Anacharis leaves turning brown and dying

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FreedomLantern

Aquarium Advice Apprentice
Joined
Oct 19, 2019
Messages
17
Hello!

I'm new here, and last weekend I got some pellia moss(which I am now thinking is subwassertang, though not entirely sure) and a bundle of anacharis for my roughly 3 gallon tank. Initially I was going to get some Java moss, which according to what I've read is super easy to grow and good for beginners.

Somehow though I wound up with pellia and anacharis (the pellia turned out to be a BIG mistake because it likes cold water more and I have a tropical tank). Right now though it seems like it's the anacharis which is dying, the lower leaves are turning brown and stems are rotting. This is mostly happening on the lower leaves, which seems to indicate not enough light (which is strange because I keep the light on 9-10 hours a day). My tank does not have substrate because it's a breeding tank and I wanted to keep it clean. So instead I planted the anacharis in these little cups with gravel (wrong choice I realize now) and hoped that they would grow okay. After doing some more research I realized I probably should have left it floating, so then I took one bunch out and let it float. The bunch I took out is now rooting A TON, while the planted one is not. Surprisingly, the moss looks more healthy than the anacharis does.

My light is Planted+ utlra slim clip-on led plant light recommend by the fish store who used the same ones on their plants (so I figured, must work, right?). I have 4 guppies in the tank and the temp is 81 degrees. Sorry for the long post, would appreciate any replies!
Thanks!
 
Mine always did better floating but then again my mollies would keep uprooting them anyway.
Your temp may be a little high. You can just clip the brown parts off and the plants will be fine.
 
Thanks for the reply. There are roots growing out of the parts with dead leaves, should I cut those off too? Anything with brown on it? What do you recommend I do with the pellia? Thanks!
 
Leave the roots alone, just trim or cut off the brown parts.
Sorry I've never had pellia, can't help you there. You can try to sell it online if you don't want it. Maybe someone will trade you something else for it.
 
I only had luck with that plant when I let it do what it wanted. Some would attach to wood, some would eventually root.. preferred softer/acidic water. When it gets settled, watch out. Invasive species for a reason ;)
 
Hello Free...

Anacharis is a floating plant. It doesn't grow well planted because typical tank lighting isn't strong enough to reach the bottom leaves. It grows much better with all the leaves floating close to the light. Aquatic plants mainly need nitrogen, phosphorous and potassium. Feed your fish foods that have these and change half the tank water weekly to maintain good trace mineral levels and you should be good. Lighting is pretty simple, you just need moderate light and a couple of florescents will work.

B
 
Thank you everyone for the replies! I am going to remove the ones I still have planted and let them float.
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My anacharis grows like weeds in mine and my gfs tanks as planted. Never knew they were suppose to float and never had any issues with growth and dying. Both 10gal tanks.
 
The temp is kind of warm, if you lower it to the standard 78/79F it might help too.

Subwassertang likes coolish to 78F water / less flow area of tank and can float or be attached to a rock or DW.

Also Pellia / Subwassertang doesn't like any glut / excel fert products, it will usually kill them off, melt them away.

It can live in a planted bowl/vase as well.
 
The temp is kind of warm, if you lower it to the standard 78/79F it might help too.

Subwassertang likes coolish to 78F water / less flow area of tank and can float or be attached to a rock or DW.

Also Pellia / Subwassertang doesn't like any glut / excel fert products, it will usually kill them off, melt them away.

It can live in a planted bowl/vase as well.
Thanks Autumnsky, very useful information. My heater is the cheap non-adjustable kind, so unfortunately I can't lower the temp. I added half the dose of API leaf zone, is this okay? So far it doesn't appear to be dying. I took a bit out and put it in a jar, maybe it'll do better there. The only tank in the house I could think would be cool enough would be my sisters goldfish tank (1.5 - 2 gallons maybe). Here's what it looks like now (the anacharis)(couldn't figure out how to upload an image before).
 

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It seems this stuff grows like a weed or gives you some trouble. It does seem to come back, and it looks like the pic is that it is coming around to the change in it's environment.
 
It seems this stuff grows like a weed or gives you some trouble. It does seem to come back, and it looks like the pic is that it is coming around to the change in it's environment.
The pack was a little too large for my small tank, but that's okay I can transfer to some others. My tank suddenly turned a yellowish green tint, and there is hair algae on the anacharis now. What are the ways to clean that off without damaging the plant? I'll post a pic maybe later.
 
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