Plants not living long :(

[Sirkavu]

Hello Everyone,

I hope you are all well.
I am having many problems with my plants living long in my tanks.

10- I believe it is because I don't do water changes. (I know) I thought I could have a tank that would cycle itself like my 40L but.....not working.

9- I also use Flourish Excel twice a week.

Tank Specifics
1-Juwel RIO 180L
2- Around 6 months old MultiLux LED
4- Pump Ecoflow 1000
4- Juwel BioFlow Filter
5- 6h Light
7- No CO2

11- Plant Specifics
Lobelia Cordinalis 'Mini'
Sagittaria subulata (a little)
Lilaeopsis brasiliensis
Alternanthera reineckii Rosanervig Tropica
Hygrophila Siamensis 53B Tropica
Microsorum pteropus Tropica Java Fern
Tropica Alternanthera reineckii 'mini' 1-2-GROW
Tropica Staurogyne repens 1-2-GROW
Tropica Anubias 'Mini Coin' 1-2-GROW
Tropica Pogostemon helferi 1-2-GROW

Hardscape
6- Tropica Aquarium Soil
Dragon Stone

12- Fishes - Still unsure as my partner wants to have a small say in this hehe
Amano shrimps
Panda Corys
Neon Tetra*
Siamese Algae Eaters

See my pictures and please do let me know what I can do to save them please - Thank you in advance!

 

[Sirkavu]

Thread 'Please read the guidelines for plant help!'

27 Apr 2020

Dear Member

Please give as many details as possible regarding your aquarium set-up, when requiring advice/help!

The above should be posted at the start of each help request.

Why do we ask these questions?
It will reduce posts by members asking for the information below, also advisers don't need to scroll through a whole thread to find them.

Copy and Paste the list below...and add your answers to each number on the list!
@13 Please upload photographs/images if possible.

1. Size of tank.
2. Age of the system approximately.
3. Tap water parameters.
4. Filtration and Media.
5...

• G H Nelson
• Replies: 0
• Forum: Plant Help

• 

Hi, thank you, I thought I had input all information. All updated now 🙂

 

[G H Nelson]

Hi @Sirkavu
I would advocate water changes as soon as possible, starting with 2 small water changes per week at 15% and increasing to 50% once every two weeks!
As you have London tapwater....this will increase nutrients for plants and improve water quality.
I would advise purchasing an All in One Fertilizer....there are various to choose from and dose as instructions.

All these plants below would do better with Co2 some can be difficult, even when adding pressurized Co2 and Fertilizers.

This is my opinion on the plants below for London Tapwater, other areas of the UK have different water parameters therefore some could be easier to grow in those areas than others.
11- Plant Specifics
Lobelia Cordinalis 'Mini' ........medium/difficult without Co2.
Sagittaria subulata (a little).....easy with water changes.
Lilaeopsis brasiliensis....... unsure never grew this plant.
Alternanthera reineckii Rosanervig Tropica....medium/difficult without Co2
Hygrophila Siamensis 53B Tropica.....easy with water changes.
Microsorum pteropus Tropica Java Fern.....easy with water changes
Tropica Alternanthera reineckii 'mini' 1-2-GROW.....medium/difficult without Co2.
Tropica Staurogyne repens 1-2-GROW.....medium/difficult without Co2.
Tropica Anubias 'Mini Coin' 1-2-GROW.....easy with water changes.
Tropica Pogostemon helferi 1-2-GROW.....difficult without Co2.

Cheers hoggie

 

[dw1305]

Hi all,

9- I also use Flourish Excel twice a week.

No other "fertilisers"?

I would advise purchasing an All in One Fertilizer....

So would I.

6h Light

and a longer photoperiod, at least 8 hours?

cheers Darrel

 

[G H Nelson]

Final thoughts....implement the below Tutorial.

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

• 

Cheers

 

[Sirkavu]

Hey guys, It has been a long time, but I followed your instructions!! 🙂

@G H Nelson - I did as you said regarding the water changes. It worked much better until I had to go away for work for 2 weeks. I came back and I have BBA, I believe diatoms as well? (picture attached). So now I am going back to 15-20% WC weekly for maybe a month then 50% every two weeks.

@dw1305 - I bought Tropica Premium Nutrition and dose as per the bottle. I also added a few more stem plants like Limnophila sessiliflora.

The tank was doing well, not perfect but I thought in a few months I could be kinda free from algae and start adding some other plants (slow grow). But beeing away for two week was not good and I think It was because the cover of the tank fell out and got some natural light in the tank which spiked the algae.
At the moment I have it on 6h light a day. I have posted some pictures, and some of my plants seems to be fading away, differently from before - able to help?

Regareding my fishes, one of my Golden gouramis disapeared as 2 of my zebra danios. One of the zebra danios though, seems to be pregnant, but has been like this for a month now, is it pregnant, sick? Or has eggs but not fertilized?

The fishes seem to be fine. My only one golden gourami is lively even though during 'sleep time' hides behind the rocks on the left. On another note, my friend had to get rid of his discus. In Aquatic Design Centre in london, they now have London Tap water discus. They are still juveline still and look healthy. Just their third day in. First day, they were mostly on the right side but around. But today and yesterday, they spend all day in the far right corner, behind the heater and 'water sucker' (sorry forgot the name 😀 ups). I was told it is normal and they will adjust to normality in a few days.

