be safe.

_Though if this is a case of it drying out from being out of water too long (you said you haven't introduced any new anubias lately) then wait it out, hopefully they should recover after some time of being in water. Watch for new growth!_


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## kitkat67 (Mar 10, 2015)

All of it turned to mush, they just fell off the log the second day. I am going to clear it all out, treat the log, and start over. I have already spent a fortune on ebay from the money my snails bring in.


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