# Dying/sick plants in new aquarium



## Phantom Miria (Mar 17, 2013)

Hello,

I have a rather new 20 gallon aquarium that received all its plants exactly one week ago. For reference here is my setup;

The substrate is flourite, the cap is pool filter sand, I am using flourish tabs, I am using prime to clean the water, and I am also using stress zyme with every water change. I am using a Hydro II sponge filter in conjunction with an air pump, an air stone within the sponge filter, and another air stone fixed on a decorative collomn. The water current is low, but there is a bit of a current. Currently there are 10 olive nerite snails and one female betta who inhabit the tank. All seem healthy.

Here is a list of the plants the tank received;
4x American Frogbit, 10 Vallisneria Corkscrew's, 5 bunches of Lilaeopsis mauritiana (narrow leaf razor sword), 3 java fern, one Aponogeton Ulvaceus bulb, and one Red tiger lotus bulb.

The problem is almost all of the grown plants including the frogbit are dying. The bulbs, however, are absolutely flourishing. The frogbit is doing the worst with decay, rot and death. I would estimate at least 60% of it has died off. No new roots seem to be forming (which I believe appear white in color) and the current roots seem to be fraying, dying and turning dark brown. It should be noted it looks like tiny baby frogbit leafs seem to be floating around.. are these perhaps offspring of the frogbit?

Next are the corkscrew's; they just seem to be virtually disintegrating. I've picked out much of the upper half of the majority of them as they died and disconnected from the base. The corkscrews were planted deep within the substrate. I would say 30-40% of these have died off.

The Razor sword is perhaps the most upsetting because I enjoy it a lot. It is not nearly as bad as the others, but small strands of the blades have turned brown and are decaying. I'd say around 15% of it has decayed. What I did with these was bury them as far into the substrate as I could after removing them from the wool. 

Finally, the java fern I am unsure about; it was shipped to me with small black holes. These holes have not gone away but the ferns seem to be growing :s? Perhaps that's just the way they look. 

Like I said the bulbs are absolutely flourishing; they were shipped to me both germinated but they have been showing some massive growth, specifically with the Aponogeton. I have included some pictures to help determine to stage of rot- 








The corkscrews^








The frogbit as seen above^








The frogbit as seen from the aquarium (my betta loves hanging around it for some reason)








The most disappointing micro sword^








As you can see above the Java fern and flourishing Appongetus and red lotus.

I'm not sure if these plants are just suffering because of the massive shock they received after being uprooted, shipped, waiting outside in the AZ heat for a day, and finally being replanted or because its something I am doing. These plants receive around 10-11 hours of daylight as recommended by OFL's guide via a 10000k 2 year old Marineland LED source.

Any help is appreciated, these were some expensive plants!


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## Destinystar (May 26, 2012)

I believe the OFL said we should change our light bulbs or source at least once a year as they get old and even though the light looks the same to us the plants cant see it. Other than that I just dont know since I dont have any of those plants. I am sure some will come along with other ideas to help you.


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## Phantom Miria (Mar 17, 2013)

Considering I have the bulbs flourishing at the bottom of the tank, I'm pretty confident my light source is not the problem, but I could definitely be wrong. I just didn't want to throw it out as its a $70 lighting system.


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## Phantom Miria (Mar 17, 2013)

I have contacted the seller I bought the Marineland from and have confirmed it is an 11 month year old LED lighting system. So it should absolutely still be good considering its 10000k rating.

After doing a visual inspection today, I can officially say ~80% of my frogbit has died off or is in the final stages of disease . I removed two bunches of it completely, noting that the roots had rotted so badly they were falling off (they were a very, very dark brown) as I removed them. One bunch of frogbit remains that has been heavily trimmed. I trimmed back the roots of it as well. I chose to keep this one because it does show some healthy signs such as one green branch and smaller frogbit offspring around it, but I doubt its survivability. 

Also, upon closer inspection, the frogbit had 'rained' dead root and fuzzy residue all over my razor sword which, in part, made my razor sword look unhealthy. The corkscrews seem to be doing decent and have seemingly stopped rotting. 

I am no botanist and I could really use some help here! On the plus side my Aponogeton Ulvaceus is absolutely growing like wildfire! :-D (the Red lotus is doing awesome as well). Here are two comparison pictures-








Before (its the bulb in the back)








Today jut 8 days after planting (the plant behind the log and Java fern). Its already nearly to the top of the aquarium! :shock:

And just because she seemed like she wanted to be in a picture so bad... here's Clare 









-Miria


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