Melting floaters!

[Katie656]

Hi,

A few days ago my floaters were doing fine. I had a mixture of frogbit water lettuce in a 57 litre Fluval Flex.

The tank has the standard flex lighting, which are on for around 7 hours a day, and I add around 1ml of NTC complete daily.

I noticed a few mushy leaves on the floating plants a few days ago, so I made sure the tank lid was offset slightly to let heat escape, incase it was humidity that’s causing the problem (it’s pretty warm and humid in the UK right now).

Leaves were still turning mushy a couple of days later and I thought it maybe because there was more turbulence from the filter, caused by a lower water line from evaporation. I did a partial water change and raised the water level a bit. I also removed the worst effected plants and leaves.

Today there are more mush spots and I just can’t work out why. I haven’t changed anything! The only slight difference if the tank water maybe slightly warmer at around 26°C, caused by the higher ambient room temperature. The tank usually sits at around 25°C.

Would this be enough to melt the plants?
Can anyone else think of another cause?

I would appreciate any help

 

[G H Nelson]

Hi Katie
Amazon Frogbit has always been a pain for me to keep healthy!
I gave up keeping it in the end....a tad more information would be helpful as per below request!

Please read the guidelines for plant help!

Dear Member Please give as many details as possible regarding your aquarium set-up, when requiring advice/help! The above will be posted at the start of each help request. Why do we ask these questions? It will reduce the member posting multiple times, plus adviser's don't need to scroll...

www.ukaps.org

Cheers!

 

[Katie656]

The tank is 57 litres, and has been up and running a year or 2 ( this time around. I’ve had this tank around 6 or 7 years in all.

The filtration and lighting are standard for the Fluval flex. I have the filter outlet aimed down into the water column to prevent too much movement at the surface and the lights are on at around 75% for around 7 hours a day.

Water parameters are
Ammonia and nitrite 0 ppm
Nitrate 30 ppm
PH is around 7.5
KH 3dH
GH 5dH

I dose 1 ml of TNC complete daily (Instructions are 1ml per 10 litres of tank water weekly)

Water changes are not as often as they should be, and I’m probably changing about 25% of the water once a month. Last partial water change was yesterday.

The tank is very lightly stocked with 1 female betta and 3 red neon blue eyes.

If there is anything I’ve missed please let me know

 

[G H Nelson]

Hi Katie
I found when I did a huge water change my frogbit always seemed to perk up!
Accumulation of fertilizers could have a detrimental effect in my opinion.... it's very hard to tell at times because other plants would seem okay!
You have a very low plant mass....this could cause nutrient accumulation.
I would increase your lighting to 100% and an eight-hour duration.
Plus do three/four 30% water changes over several days.
That plant behind the Crypt looks Iron or Magnesium deficient the Image isn't that clear!

 

[Katie656]

Thank you for your advice and I’ll certainly turn the lights up, increase the duration they are on for and do some more partial water changes.

The plant behind the crypt is a type of sword, can’t remember which one of the top of my head. It has slowly being dying since being added to the tank about a month ago. I checked the roots around a week or so ago and it did have some healthy new root growth so I’m keeping my fingers crossed, but it’s not doing great.

This tank used to be beautiful before I moved house around 2 years ago. There is something about this house it just doesn’t like, and I have not been able to get any plants to thrive in there. Here is an old photo of it.

 

[G H Nelson]

The plant you mentioned looks like Hygrophila sp
The aquarium looks very nice there!
What substrate are you using and how old is it?

 

[Katie656]

I can’t temper what substrate I used, but it’s something along the lines of Seachem’s Flourite. It’s probably about 2 years old now so I have started using Seachem’s root tabs as well, just incase it’s becoming depleted.

I have turned the tanks lights up and it has actually made a huge difference. Fingers crossed that this along with the other measures helps!

 

[xZaiox]

I noticed a few mushy leaves on the floating plants a few days ago

I see in your original picture that a few leaves have water droplets on them - is this normal for your tank? Frogbit are drama queens when it comes to their leaves, they don't tolerate water being on them for a prolonged period. I don't really know why, you'd think a plant that is adapted to float on top of water would be better equipped to deal with water on it's leaves.... but apparently not. They'll melt/become mushy if water droplets stay on the top.

 

[G H Nelson]

@Katie656 if you have snails they will also cause damage to your frogbit!

 

[LFNfan]

For what it's worth I also had melting floaters. Could not keep 'em alive.

But I followed advice from the forum: up light intensity, more nutrients, softer water.

Judging by the past three weeks or so it's been a great success. My stems have benefited too.

Your old tank looks brilliant by the way.

 

[dw1305]

Hi all,

Today there are more mush spots and I just can’t work out why. I haven’t changed anything! The only slight difference if the tank water maybe slightly warmer at around 26°C, caused by the higher ambient room temperature. The tank usually sits at around 25°C.

It does look like heat damage, rather than a nutrient deficiency.

I dose 1 ml of TNC complete daily (Instructions are 1ml per 10 litres of tank water weekly)

Might the fertiliser have got on the plant leaves? You can get <"fertiliser burn">.

I see in your original picture that a few leaves have water droplets on them - is this normal for your tank? Frogbit are drama queens when it comes to their leaves, they don't tolerate water being on them for a prolonged period.

Would be my guess.

cheers Darrel

 

[Witcher]

@Katie656 hey KT, if you'll look closer you will notice that the smallest/youngest leaves are almost white - this is very likely Fe deficiency. As Fe is a kind of base for further Nitrogen transportation, I think it also affects older leaves (being grown with lower level of Fe) - older leaves cannot transport N properly anymore, hence overall melting of the leaves. Most of the floaters can survive extreme levels of heat/sun/temperatures/humidity etc - they are on the water level so are genetically prepared for the amounts of energy/heat and even various chemicals falling on them when raining which most of the underwater plants wouldn't survive at all (however I think Amazon based Ludwigias are also extreme heat/light lovers) . TNC Complete is a quite good fertilizer but there is a big chance Fe has turned to the form which is not available for plants (I know from the past TNC was using Fe which has low solubility rate at higher alkalinity - it was probably EDTA but not 100% sure), like with many ferts stored on the shelf for a long time. I'd probably try to throw different form of Fe as an addiction to TNC and see how it goes.

Pls also have look at this @Zeus. post. and other similar ones - you'll see that Iron being a base for healthy growth of the plants is a quite violatile nutrient, highly dependent on water acidity.

 

[dw1305]

Hi all,

you will notice that the smallest/youngest leaves are almost white - this is very likely Fe deficiency.

On a monitor, rather than the phone, and I think you might be right.

I'm using a <"hybrid Duckweed Index"> approach now where I add a small amount of iron (Fe) and magnesium (Mg) even when the plants aren't showing obvious deficiency symptoms.

but there is a big chance Fe has turned to the form which is not available for plants (I know from the past TNC was using Fe which has low solubility rate at higher alkalinity - it was probably EDTA but not 100% sure), like with many ferts stored on the shelf for a long time. I'd probably try to throw different form of Fe as an addiction to TNC and see how it goes.

Have a look at <"Plant deficiencies and the Fe Experiment">. I'll cc. in @KirstyF and she can tell you what the latest state of play is.

cheers Darrel