New young leaves on bacopa are narrow

[Arcteryx]

They're not rounding out into 'fat' mature leaves that I was expecting; I'm sure it's symptomatic of some kind of deficiency. Also, I noticed that the stems are still slowly melting away from the bottom up.

Stock 13w light on my Fluval Ebi, 10 hours/day
ph 7.2, gH & dH both 4-5, temp 25
Dosing with default amounts Excel, Comprehensive, Trace, N, P & K (Seachem, sponsor me!)

Appreciate any suggestions - thanks in advance!

[AquaSox]

Do you have any other stem plants and are they doing the same thing?

I notice when I replant newly pruned stems (stem tops), the first set of new leaves are small and then they eventually thicken up with successive growth of new leaves. (This may be due to the fact that the plants have not yet rooted during the growth of the the first few sets of leaves or are getting thicker as they get more light.)

Its also possible that you may not be getting enough light penetration to the bottom. This is the most common cause of leave loss and stems rotting/melting.

Is the growth distorted or just smaller?

[AWW]

My bacopa is doing this in one area too. Might be lack of light? In high light areas my leaves are huge. I am dosing excel and have ferts below. Also buffing my KH a little.

[Arcteryx]

It's just the bacopa which is why I'm kind of puzzled, and I thought it was pretty well lit. Could be some of the "cloud cover" from the frogbit that can cluster overhead. Maybe I'll see if I can move them to some place that's better-lit... thanks guys...