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Melting Crypts

J

JAX3000

Member
Joined
18 Jun 2015
Messages
87
Location
Surrey
Hi,

I have 4 different types of crypt which have been happily growing for 4 or 5 months with no problems. 3 of them have started to melt, some worse than others. Thank God, so far, the Cryptocoryne Balansae at the back seem ok. I REALLY don't want to loose them as I'm waitng for them to fill up my background and don't want to start again.

I have increased my lighting in the last few weeks and the weather has been warmer, resulting in an increased water temp and it's 1 or both of these factors I'm blaming for the melt... as it's change that causes it, would I be correct in thinking that besides removing all effected leaves, which I have done and will continue to do, the best thing to do is nothing, to regain stability...???

Thanks
 
JAX3000 said:
I have 4 different types of crypt which have been happily growing for 4 or 5 months with no problems. 3 of them have started to melt, some worse than others. Thank God, so far, the Cryptocoryne Balansae at the back seem ok. I REALLY don't want to loose them as I'm waitng for them to fill up my background and don't want to start again.

I have increased my lighting in the last few weeks and the weather has been warmer, resulting in an increased water temp and it's 1 or both of these factors I'm blaming for the melt..
Click to expand...

Higher temp+more light=higher metabolism for the plant. Now plant wants to grow faster so you need to supply it with everything it needs i.e nutrients. Start dosing all nutrients if you want to mitigate the melting but whatever has started to melt will continue doing that.
 
JAX3000 said:
as it's change that causes it, would I be correct in thinking that besides removing all effected leaves, which I have done and will continue to do, the best thing to do is nothing, to regain stability...???
Click to expand...

No!. I think this word is misused most of the time in this hobby.
 
Thanks Jose.

I'm injecting co2 and I think I'm pretty much at maximum. I'm also using ei ferts, so in theory they have more than enough of all nutrients.

I was not using co2 to begin with, the lighting was at 40% and I was dosing 1/3 ei ferts. When I started with the co2 I increased the ferts to full dose. All was well... then I started increasing the light. I was advised 5% increase per day would be ok and I upped it from 40 - 70% over a week and I think that's when I ran into problems.

So I will now just do nothing and let things settle. I'll also make any future changes more gradually... lesson learned.

I just wanted to confirm I'd got all this right...

Thanks
 
Oh, I just saw your second post...

Is there anything else I should do...?
 
no need to complicate things...its the additional light....the plants will adapt to the new photo period...just keep things stable :]
 
I'll check the flow from the filter is making it across the back of the tank and reaching the powerhead at the other end. It will have reduced due to growth and I'll probably have to re direct the flow. I'm using an in line atomiser, so this will have a big impact on co2 distribution.

I'll probably end up with a new thread on co2 distribution... Thanks for being so helpful guys 🙂
 
Thanks tigertim. I hadn't seen your post.

That's actually what I plan to do, but I do think I'd better make sure the flow is still getting around.
 
I've experienced (multiple variant) crypt melt after an apparently normal, scheduled water change (absolutely nothing untoward, all other plant & invert & fish life showed zero reaction) - just remove the melting leaves & any that appear affected, keep tank parametres at the new "normal", new leafs will appear quite quickly as long as plant is healthy etc.

Fortunately this is a rare occurrence 🙂
 
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