# Amazon Swords Dying



## kitkat67 (Mar 10, 2015)

Dadgummit! I did a full water change a few days ago because I was cleaning the substrate, sifting it, careful not to go anywhere near the plants. I did gently pull on one plant and it seems to have very nice roots growing because that sucker did not budge and I had their roots trimmed to an inch just a month ago. Now all of a sudden all my swords seem to be browning from the outside in. Could someone tell me what is wrong? I have not added any salts or medications to the tank at all. Whenever I change the water I add in tap conditioner, stress coat, stress zyme, phosphorus, and leaf zone. My amazon swords quadrupled in size since last month and now they seem to be dying. Anyone have any theories or experience?


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## Mousie (Feb 16, 2015)

What liquid/dry ferts are you adding to keep the plants healthy? Is there any plant substrate under that sand?


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## Zegor22 (Sep 7, 2015)

Sorry Im not trying to steal your thread or change it but same with me! My tank is being cycled again and my swords are dyeing and getting a light green/ yellow around the edges could high ammonia, nitrite or nitrate kill them? I didn't think so because aren't they nutrients. Is it cause of my ph? or hardness? Only gave them a root tab


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## kitkat67 (Mar 10, 2015)

I have root tabs and leaf zone. I looked this up and am doing a diy "root tabs" with osmocote, miracle grow for tomatoes, and tums. I took a few diy tutorials and my own tums idea for this. Fingers crossed it will work. Just waiting on the gelatin capsules to come.


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## mazakai (Sep 5, 2015)

sorry to not have a helpful reply--just chiming in to say your betta is gorgeous!


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## kitkat67 (Mar 10, 2015)

Thank you!


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## kitkat67 (Mar 10, 2015)

Just noticed my water sprite is turning clear also!!!


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## Pumpkin (Jan 16, 2015)

What lighting do you have? I think a similar thing happened with my lily plant when I had poor lighting..


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## Mousie (Feb 16, 2015)

I'm still kind of new to plants so I am learning right along with you. If you Google for "aquarium plants with transparent leaves" you will find a boatload of info (we're not allowed to link to other forums in our posts, so I can't offer links). Most of my plant info I find on aquarium plant specific forums.


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## kitkat67 (Mar 10, 2015)

Lighting hasn't changed. I am like 95% sure it was the full water change that caused this. I just don't know why. Could chlorine do this? I used tap conditioner right after I filled it though.


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## RussellTheShihTzu (Mar 19, 2013)

Swords benefit greatly from Iron. I use Iron tabs in addition to root tabs.

May I ask why you cleaned the substrate? I'm not sure that's such a good thing. 100% water changes wouldn't cause the problem you're having.


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## kitkat67 (Mar 10, 2015)

There was a lot of black bacteria growing in some spots so I mixed it around and took all the nasty water out.


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## Mousie (Feb 16, 2015)

kitkat67 said:


> There was a lot of black bacteria growing in some spots so I mixed it around and took all the nasty water out.


Black bacteria? Or black beard algae?


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## kitkat67 (Mar 10, 2015)

Bacteria


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## Mousie (Feb 16, 2015)

Are you talking about Cyanobacteria? I've not heard of black cyano in freshwater tanks, but that doesn't mean it can't happen I suppose.


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## kitkat67 (Mar 10, 2015)

No, cyanobacteria would never be found under substrate as they employ photosynthesis for their energy needs. My guess is I have a huge population of anaerobic de-nitrifiers. They produce hydrogen sulfide which, in large amounts, can kill your fish. This is why I did the 100%water change, substrate rinse (I left a 2" diameter around each plant of substrate alone), and vacuum.


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## Mousie (Feb 16, 2015)

I've not heard of anaerobic gas pockets in association with black bacteria (I've never even seen black bacteria other than in saltwater tanks)..... I would definitely like to hear a lot more about this.

I just recently got rid of cyano in my cichlid tank. Ever battling it for almost a year, a bubble wand to add more co2 finally got it under control. I was one step away from tossing an antibacterial in the tank.


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## kitkat67 (Mar 10, 2015)

If you want to do some reading, I found this website that covers all that stuff.
http://www.aquaworldaquarium.com/Articles/TonyGriffitts/silent_killer.htm


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## Mousie (Feb 16, 2015)

Thank you!!!


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## dannifluff (Jul 5, 2015)

RussellTheShihTzu said:


> Swords benefit greatly from Iron. I use Iron tabs in addition to root tabs.
> 
> May I ask why you cleaned the substrate? I'm not sure that's such a good thing. 100% water changes wouldn't cause the problem you're having.


I'm just curious about this... wouldn't a 100% water change cause the kind of die-back you see when adding plants to a new tank? For example if nitrates have been removed, or if there was a slight pH change, together with the substrate disturbance, could it be enough to cause a period of melting?


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## Mousie (Feb 16, 2015)

kitkat67 said:


> If you want to do some reading, I found this website that covers all that stuff.
> http://www.aquaworldaquarium.com/Articles/TonyGriffitts/silent_killer.htm



I knew about all that, since it deals with saltwater tanks (ours is roughly 18 years old). I meant info on this black bacteria in freshwater tanks.


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## kitkat67 (Mar 10, 2015)

Mousie said:


> I knew about all that, since it deals with saltwater tanks (ours is roughly 18 years old). I meant info on this black bacteria in freshwater tanks.



Well, go digging. I found it very quickly. Just look up bacteria in substrate, producing hydrofen sulfide.


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## Mousie (Feb 16, 2015)

kitkat67 said:


> Well, go digging. I found it very quickly. Just look up bacteria in substrate, producing hydrofen sulfide.



There's a bazillion articles on anaerobic gas pockets in freshwater tanks, but I can find no information on black bacteria in freshwater tanks. All of the information I have found states it can only live in saltwater setups.

I would really like to learn, and you appear to know a lot about this. Any links sharing research about this that you can share so we're not going back and forth about this would be appreciated.


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## kitkat67 (Mar 10, 2015)

Hey, sorry about that, was super busy today. I found this website: http://www.aquarium-pond-answers.com/2008/11/hydrogen-sulfides.html
"A tell-tale sign of Hydro Sulfide production is *black areas* in the deep areas of sand or substrate, whether *freshwater*, marine, or especially ponds."
This is a really good site that goes into detail about the production, harmful effects, appearance, toxicity, etc.


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## Mousie (Feb 16, 2015)

Thanks. Been on that site more times than I can count, and never noticed that article.


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## RussellTheShihTzu (Mar 19, 2013)

dannifluff said:


> I'm just curious about this... wouldn't a 100% water change cause the kind of die-back you see when adding plants to a new tank? For example if nitrates have been removed, or if there was a slight pH change, together with the substrate disturbance, could it be enough to cause a period of melting?


Actually, once again, what I said and what I meant are two different things. :roll:

What I mean was *could* cause the problems/melting the Swords and Wisteria seem to be having.


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## dannifluff (Jul 5, 2015)

RussellTheShihTzu said:


> Actually, once again, what I said and what I meant are two different things. :roll:
> 
> What I mean was *could* cause the problems/melting the Swords and Wisteria seem to be having.


Thanks. I just wondered, since that was my immediate thought, that it could be a temporary suffering due to the water change, hopefully one that can be managed with a bit of trimming and recovery time.


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## MadtownD (Aug 29, 2014)

I am still trying not to kill all my plants, and definitely not experienced...but I did recently have my 'easy/fast' plants turn clear, and my swords get light edges. In my case, I *think* it was a lack of N/P/K nutrients in the water column (substrate is dirt). I added a nerite and few fish (WOW do nerites poop) and the plants are doing better.


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