Any tips or helps? I am very keen to make this work again.

 

[Fishfur]

Just fyi, egg laying species like danios can’t be pregnant. They can be gravid with eggs or full of eggs. But that very swollen fish looks to me like it may have a tumour, possibly ovarian.

There isn’t anything that can be done about it if so, though I am very sorry to say so. If the fish belonged to me I would be considering humane euthanasia for the poor thing.

A lot of the leaves look to be infested with a green alga, possibly one of the Oedogonium sp., which stick tightly & do a lot of damage to the leaves. You might attempt to clean it off but this takes a lot of time & tedious effort for leaves that are going to be permanently damaged anyway & doomed to die.

Personally, on the few occasions I’ve had to deal with this kind of issue, I tossed all the infested growth & only tried to save the growth that was still clean & clear of algae. The same applies to the tufts of red algae, which does even more damage to the leaves it grows on. Generally speaking, plants devote their energy to keeping the newest growth clean & they sacrifice the rest. Their only goal is survival after all, not looking good. This means, most unfortunately, tossing some of them completely, a painful thing to have to do.

Removing leaves or plants without disturbing the algae on them means fewer fragments of algae escape to cause trouble later.

Your valis’ look to have clean leaves in the centres of their rosettes as do the swords so just peel away the infested leaves & let the clean ones carry on. They may look sadly diminished but they’ll come back. Sadly, it looks like those short shrubby ones are a lost cause. I would toss them - for me that means they’d go to feed plant eating snails.

I would also scrub all algae off rocks etc., & do it outside the tank to avoid spreading fragments of algae around. If I must clean surfaces inside the tank I’ll put a small HOB filter on filled with floss and shut down the regular filtration while I clean. I let it run for a few hours after I’m done before removing it & restarting the regular filtration. With a wee bit of luck the floss filled filter catches all the fragments of algae that float or fall away so they don’t stay in the tank.

However, all this effort will be wasted if the cause of the outbreak is not remedied at the same time. If it isn’t remedied, the problem will reoccur.

 

[PARAGUAY]

Losing fish and unless they jumped are still in the aquarium is not good and will accelerate health problems with the existing fish.

 

[Cazza]

I'd get some snails and floating plants in there. Snails are an essential part of a cleanup crew, imho. Floating plants will also help with algae.

 

[Sirkavu]

I'd get some snails and floating plants in there. Snails are an essential part of a cleanup crew, imho. Floating plants will also help with algae.

Hey Cazza! Thank you for this. I did get some Nerite snails, and I can see some good improvements there. I only have 4 though, I wasn't sure if I should get more or not. I am also going to get another 6 Amano and 6 Cherry shrimps and let these create their colony.

Just fyi, egg laying species like danios can’t be pregnant. They can be gravid with eggs or full of eggs. But that very swollen fish looks to me like it may have a tumour, possibly ovarian.

There isn’t anything that can be done about it if so, though I am very sorry to say so. If the fish belonged to me I would be considering humane euthanasia for the poor thing.

What would you say it is a humane euthanasia? Flush it in the toilet? Sad though 🙁

Personally, on the few occasions I’ve had to deal with this kind of issue, I tossed all the infested growth & only tried to save the growth that was still clean & clear of algae. The same applies to the tufts of red algae, which does even more damage to the leaves it grows on. Generally speaking, plants devote their energy to keeping the newest growth clean & they sacrifice the rest. Their only goal is survival after all, not looking good. This means, most unfortunately, tossing some of them completely, a painful thing to have to do.

Removing leaves or plants without disturbing the algae on them means fewer fragments of algae escape to cause trouble later.

Your valis’ look to have clean leaves in the centres of their rosettes as do the swords so just peel away the infested leaves & let the clean ones carry on. They may look sadly diminished but they’ll come back. Sadly, it looks like those short shrubby ones are a lost cause. I would toss them - for me that means they’d go to feed plant eating snails.

I would also scrub all algae off rocks etc., & do it outside the tank to avoid spreading fragments of algae around. If I must clean surfaces inside the tank I’ll put a small HOB filter on filled with floss and shut down the regular filtration while I clean. I let it run for a few hours after I’m done before removing it & restarting the regular filtration. With a wee bit of luck the floss filled filter catches all the fragments of algae that float or fall away so they don’t stay in the tank.

Gotcha! It looks like my Sunday will be a big mission day haha I am then going to trim some plants that can saved, take the rocks out, and clean them on the side. I have some Peroxyde still so I will use it to clean the rocks. Really didn't want to spend more on plants but I guess I might have to get some more stems and just fill the tank for now with them..
It will be a bit tricky for me to do like you regarding the filter. The only thing I can do is try and use the old filter, but I would have to see if it is usable.
But I do think I should clean the filter I have though, just unsure if this wouldn't be bad for the good bacteria in it?

However, all this effort will be wasted if the cause of the outbreak is not remedied at the same time. If it isn’t remedied, the problem will reoccur.

