Melting plants in new tank setup

[Martin in Holland]

I just setup a new tank just 4 days ago and already see plants melting....??????? This fast???? There must be something wrong, but what...I tested the water on all kinds of chemicals which would explain this...negative.


Weirdly that I can see pearling on the plants next to it and even on the same plant.

Of course I do 50% WC daily and de-chloor the water and 5 hour light period with the same lights as I used on previous setup (Dong Hu Gorge) which worked perfect till the end.

 

[Tim Harrison]

A lot of plants are grown emergent, so when you submerge them there often tends to be some die off whilst they adapt. My latest hi-energy effort has suffered massively from die off and has only recently turned a corner around 2 months later. Just keep up with the water changes and removing as much dead organic matter (DOM) as possible and at the same time trying to optimize your CO2/nutrient/light balance. For me it was easy...I don't have any livestock to worry about so I just turned up the gas...
Curiously, I know it's counter intuitive, but extending the photoperiod from 6 to 8 hrs a day also helped after about a month. Probably, something to do with the compensation point; giving macrophytes a longer day and a better advantage, but only once I was confident that a balance had been struck.

 

[Martin in Holland]

Thanks Troi. Yes my HC came from emersed grow (my own) but the crypt came out of my other tank, also the red plants (which in China seldom come with name, but I guess one is Rotala macranda) came from submersed, which is why I was wondering why they melt so fast (only 4 days).
I didn't fert. so far...should I? There is no nutrient in the substrate at all as this is just fine gravel.

 

[Tim Harrison]

I use fertz from day one, even with soil and Gucci nutrient rich substrates.

 

[sciencefiction]

I'd definitely be adding nutrients if they are planted in just gravel substrate but this may or may not be the reason for the melt.
It could be because they used to get more light, now less light, more co2, now less co2, etc...
I've had similar melt happen and they all bounced back but only when I increased the light actually as strange as it sounds.

On another note I've got the feeling that plants really get used to a certain amount of things and need to adjust to other levels so if you are unlucky enough they just need time but I'd remove the melt and re-plant the healthy parts. The melt will just eat upward the entire plant.