help: plant dying

[janesc2003]

Hi, everyone:

This is the second time that I ask for advice for my dying plants. I don't know how to describe the problem properly but most plants turn yellow and get rusty spots on the leaves before rot away. As for my floating plants, they're getting yellow too and the stems break easily and shed leaves. Though I've added flourish excel ( liquid co2 injection) and flourish (comprehensive supplement) they both didn't work well. Could it be anything else wrong or it just takes time for my plants to recover? I was told that I might need ADA substrate for better results. Does anyone here have used ADA substrate to give away or for sale? Please let me know. Thanks in advance.

Jane

[theinnkeeper]

What substrate are you using now?

[jobber604]

What type of substrate do you have?
What type of plants are you trying to grow?

From: Help: plants keep turning yellow and rusty

I don't think guppies eat plants unless they are decaying and they hungry and they peck on plant debris maybe. 2 bulbs @ 96 watts should be enough to grow most plants but it's not really the right spectrum @ 10000K. Plants prefer around 6700 K spectrum.
Looks like your plants are dying because they are starving and something is deficient. Probably fertilizers but it can also be deficient in carbon source. Presume your tank is 4 ft. so 2 bulbs would put you around 1.5 watts per gallon, low-medium light level I would guess.
Your tank would most likely benefit from the addition of some fertilizers (Micro and Macro on occasion) as well as some carbon source such as injecting Co2, putting Flourish Excel (Seachem brand) or a medical supply product Metricide 14 which can be used instead of Flourish Excel.
10-12 hrs of light is perhaps too long a photoperiod. I would try reducing it to 8-10 hrs of light instead.. that would help with the algae as well.
Algae on the glass does not allways translate to too much light. It is more of something to do with a balance between the plant health given the growing conditions (light, ferts, carbon source - your 3 elements essentially).

[Morainy]

What kind of plants do you have? Hornwort will drop its needles or leaves when it runs out of nitrates, I found.

With the leaves all going yellow, maybe you're missing some trace elements. I see that you're adding Flourish Comprehensive. You can also get a bottle of Flourish Trace at the same place.

I would try that before switching your substrate, which would be a lot of work. Changing your substrate wouldn't make a difference for your floating plants, for example. I have plants growing in plain sand and plain gravel, all doing just as well as the ones in Eco-Complete. If you're worried about your substrate, you can add some fertilizer tabs, available from most aquarium stores. Seachem (the company that makes the other products you're using) makes some, but there are other brands.

Good luck!

[neven]

[neven]

Rusty spots on java ferns will mean lack of nitrates
More often than not, yellowing leaves with dead patches on other plants is related to a lack of all macro's not just one (potassium, nitrate, and phosphates)
worry about the other nutrients only once you eliminated the macro nutrients as the cause.

If co2 is the cause, then cut your light period to under 10 hours, if it still doesn't work, raise the lights a bit

[Captured Moments]

I wouldn't want you to think that ADA substrate would solve all your problems.
Besides the fact that it is fairly expensive, it is by no means the only substrate that will allow you to grow plants successfully. If assuming that your plants are not doing well right now because of the fact that they are starving of needed nutrients (Macro and/or Micro), then switching from your current substrate which we still don't know what it is, to a substrate type that is nutrient rich such as ADA may resolve the issue. The plants will get the needed nutrients from the soil.
As Morainy has said, you can use root tabs under the substrate to artificially enrich or you can simply dose the water column with needed macro and micro nutrients. You have already solved the carbon issue by adding Flourish excel and the light is presumed satisfactory.
I believe that plants will adapt to whatever is available to them nutrient wise.. via the roots and/or the leaves (water column).

[neven]

Make sure the root tabs contain some form of nitrogen, some skip the nitrogen.

I personally use job spikes, others use aquarium brands. aother option is half filled ice cubes with potters clay and osmocote. This gives you iron and macro nutrients that are slow release, the ice cube makes it easy to push into the substrate. ikea sells stick ice cube trays, which are the perfect size for it

[Arcteryx]

Post a pic of one of the plants with the problem?

[AquaSox]

If you have brand new plants from the local fish store, it could be the leaves could be falling off due to emersed growth making the transition to the submerged form. Also could be due to lower leaves not getting enough light. How are the new leaves?

As a side note Flourish Excel if far from a substitute for actual CO2.