Pothos just isn’t thriving

[CrazyCory42]

Hiya, I brought some Pothos at the beginning of the year to try and combat the high nitrates I have in my tank due to my tap water being high in nitrate (40ppm). I don’t know where I’m going wrong, but it just isn’t thriving at all.

I brought two pieces that came with roots from a guy who’d been growing them in his fish tanks. He told me to just stick the roots in the water and that they’d be away.

But they haven’t really grown much since I’ve had them, they’ve gone through periods of all the leaves turning yellow and falling off and the roots have go through periods of deteriorating.

The plant seems to have finished going through one of these deterioration phases and is slowly getting leaves back on its vine a looking more green.

What can I do to help it? There’s plenty of nitrate in the water still for it and it get plenty of sunlight. I’m stumped.

 

[sparkyweasel]

Some information about the tank would help.
Including details of your fertiliser regime.
And pics if possible, of the tank and the Pothos.
In the meantime, try not to worry about nitrate, it's not the terrible stuff some would like you to believe. 🙂

 

[PARAGUAY]

Without knowing to much about the aquarium . Was the plant quickly moved roots kept moist or could it have dried out at the roots?

 

[Aqua360]

Have you kept the leaves above water?

 

[CrazyCory42]

Some information about the tank would help.
Including details of your fertiliser regime.
And pics if possible, of the tank and the Pothos.
In the meantime, try not to worry about nitrate, it's not the terrible stuff some would like you to believe. 🙂

These are the tank specs:
100L tank (36”L x 12”D x 15”H)
Fluval U4 Filter
NICREW SkyLED Plus Aquarium Light on 6hrs
Heated 24 - 25C
Substrate: Gravel and Sand
50% weekly water change (seachem prime)
Stocking:
6 harlequin Rasboras
8 false julii corys
2 bronze cory
1 albino cory
1 pepper cory
1 elegans cory
God knows how many RCS. Enough to cover every surface in the tank.

Water quality
Ammonia 0
NO3 40 (Tap water sits at 40ppm)
NO2 0
GH 8
KH 6
pH 7.2
CI2 0

I use tropica nutrition capsules as and when I think the rooted plants could do with a little pick me up. Usually every 2 to 3 months. I don’t dose the water column because I was told that the nitrates in the tap water would be enough to sustain the pothos.

I have three small pothos plants, all of which are struggling, the one at the far back just doesn’t grow, the one with two wilted leaves has wilted leaves and again, doesn’t grow, and the longest one lost all but two of its leaves a few weeks back and has just grown a couple of new ones.







PS. The tanks looking a bit green because I’m a terrible fish owner and didn’t scrape the glass last water change. 🙈

 

[CrazyCory42]

Without knowing to much about the aquarium . Was the plant quickly moved roots kept moist or could it have dried out at the roots?

Sorry for the lack of information. See my reply to sparkyweasel.

 

[CrazyCory42]

Have you kept the leaves above water?

Yes, it’s just the roots that are submerged. For more information see my reply to sparkyweasel.

 

[PARAGUAY]

Try liquid fertiliser something like an all in one Your description seems like deficiency and the recovery could be in the sign of new leaves.

 

[sparkyweasel]

It's probably short of ferts. It needs all the other nutrients as well as nitrate, and you have virtually none in the water. You could try Tropica Premium, which doesn't contain nitrate.

 

[mort]

The leaves do look pale which is indicative of a nutrient deficiency as suggested above but how much light do they receive? They can do ok in lower light but need more than ambient light to thrive.

 

[CrazyCory42]

The leaves do look pale which is indicative of a nutrient deficiency as suggested above but how much light do they receive? They can do ok in lower light but need more than ambient light to thrive.

They just get natural light from the main window in the room. It’s a south facing window so the room gets pretty strong sunlight for most of the day.

 

[tiger15]

They just get natural light from the main window in the room. It’s a south facing window so the room gets pretty strong sunlight for most of the day.

I Think you have too much light for Pothos which is a forest canopy plant similar philodendron, lucky bamboo, etc that cannot tolerate direct sunlight. Try Coleus which can take more light and has colorful foliage.

 

[mort]

They just get natural light from the main window in the room. It’s a south facing window so the room gets pretty strong sunlight for most of the day.

Sounds like the way I have mine growing. Mine vine out from the tank and take the full light from a south facing window without any sign of detriment to their health. I think as yours are pale then that's its is a nutrient issue. They can be very fast growing plants and need more than just nitrate to thrive so I would up your dosing for a while and see if their health improves.

 

[tiger15]

Your aquatic plants are doing well and it's hard to imagine your Pothos could suffer from nutrient deficiency. I've grown Pothos in bright indoor light and lean soil without fertilization for 10 years and it thrived. Though I've never grown Pothos in the sun and know if it can survive, I've killed a couple Lucky bamboo exposed to window sunlight. Presently, I have a thriving Lucky bamboo for 4+ years growing out of water from my high tech tank exposed to low indoor light that I thought it would not survive.