# I must lack a green thumb...what am I doing wrong?



## Friendlyfishies (Aug 16, 2012)

I lose so many plant and money loss due to this lack of a green thumb. After having fish for 6 months ive lost $300 in plant life....everything from anubias, java ferns, crypts, mint charlie, wysteria, sword....you name it ive killed it. 

After my last plant death I decided to try pennywort and mint charlie. Ive heard lots of good things about pennywort growing well and hardy. Ive had them one week and I have leaves falling off left and right and stems turning to mush. 

I have eco complete substrate, root tabs in the substrate, and I dose 3x weekly with flourish excell and I have two 6500K bulbs (12 hour timer) in a 10 gallon with a single betta and no snails or tank mates. 

I do a 10-20% water change 1x a week. 
My Ph is 8.0 (but I read they usually do fine with a higher PH) 

Am I underdosing, over dosing? Other thoughts on whats killing them?

I would love to save them!


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## Roemgie (May 6, 2012)

Friendlyfishies said:


> I lose so many plant and money loss due to this lack of a green thumb. After having fish for 6 months ive lost $300 in plant life....everything from anubias, java ferns, crypts, mint charlie, wysteria, sword....you name it ive killed it.
> 
> After my last plant death I decided to try pennywort and mint charlie. Ive heard lots of good things about pennywort growing well and hardy. Ive had them one week and I have leaves falling off left and right and stems turning to mush.
> 
> ...


Is your tank cycled? That would mean you spent anywhere from 4-8 weeks getting the ammonia up, then nitrite, and eventually Nitrate to where everything is balanced (0 ammonia and nitrite and about 20 nitrate is good for a cycled tank).
Now I'm no expert what so ever in plants BUT I've had them for a little while and all mine are doing fine (in my cycled 5 gallon tank). I just sstarted a 10 gallon tank (cycling it now) and I moved two of the plants from there to my 5 gallon (they weren't looking the greatest) and now they're growing well  I do absolutely nothing for them. I don't have a light bulb (at least my girls don't like too much light) or do fertilizer. All I do is place them in my gravel tank and see what happens lol


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## Friendlyfishies (Aug 16, 2012)

Thanks for the response Roemgie. I should have added that detail lol, sorry, it is not a cylced tank.


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## Roemgie (May 6, 2012)

Friendlyfishies said:


> Thanks for the response Roemgie. I should have added that detail lol, sorry, it is not a cylced tank.


Hey no worries and you're welcome 

I know personally (for just checking my cycling tank and looking at my cycled one as well) plants do a LOT better when it is cycled. At least the two I transferred over seem to be growing a lot better (and I do absolutely nothing lol)


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## Nothingness (Oct 11, 2012)

you may be over fertilizing. Try going with no fert at all. I can't speak on the eco complete as I have never used it. I have 3 tanks doing great with the Miracle Gro organic soil and sand cap. Never used any fert or CO2 and my tanks are doing great.

As far as cycling goes that shouldn't make a difference. The plants needs ammonia, nitrites, and nitrates to grow. The plants should use them quicker then the Bacteria can eat them.

You may also want to change your light period to maybe 10hrs. do you know what wattage the bulbs are? are they florecent (T5, T8, T12) or Incadecent bulbs, or CFL?

Is the PH 8.0 out of the tap? If so maybe use some Reverse Osmosis water. is there any other rocks or decorations in the tank? 

Any pics of unhappy plants?


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## Friendlyfishies (Aug 16, 2012)

Ill try and get a photo of it...it looks even worse today, id say 2 more days the entire group will be a gonner. It was 3 bunches worth! The Mint Charlie seems to be doing great so far though, which is weird because from what ive read the pennywort sounded hardier.


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## tekkguy (Jan 28, 2013)

Slow up on the Excel. Easier to do that than to change the substrate (I love eco-complete) or remove the root tabs.

How many root tabs did you put down? How far apart? Some plants don't do well with Excel, and my guess is lots of them won't do well with an overdose of it. I'd stop it altogether for a couple of weeks and see if things bounce back.

Also, wisteria, anubias, ferns, and crypts are going to have little (if any) benefit from root tabs. They feed from the water column. I think pennywort is the same, though I might be wrong about that.

