Asian ambula is yellow

[An t-iasg]

I have had Asian ambula plants for about a month. They were in inadequate lighting. Some died off but some stems were ok. I just got better lighting, 1.8 watts per gallon. Now in the better lighting, I see that the tips of the "needles" are yellow. Is this due to my previous poor lighting, and will the plant recover under the better lighting? Does it need more fertilizers? I know this is a lot of questions without a lot of background info, so ask me whatever you need to know!

 

[An t-iasg]

Bump!

I have a feeling I will be vaccing out some more of the ambula tonight. It doesn't look good.

On the other hand, the Cryptocoryne beckettii "petchii" has lots of new leaves, and I'm going to add a root tab tonight. I didn't have any before.

 

[greenmaji]

How qickly are your tanks consuming NO3?

 

[travis simonson]

I'm not sure about Asian Ambulia (L. sessiliflora?) but in many aquatic plants yellowing of the leaves is caused by inadequate iron and/or trace elements. Since it is such a fast grower I suspect that it would likely be one of the first plants to show a reaction to low Fe/trace. Like H. difformis (Wisteria) it may serve as a good indicator plant for low Fe/trace levels in the water column since they can't easily be measured. HTH

 

[An t-iasg]

My water change tonight didn't go well, as far as the ambula was concerned. There were a few stems floating at the top of the water a few days ago. I didn't replant them because I thought that I would just wait for water-change day so I'm not sticking my arms in the tank too much.

Tonight when I did the water change, I realized why the stems were floating -- the root part had turned to "jelly" and the stem floated free. I took out half of the plants -- they were just mush.

As far as I can tell, the Asian ambula is in the genus Myriophyllum (this was probably the only plant that the hatchery didn't have labelled with a scientific name). This seems to be the same genus of a plant I got last winter called Filligree frill, and it melted in just days. I guess I don't have enough light for this genus. Now most of the upper level of the tank is empty again. My betta was mad. Can bettas glare at you? I think so!

Travis, would you dose iron in a low-light tank (I guess 1.8 to maybe 2 WPG is still fairly low light) with no CO2? Especially since you can't really measure the iron level?

greenmagi, my nitrate level stays pretty steady at 10 ppm. I dose 1/4 teaspoon of Flourish Nitrogen twice a week.

 

[travis simonson]

Travis, would you dose iron in a low-light tank (I guess 1.8 to maybe 2 WPG is still fairly low light) with no CO2? Especially since you can't really measure the iron level?

I would use a comprenhensive iron/trace supplement like Flourish. If the yellowing goes away then you've found your culprit; if not, it still won't hurt anything

 

[malkore]

My ambulia never did well with less than 2wpg, and really didn't flourish until 2.5wpg.

 

[An t-iasg]

Thanks, Travis and Malkore!

This is my fertilizing schedule:
Seachem Excel, 1/8 teaspoon, Monday and Thursday
Seachem Comprehensive Supplement, 1/8 teaspoon, Tuesday and Friday
Seachem Nitrogen, 1/4 teaspoon, Wednesday and Saturday
Sunday - water change, no ferts

Should I change my dosing?

What's left of the ambula is looking even worse today.

 

[An t-iasg]

Well, it's pretty obvious that the ambula is not going to work for me in this tank. I'll have to go to the hatchery to get some more plants. The sunset hygro in the other betta tank is doing well. It's growing slowly but it's green and getting new leaves once in a while. I could get more of that.

I wanted to make the two tanks have different focal plants -- the ambula in one tank and the hygro in the other. Both tanks have crypts and anubias petite. But I may have no choice.

Would it be worth it to try the ambula once more? Would more dosing of Seachem Comprehensive help the ambula or should I get something else? Last time I was at the hatchery, there was a pretty big Anubias "coffeefolia" that I could look at again. That would fill the empty space in the tank up.

 

[malkore]

could be low potassium...though 1.8wpg...might be pushing it for ambulia.

 

[An t-iasg]

Tonight, soon after I wrote the above post, I went downstairs to find another ambula stem floating. The lower stems are turning to mush and the upper stem floats away.

I'll find some time, tomorrow or Wednesday, to go to the hatchery and try again with something else!

 

[greenmaji]

sorry to hear about this!

 

[An t-iasg]

Thanks...this plant is beautiful, and I'm sad that it won't thrive in my tank. But there are plenty of pretty plants to pick from!

 

[An t-iasg]

AHA! The plot thickens!

I didn't go to the hatchery today. I had too many beginning of month/end of month stuff to do. I was planning on getting rid of the last ambula - it's all pretty much yellow and melted, and getting something else for that tank. This morining I noticed that one of the ambula stems had a dark, bright green new growth on it! I don't think I'll get to the hatchery before this weekend, so I'll watch that new growth and see how it does! This group of ambula was started under my very low light fixture, and it was already half dead when I put my new lights on. Maybe if I get some new stems and start them out right away with the 1.8 wpg lighting, they will be ok. They may be slow-growing in 1.8 watts, but that's ok. They don't have to grow very much in a 5 gallon tank. I'll see how this new growth seems to do this week before I make a decision!

 

[An t-iasg]

Update:

The small leaf has doubled in size from this morning! It's still quite small, maybe only 1/4 inch long/tall, but it grew! Maybe there is hope for this beautiful plant in my tank! I'll probably just get all new stems. Even the one with the new leaf is half dead. Then the stems can all start out in my new light, and hopefully they'll be fine.

 

[greenmaji]

YAY!!!!

 

[An t-iasg]

Asian Ambulia (L. sessiliflora?)

Travis, you are right on as usual!
I have seen both "ambula" and "ambulia" and when I searched on ambulia, I found Limnophila sessiliflora.

 

[travis simonson]

I can see where the store might get Myriophyllum spp. and Limnophila sessiliflora confused, but if you put the two side-by-side you can really tell the difference