Anubias Nana Petite Brown/Dead Spots

[Jason Blake]

Hi,

I just setup my tank and it is coming up to two weeks old. I have attached some Anubias Nana Petite and Bonsai to a piece of manzantia root.

The Anubias Nana Petite looks like it maybe struggling. Nearly all of the flower stems have died of and I have just noticed that on one leaf there appears to be a brown perhaps dead spot. There are also some white spots that almost look like limescale. Pictures below.

I am just wondering what maybe causing this? I have also noticed that in general the plant does not look as compact as it did when I received it and to me it looks as though it may have lost a bit of colour too. I think the leaves have got a shade lighter and are not as dark as they were.

When I got this plant it was too big for what I wanted and so I had to split the rhizome. I am not sure if this may have anything to do with this. I used a sharp razor blad and cut the rhizome just behind a leaf node as I was advised.

The tank currently has one 11w Compact Power Flourescent which is on for 6 hours a day. I use pressurised CO2 which comes on two hours before the lights and goes off again an hour before lights off. The Drop checker is light green at lights on and does on occasion turn yellow. Thankfully at this stage I do not have any livestock apart from some Malaysian Trumpet Snails. I am trying to reduce the CO2 to stop the Drop Checker turning Yellow. I do regularly have some of my plants pearling in particular the Christmas moss and the Heteranthera Zosterifolia.

During the startup of this tank I did have a few issues with filtration and heating. The filter periodically kicking into top gear and obviously in a 60 litre tank, at 1600 l/ph was uprooting a lot of the plants. Also the heater packed up and so for the first 3-4 days there was no heating either. All of these issues have been rectified now. For the last week filtration flow and heat have all be steady and stable.

I am dosing EI Macro 3 x Days and Micro 3 x Days a week. At the moment I am carrying out bi-weekly 50% water changes.

As for the flow ALL plants are definitely "swaying in the breeze."

I have been following the no test ethos, so I cannot provide test results.

Any help and advice would be grateful.

Thanks.

 

[ceg4048]

As usual this is a CO2 issue. Anubias is a low light plant so it might help to place it in a more shaded area than it is in already.

Cheers,

 

[Jason Blake]

Thank you Ceg. As to the CO2 what would the issue be? Is it a case of too little, too much or something else CO2 related?

 

[ceg4048]

Rule of thumb #1: The expression "CO2 issue", as regards plants, always means that there is insufficient amount or that its availability is unstable. There is never a problem of too much for plants. With fish it's exactly opposite story.

High light causes a high demand for CO2. Low light reduces the demand for CO2.

Anubias is a very slow growing plant and it has a very thick leaf, and this thickness is an obstacle to CO2 uptake. So even if the other, more adept plants do well under those conditions, plants that are slow growing and low light, such as anubias, ferns and mosses, typically do not fare well. Place the plant in an area that is shaded and it will have a better chance of recovery.

Cheers,

 

[Jason Blake]

Thank you Ceg, I thought as much regarding too much CO2 but I was just covering all bases. I thought it was going to be more an issue of CO2 instablilty while I try to hone into the CO2 "sweet spot"

I have just got to get my thinking cap on and think about how to shade the Anubias and not the other plants, as the others seem to be doing very well indeed in the current conditions.

I am thinking perhaps some floating plants.

I know you have a thing about people having too much light but here are my, more than likely unfounded concerns about the floating plants and reducing light levels. I have got some Alternanthera Cardinalis in the tank and I desperately want to keep its redness on its underleaf. I have read some literature that suggests if the Cardinalis does not get enough light it will loose its redness and go completely green. Is that something you would agree with? Also I am now trying to grow a carpet of Staurogyne Repens and I would like to keep it short and compact. Again some literature suggests that at lower levels of light, the Staurogyne will loose its compactness and grow leggy and tall. Again is this something you would agree with?

I apologise now if you feel like you are repeating yourself, but I do really appreciate your advice.

Thank you.

 

[ceg4048]

I have read some literature that suggests if the Cardinalis does not get enough light it will loose its redness and go completely green. Is that something you would agree with?

It's possible. Pigmentation is often a response to photonic stress.

Again some literature suggests that at lower levels of light, the Staurogyne will loose its compactness and grow leggy and tall. Again is this something you would agree with?

No. The literature is incorrect. See http://www.ukaps.org/forum/threads/dymax-tropical-36-watt.25367/page-4#post-282027

At the end of the day you may have to pick your poison; dead anubias and pink L. cardinalis leaves or less red leaves with live anubias.

Cheers,

 

[Jason Blake]

Ok thanks for the help Ceg.

I need to try and come up with a way to shade the Anubias and not the plants at the rear, where the cardinalis. If not I guess its bye bye anubias.

I am thinking that if the shade of floating plants will not cause the Staurogyne then I think that will be best as I believe due to the flow and surface movement that the floating plants will be pushed to the front of the tank and then I should be able to leave the rear of the tank clear and hopefully keep the Cardinalis in the light.

Do you think that will work or is it a bit of a pipe dream?

The only other thing I can think of is to plant something like a Echinodorus Bleheri near the Anubias to shade it. But I wonder if perhaps that genus of plant is too big for my tank.

Thank you.

 

[tam]

The change in compactness could just be it rearranging it's leaves to point towards the light. If you wanted to shade just that spot, you could use floating plants but contain them in something, for example a piece of airline in a circle, the rim cut off a plastic tub etc. You can anchor that with a bit of fishing line so the whole island doesn't float off 🙂

 

[Jason Blake]

That's a really great idea why didn't I think of that? Thanks Tam, I think you have saved the day!