Amazon sword's base rotting?

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Bubbles0oO

Aquarium Advice Addict
Joined
Jan 25, 2012
Messages
1,264
Location
Florida
In my 55 i have 4 adult amazon swords, 3 of which are doing fine. The fourth one looks ever so slightly yellowish leaves, and the base is streaked with brown rot. The rot is only on the outer stems, and its not the leaves i have bmcut off and left the end there, but the coloring is the same. ( would post pic but im past my limit)

I cant find anything like it on the internet, and am starting to wonder if the plant is just dying. ( the new leaves have the rot too.)
 
Post a picture in your album and post a link to it.

If leaves are yellowing you need to add root tabs as swords are very heavy root feeders and depending on the type of root tabs you use they can use them up quickly. As for rotting at the crown... it is usually caused from the sword being planted too deep. Try pulling it up a little if there isn't too much rotting and the sword is still having some green new growth. Also if you could remove the rotting area that would be good.
 
Hello Bubbles...

There may be a fungus affecting the plant. I would remove it, clean it of all the dead material and then put it into a bucket of your replacement water with a couple of teaspoons of standard aquarium salt dissolved in the water. Leave the plant in the bucket for a day or two. A little aquarium salt will kill any bacteria that may be damaging the plant.

After a day or two, rinse the plant under some tap water and carefully replant it. You can add a root tab near the roots and see how it does.

Just a thought. I've done this with some other aquarium plants and eventually, they've recovered if there were enough roots left.

B
 
Thanks for the fast response guys,


I added more root tabs just a few weeks ago,

And the crown of the sword is mostly out of the sand.

Picture is on my profile labled ( Swordplant)
 
Then remove the plant and do a H2O2, hydrogen peroxide 3%, bath. First remove the dead/decaying area. Then lay some paper towels in a sink and lay the sword on top of them. Pour straight H2O2 all over the plant but really be sure to drench the nasty area. Next fold the H2O2 drenched paper towels up over the sword and especially good around the bad area. Let sit for 20 minutes. This kills any and all fungus and bacteria quickly. Then just replant without rinsing the plant. This works very quickly so a plant doesn't have to be stressed by sitting in a cold container of water for a long period. Add new root tabs and see if it recovers.
 
I have the same problem with my sword. I just trimmed all the rotting roots and leaves. SO answer is more fertilizer?
Did you fix yours?
 
Yes i got my plant fixed. All i did was cut off the nasty looking leaves/roots and let it be. It still has some recovering to do, but i did notice that it was poop that was stuck into the leaf base, and rotting it off.
 
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