Is my CO2 diffuser bit faulty or is CO2 escaping from the tank

[Little]

Plants cannot heal damaged / melting leaves so I would remove the melting leaves, manually clean up the algae covered leaves (toothbrush or something should work) and do a 50% water change to dilute the organic matter from the melt. Then leave everything left alone for a couple weeks to see if new shoots come up. Most plants bounce back (I lost some Bucephalandra at start up but everything else that had melt did re grow after a few weeks)

 

[maverick786us]

Use the below article 😉

Thread 'Using stem plants as a filtering aid at Start Up!'

19 Nov 2020

The subject of using fast-growing stem plants as part of a filtering aid has cropped up a few times recently.
This idea has been around for a long time so not new, it has benefits, especially for a new setup.

1. Improves water quality.
2. Reduces excess light.
3. Reduces diatoms.
4. Reduces Nitrite.
5. Reduces Nitrate.
6. Helps reduce algae outbreaks.
7. Indicator of a Nitrate shortage.
8. Oxygenates the water column.
9. Increases beneficial bacteria.
10. Plant cover.

Using fast-growing stem plants as a floating plant filtering aid has always worked well for me!
Although every aquarium...

• G H Nelson
• Replies: 0
• Forum: Articles / Tutorials

• 

OK so one important purpose of using stem plants is to absorb excess of nutrients. But I've been given fertilizers, micro nutrients and macro nutrients to these newly setup plants, so that these plants speed up the process of forming roots, start growing fast and any plant thats melting quickly recovers. Was that a mistake? Should I stop giving fertilizer for sometime?

 

[G H Nelson]

No, don't stop fertilisation.....as in the article the method has other benefits listed!
Be patient and continue doing water changes, try keeping the aquarium as clean as possible as @Little suggested.