I usually recommend no ferts at all at the beginning of a new tank, unless you have enough experience to know what you'll need. Always best to see how the plants do, and add only the absolute minimum to get results you are happy with.


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## ao (Feb 29, 2012)

hold off on the excel... and let all the stems float.... 
alot of aquarium plants are grown emmersed and need time to adjust to water. letting them float give them access to better light and more CO2.
good luck.


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## Friendlyfishies (Aug 16, 2012)

thanks! Great tips. I'll do a water change in the AM and pull them out of the substrate. I only placed two roots tabs in on oppisite sides of the tank.


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## Laki (Aug 24, 2011)

Hmm, my tank was not cycled when I added plants. They all generally went through a phase of dying/melting and then regrowth. Like a phoenix.


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## Nothingness (Oct 11, 2012)

Laki said:


> Hmm, my tank was not cycled when I added plants. They all generally went through a phase of dying/melting and then regrowth. Like a phoenix.


melting plants I believe has nithing to do with a non cycled tank and more with the plant afjusting to the new water parameters like ph


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## Stone (Jan 6, 2013)

I agree you are way over doing the fert, all I do is leafzone once a week and some co2 boost maybe 2-3 times a week, I would either stick with just the root tabs and stop the liquid or remove the tabs and use the liquid as instructed, sometime too much of a good thing is not good, life is all about moderation


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## TeteRouge (Jan 24, 2013)

I agree with stopping the ferts. Your ecocomplete should be enough right now. Cycled or not shouldn't have any effect on your plants, I use them when cycling a tank to use up some of the ammonia/nitrites. I just planted my 3x divided 10 in FloraMax and have used no ferts. Its growing very nicely. Sometimes doing nothing is the hardest part... Good Luck!


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## Friendlyfishies (Aug 16, 2012)

Ok, so I took out 90% of my water and replaced it with fresh water, pulled them out of the substrate and pulled off all the melted pieces, tied them together in a group and let them float. Lets hope the rest of the healthy pieces grow some roots while floating.


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## ao (Feb 29, 2012)

oooh dont tie them XD they might not like it !


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## Friendlyfishies (Aug 16, 2012)

lol ...theres way too many stems to free float they block my lights for my planted tanks so I have to tie them together in order to free float without them blocking it...poor little things!


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## Friendlyfishies (Aug 16, 2012)

hmm, still no luck, they looked great yesterday after I pulled off the dead leaves but today theres more  ...Oh well...at least the mint charlies are doing great! so far lol.


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## tekkguy (Jan 28, 2013)

TeteRouge said:


> I agree with stopping the ferts. Your ecocomplete should be enough right now. Cycled or not shouldn't have any effect on your plants, I use them when cycling a tank to use up some of the ammonia/nitrites. I just planted my 3x divided 10 in FloraMax and have used no ferts. Its growing very nicely. Sometimes doing nothing is the hardest part... Good Luck!


Eco complete contains no fertilizers of any kind on its own. The substrate will hold onto fertilizers and nutrients very well, but it is not pre-fertilized.


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## Friendlyfishies (Aug 16, 2012)

now im a bit confused...should I dose my flourish excell or not? I did a 90% water change yesterday so I could most of my over dosed fertz out...now do I add flourish or not? And if yes, how often, once weekly instead of the 2-3 times weekly I was dosing?


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## Nothingness (Oct 11, 2012)

try no ferts for a while. let the tank establish then reconsider ferts. I use no ferts foe a 55g med light tank with great results and growth


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## tekkguy (Jan 28, 2013)

Nothingness said:


> try no ferts for a while. let the tank establish then reconsider ferts. I use no ferts foe a 55g med light tank with great results and growth


+1!


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## marktrc (Jun 6, 2012)

are you dechlorinating your water? what kind of lights for what kind of tank you got?


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## Friendlyfishies (Aug 16, 2012)

No worries, country atesian well, no chlorine here ...Ive tested my tap, nothing funky, just high PH 8.2 , reads 8.0 in aquarium.

10 gallon aquarium
2 6500k bulbs, I dont remember the wattage, 10 watts I think? The max is 15 for my hood.


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