# Week-old tank, looking terrible, please help with Qs



## MadtownD (Aug 29, 2014)

[Note: Also posted on a non-bettafish forum, apologies for the x-posting, but no one has responded there. I love this community and hope you have ideas!]

Five days ago, I started up my first planted tank, a 20gallon long NPT, hoping to eventually have a very low maintenance setup (and right now I'm frustrated and it's looking like the only). Here are my most pressing questions. Experience, information and opinions very much appreciated! 

I'll start with the Q's; tank specifics are below.









Q1: Black spots on Ludwigia leaves (please see pic). Doubt any of these have grown roots yet. Looks like decay rather than algae. Why would the leaves decay? *Should I remove the entire plant when this happens, or just the leaf?* At how many leaves on a stem do I give up and trash the plant?

Q1.5: Tiny black spots on the java fern leaves (which look different than the ludwigia ones; please see pic). Do I need to remove the leaves that look like this? The plant has so few leaves…

Q2: Brown tips on Vallisnaria leaves (please see pic). Just cut off the tip of the leaf? Or do I need to remove the whole leaf from the plant base (again, plants have few leaves)?

Q3: How often do I need to bamboo-skewer poke the soil to avoid the dreaded anaerobic startup pitfall? Daily, or every other day is OK?

Q4: As I'm on day 5, is 25% every other day for the first week, then 25% every third day a good schedule? I've heard so many different ones, and 25% is one bucket, so much easier than two buckets.

Q5: Params are ammonia 0, nitrite 0, nitrate 0. Of course, cycle hasn't started...when should I expect ammonia to show up?

Q6: I've scoured the web and know the copious white stuff on the driftwood is likley normal and not harmful. But should I attempt to remove it with my water changes, or just ignore it and it'll go away?

**************************************
Specifics:
Equip:20 gallon long with glass lid; Finnex stingray light (starting with low photoperiod; 3h on, 4 h break, 3h on; building up to 8h on total); Hydro III sponge filter (rated <40 gallons) run by Aquaclear powerhead 20 at low setting (for betta eventually); Aqueon Pro 100W heater

Substrate: MGOPM soil w sticks/clumps removed ~ 1" (I shot for 1", might be more or less in some places as everything went wrong with the soil/cap/tank filling process), Black Diamond 20/40 sand ~ 1/2" (again, that was my goal, but it's likely more or less in some places)

Water: Hard, pH ~ 8+

Livestock: Added nine Malaysian trumpet snails on day 2. No fish yet; I am waiting until cycled and stable.

Plants: All newly purchased. My plan is “try a variety of different stuff and see what lives, most probably won’t." Nothing is looking good, except for the lily. Working on getting floating plant (that'll be a separate post).
Ludwigia repens; Nymphaes stellata (red lily); Jungle val; Echinodorus tenellus (small chain sword) x 3; Microsorium pteropus (java fern) x 2; Monoselenium tenerum; Lysimachia nummularia aka Golden lloydiella (Gold Creeping Jenny); Staurogyne repens

Thanks so much for slogging through this long post and helping me get started in the planted tank world!


----------



## Aqua Aurora (Oct 4, 2013)

Q1: most likely emersed grown (grown above water in high humidity) when submerged emersed leaves will die but new leaves should grow adapted to underwater life, as long as the stem does not dissolve its fine.
Q1.5: java fenr have black spots under their elaves-these form baby plantets, if its on the top of the leaves the leaf is dieing (either ermsed grown or adapting to new environment) BUT dot not remove it, it should grow plantlets on the underside before it decays. Leave plantlets on the mother leaf until they pop off on their own (they feed from their like an umbilical cord) pulling them off early makes them grow INSANELY SLOW. As long as the rhizome is not dead and falling apart the plant is alive and will grow new leaves + give you new plants (plantlets). DO NOT bury the rhizome in the substrate, tie it to decor/wood/rock (don't tie too tightly-think of it like your arm, don't cut off circulation)
[click to see photo of rhizome (too large to post image)]

Q2. Vals can sometimes melt when adapting to new water, but brown tips are not too uncommon. Vals can be cut like hair or yard grass-they will still grow. You can snip off the brown/translucent tips with sharp clean scissors.

Q3. can't give you specific answer on that. I use MTS (Malaysian trumpet snails) for sifting to as well as black worms to avoid air pockets.

Q4/5. Depending on how much soil and cap you used, and how densly planted the tnak is it can take a week to see readnings or have ammonia in teh first day.. in very desnly planted (as in using medium and high light plants and it looks like there's not a lot of free swim sapce) tanks it can cycle instantly (plants absorb all ammonia, never get nitrite, nitrate...but this would be with already adapted for submerged growth plants and a LOT of them). If there are no fish/inverts you can just do water changes ass ammonia/nitrite get high 1ppm or more (to help prevent algae growth). If you have fish or inverts read the stickies on cycling a tank and water changes, one mentions %s to do during cycle and levels you should keep ammonia/nitrite at- I can't recall the $s off the top of my head. Strongly advice getting Sechem Prime if there is/are a fish/invert(s) as this can be dosed to lick ammonia/nitrite so it does not hurt live animals but plants and beneficial bacteria can still consume it. 
MTS are pretty durable so they don't need water changes to keep ammonia and nitrite low, things like shrimp (would not recommend in a newly set up tank) or nerites are more sensitive.

Q6: you can leave it or scrape it off and siphon it up. You ca also try taking the wood out and boiling it in a pot of water for 1 to several hours (let it cool before putting back in the tank) some people say this helps. I did this with manzanita branches and never got the white film/fungus growth-did maybe 3-5 hours of boiling... draining, refilling, and rotating wood each hour.


----------



## MadtownD (Aug 29, 2014)

Thanks for the detailed response! That's really helpful. I didn't know about leaving dying leaves on java ferns to possibly propagate for example- these spots are on the top of the leaves, not the bottom. And I didn't know a stem plant could regrow leaves if some die off. I'll try scraping and syphoning the driftwood. No fish, just some trumpet snails, so that's helpful guidance on the water changes, too.


----------



## ApochSaint (Apr 19, 2015)

I would recommend scraping that gunk off the wood. I left mine on and about 4 months later its STILLLLL there.


----------



## SplashyBetta (Jul 28, 2014)

I got that white fungus on my driftwood and whenever I scraped it off it would just grow right back, so I boiled it and then it never returned.


----------



## MadtownD (Aug 29, 2014)

Good to know the white gunk might persist if I just leave it. Removing the wood to boil it would mean re-doing the tank (lots of dirt world get everywhere, have to untie pellia, etc), but I will try scraping it today. Thx.


----------



## Aqua Aurora (Oct 4, 2013)

I bought a soft bristled cheap tooth brush to use only for tank maintenance (scrub wood and rock) it makes getting the fungus off easier without damaging/shifting the wood.


----------



## MadtownD (Aug 29, 2014)

Ah, toothbrush! Brilliant and I wouldn't have thought of that. Toothbrushed it last night- we'll see what happens.


----------

