Stem plants turning black

[Jamie McGrath]

Why do all my stem plants turn black at the bottom, the top half of the plant is a nice healthy green. I have tried snipping off the top half and replanting it but then the same thing happens. I have good water flow, i have good lighting, i inject Co2 through an inline reactor with a spray bar that reaches all the way across the back of my tank and I use Ie dosing. I also do a 50% water change once a week. The Drop checker is lime green at about 5cm off substrate level. All other swords and anubis are completly healthy, my Amazon Sword has got two flower steams.

 

[bennell]

When you say flow is good, is it good in all spots of your tank including the lower parts towards the substrate? Do you use root tabs or anything of the kind?

 

[Martin in Holland]

You can not compare stem plants with Anubias and Swords, pretty sure your stem plants are not getting enough CO2 in one way or the other. What is your turnover and how packet is your filter, also a reactor reduces the filter output by atleast 40%.

 

[xim]

How long does it take to happen? If it's within a few days, that's too fast to be from having not enough CO2
or nutrient deficiencies. If it's a few weeks, then perhaps.

But if it's several months or a year, that could be normal. Stem plants require you to replant their tops
from time to time. Their bottom parts get old and disintegrate. It's their nature and one of their methods to propagate (fragmentation).

Some people don't mind it though, just let them grow floating above the substrate, trim as normal
and pad them back to shape . Such as this guy (very nice tank).

(floating stem plants at 7:00)

 

[Paulo Soares]

How long does it take to happen? If it's within a few days, that's too fast to be from having not enough CO2
or nutrient deficiencies. If it's a few weeks, then perhaps.

But if it's several months or a year, that could be normal. Stem plants require you to replant their tops
from time to time. Their bottom parts get old and disintegrate. It's their nature and one of their methods to propagate (fragmentation).

Some people don't mind it though, just let them grow floating above the substrate, trim as normal
and pad them back to shape . Such as this guy (very nice tank).

(floating stem plants at 7:00)

Pretty good point of view and i agree.

Some times it´s hard to understand the nature itself and we just complicate.

No issues with the tank at all. Issues with the tank it´s equal to algae = Unbalance! That is not your problem. You should see te Amano tank here in Portugal... and these doubts just vanish.

How the hell can we have a simple part of the tank without flow? Is it possible? Since when?
Could be less than in other parts of course, like when it comes out of the outflow but never to the point of a plant doesn´t get CO2 or nutrients or backwater. Each Plant has it´s own needs and develop different.

Best regards

 

[zozo]

I also see for example Rotalas do that. older stems losing leaf and melt away at the substrate, but the roots above that keep it somewhat anchored. HC is famous for it, if not trimmed enough. Monte carlo also like to do this, if you leave it on it's own it rather float above than root in the substrate, you realy got to help it do that from the first day on. That realy seems to be their submersed propagation technique, get lose and float on to shallower areas where they realy like to be.

 

[Iain Sutherland]

uprooting and replanting can be a good thing with stems but they shouldnt die like that, that is a lack of flow/co2. However it is pretty common as the bottom of the stems is normally tucked behind hardscape or growth is really dense.
You can see in this tank even the original emersed leaves stayed healthy and attached for the full year it ran, never replanted.
overgrown back by iain sutherland, on Flickr

If it doesnt bother you just keep replanting, if it does play with your flow...

 

[xim]

uprooting and replanting can be a good thing with stems but they shouldnt die like that, that is a lack of flow/co2. However it is pretty common as the bottom of the stems is normally tucked behind hardscape or growth is really dense.
You can see in this tank even the original emersed leaves stayed healthy and attached for the full year it ran, never replanted.

That's a shallow tank, plus the substrate is quite high, lessening the distance to the water surface. You can keep them like this for very long time (years?) without replanting. Some current tanks in ADA Japan use this technique, such as this one:

But eventually, you will have to replant the tops of the stems.

https://web.archive.org/web/20111225225427/http://www.aquajournal.net/na/layout/006/index.html
"If the stems become overly aged and the base of the plant lifts up from the substrate, I pull out the entire stem plant, trim off the older bottom section, and replant the top younger sections of the stems."

http://www.aquascapingworld.com/threads/how-to-trim-stem-plants.464/
(The info is in the comments, not the article)

 

[tim]

uprooting and replanting can be a good thing with stems but they shouldnt die like that, that is a lack of flow/co2. However it is pretty common as the bottom of the stems is normally tucked behind hardscape or growth is really dense.
You can see in this tank even the original emersed leaves stayed healthy and attached for the full year it ran, never replanted.
overgrown back by iain sutherland, on Flickr

If it doesnt bother you just keep replanting, if it does play with your flow...

That scape was awesome