# Anubias rot



## rducky (Jul 22, 2013)

Hi 

I have a question about my plants...

We have a 5 gallon tank with aquaclear mini filter, heater and lighting (1 10 watt CFL and one 25 watt incandescent bulb on the list to be replaced). The tank has gravel. Lights are on about 10 hours a day. I had baffled the filter to reduce turbulence for the fishy...


One betta living in the tank since mid June.

On July 22, I planted a Java fern and 2 anubias, one smaller one that had flowers and 1 larger one, with the leaf stems about 5-6 inches long. I did not bury the rhizome but some of the roots were down in the gravel. The larger anubias anchored to a piece of driftwood and the smaller anchored to a small tank decoration. Oh, and there's some java moss in there too. I also started using Flourish.

About 2 days ago I noticed a white "fuzz" on the rhizome of the larger anubias, and one leaf had broken off at the base.

Then I noticed the same fuzz on the smaller anubias yesterday, with some leaf breakage. This plant also had what looked like some brown algae growth on the leaves.

Java fern seems ok, with some small patches of the brown algae looking stuff too.

Today I did about a 40% water change and took out both affected plants. The large anubias rhizome appeared to be completely rotted and stank.
The smaller one had a piece that seemed to be saved (still green, firm, not smelly), so I washed it and re-anchored it making sure rhizome not buried at all.

Water test today shows pH 7.4, ammonia 0, nitrite 2ppm, nitrate 5 ppm.

What did I do wrong with these plants? Or is it possible that there was something wrong with them from the start? Has the plant rotting affected my water test levels?

Thank you in advance for any insight!


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## lilnaugrim (Mar 27, 2013)

The only thing the rot would effect is your ammonia basically, initially and since that is 0 it looks like you're all set!

But most likely there was probably something wrong with it to begin with, Anubias usually takes a while to rot if it's dying, at least in my experience it has. But the part that you saved should be good to continue growing, it's not completely acclimated to your water chemistry and will grow quite healthy ^_^

I'm not sure if the ferts will really effect it negatively, I use SeaChem Flourish Comprehensive at 1 drop per gallon every week and so far I've just seen my Anubias throw out new leaves and start to extend it's rhizome so no negatives yet. So for that, I'm not sure but Anubias should thrive in pretty much any and all conditions. 

Did you get them from the PetCo plant tubes?


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## InfiniteGlory (Dec 17, 2012)

bumping to the top. *someone beat me to it*

The one anubias I have I just stuck the roots in the substrate and its doing fine. after the initial leaf melt the leaves started coming back but only about the size of a dime. currently working on getting some driftwood to attach it too.


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## rducky (Jul 22, 2013)

Well, the piece that I returned to the tank still looks clean today. No white fuzz, so I hope it will survive.

I bought the plants for two different local stores. They seemed really healthy at time of purchase, and for the first week they were in the tank. The rot seemed to happen really fast.


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## lilnaugrim (Mar 27, 2013)

Yeah sometimes it does just happen though.

Also the white fuzz stuff might have been dust algae, not sure but it's a possibility.


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## 10asartin (Mar 28, 2013)

Overdosing on Seachem Flourish Comprehensive can cause algae outbreaks. The algae will begin growing on your plants and basically suffocate them. So, indirectly overdosing your tank with Flourish comprehensive can kill your plants.


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