Now this is what I don't know what could be. Maybe the fact that there was some sunlight in the tank and did not have as many plants as I should've?

 

[Fishfur]

Hey Cazza! Thank you for this. I did get some Nerite snails, and I can see some good improvements there. I only have 4 though, I wasn't sure if I should get more or not. I am also going to get another 6 Amano and 6 Cherry shrimps and let these create their colony.


What would you say it is a humane euthanasia? Flush it in the toilet? Sad though 🙁

Definitely not humane! Clove oil is a fish anesthetic that will send them to sleep & then can be overdosed or some alcohol can be added to ensure the fish has passed on.

Gotcha! It looks like my Sunday will be a big mission day haha I am then going to trim some plants that can saved, take the rocks out, and clean them on the side. I have some Peroxyde still so I will use it to clean the rocks. Really didn't want to spend more on plants but I guess I might have to get some more stems and just fill the tank for now with them..
It will be a bit tricky for me to do like you regarding the filter. The only thing I can do is try and use the old filter, but I would have to see if it is usable.
But I do think I should clean the filter I have though, just unsure if this wouldn't be bad for the good bacteria in it?


Now this is what I don't know what could be. Maybe the fact that there was some sunlight in the tank and did not have as many plants as I should've?

Sunlight may well have been the trigger that started this. If it was the only change, hopefully preventing future exposure to it will solve the problem.

 

[Sirkavu]

Definitely not humane! Clove oil is a fish anesthetic that will send them to sleep & then can be overdosed or some alcohol can be added to ensure the fish has passed on.

Sunlight may well have been the trigger that started this. If it was the only change, hopefully preventing future exposure to it will solve the problem.

Hi buddy, thank you again for the input and help!! I will follow that up. I have some clove oil which I used for some toothache long ago, and I will do it this weekend.
I do think and hope it was the sunlight. I have fully covered the tank again as it should for the daytime - fully blackout in the tank.

I have ordered some new plants which will be delivered on Friday, and this weekend is 'refurbishment' and cleaning day in the tank. I will also get some more amanos, which I only have a few as well as the Cherry shrimps. This should help.

Quick question, will cleaning the filter be important as well? Or should I not because of the good bacteria colony?

 

[Sirkavu]

I was thinking to kind of rescape the tank but I am afraid of spiking anything bad by moving plants around. Should I do it with care of just avoid it?

 

[bazz]

I was thinking to kind of rescape the tank but I am afraid of spiking anything bad by moving plants around. Should I do it with care of just avoid it?

Just do some, large water changes as often as you can for the next few days/week. A mature filter, substrate and established plants will give you a massive head start. Obviously disturb the substrate as little as possible but don't let it hold you back, you might as well sort it to your liking now, you will be happier in the long run.

 

[Sirkavu]

Just do some, large water changes as often as you can for the next few days/week. A mature filter, substrate and established plants will give you a massive head start. Obviously disturb the substrate as little as possible but don't let it hold you back, you might as well sort it to your liking now, you will be happier in the long run.

Thank you bazz! I have taken the rocks from my tank, leaving them in a bucket with water and hydrogen peroxide. Later on at night, I will take them out and scrub the algae. Then I will play around, out of the tank, on some setups and on Saturday I will re-arrange the plants, very carefully 🙂

 

[Sirkavu]

Sadly, it looks like those short shrubby ones are a lost cause. I would toss them - for me that means they’d go to feed plant eating snails.

Quick question, what does this mean? Shall I just take them out and leave them around for the snails and shrimp to eat it?
Also, I will post a picture later, those short ones have just spawned newly unaffected leaves - so happy! So might just take the bad leaves, just like I will do with all other plants

 

[Sirkavu]

An update:
Today I did a 50% WC and took out most plants that were bad. I left a few only because I felt I was bothering the substrate too much.
I had taken the rocks out, filled my sink with hot water and Hydrogen Peroxide, and left the rocks in for a few hours. I then used a toothbrush to take the algae but, I couldn't take all of it so now I have them all in a bucket with water and the HP - leaving them in there for 24h at least.

I realized today that the substrate had also some algae, so once I took the plants I vacuumed most of it. I am not sure why this happened but maybe it was when I took some of the rocks yesterday?

I am hoping that the rocks will be algae-free tomorrow or Wednesday as I intend to do another WC to add another layer of new substrate, rocks, and more plants. I plan to kind of redesign the tank, not much so I don't bother the substrate I already have, and can also create some depth.

I still don't know what caused the algae but I hope the constant WCs will help.

Unfortunately I had to say bye to the fish that had the tumor. It was sad to see it happening but I did as you advice @Fishfur .

I have added some pictures of the substrate with algae on it, how the rocks still had algae after the first attempt and then how the tank looks at the moment.

Any advice please do let me know. I hope Wednesday I can just put the rocks back and add the plants that should also arrive on Wednesday.

 

[Sirkavu]

Just a quick picture. One of my discus spends quite some time - during the night time - in this area just looking towards the sofa and TV area. And sometimes my Gold Gourami comes and stands there too - funny. And hopefully, it is normal behavior.