Can hornwort be saved?

[TankGirl]

I have some hornwort that was going great for months, requiring almost daily pruning, until I used some cichlid rift lake salts in the tank to get it ready for calvus. The hornwort almost immediately started losing needles and is now just a mess, a couple of weeks later, even though I have done several water changes and have added no more salts.

I know other plants will recover over time after taking a hit, once optimal conditions return, and I want to know if hornwort will do the same, or if it is hopeless and I should just get the rest of it out of there. It is clogging the filter and making a mess, with not much new growth at all in the two weeks. I am very fond of this plant, as it was not messy at all before.

TIA

 

[malkore]

I have only kept hornwort once, and didn't care for it. Its hard to say what you should do. I'd probably scrap it, and get a new batch. That salt could have damaged every cell of the plant, and now it can't grow.

 

[jsoong]

When I treated my tank for ich with salt, the hornwort lost almost all the leaves, but it bounced back several weeks after the salt was removed. I was up to 1.003 with my salt level (for 4 weeks), so if your level was higher, the plant might be dead.

In the wild (up here in the frozen north at least ), hornwort overwinter by closing the needles at the very tip & dropping that part off to the bottom. In spring, a new plant grow from just the tips. So, you might just try to ditch most of the plant & just keep a few healthier looking tips to grow some new plants.

For interest, when I moved the hornwort from the 10 to the 70, in spite of same water, etc, the plant sulked & dropped almost 1/2 the leaves. It was not till I added KNO3 to increase the nitrate levels to 10 before the plant will grow again .... so I gather that this plant need a lot of ferts in the water column...

 

[TankGirl]

Thanks - there is no question that it was this salt/mineral mix that threw it for a loop, whereas it was a gorgeous thing before that, so considering no other changes I'd assume the same nutrients are available to it.

I guess I knew I would need to remove at least a big majority of it, but man, what a mess I am going to make when I try to get that giant wad of stems out of there - the debris it will kick up is going to be serious! I really wanted someone to say, "no, it is just like crypts when they melt... just leave them be and they will come right back" Wishful thinking.

Maybe I'll try to save the small bits that seem viable, and start over. Now I know what people are talking about when they complain about the mess that hornwort can be. If it is in conditions that it favors, it is really not much of a mess at all. :?

I don't even know if the calvus will leave it alone whenever I get them, but it really suits the tank esthetically so I would like to keep it if possible.

 

[Guest]

Perhaps you could try and use a gravel vac just like you do during pwc's only hover the vac around the plant to soak up the dead debris first before you take the plunge in removing it and stiring EVERYTHING up. Seriously, just removing it will make you not want to put it back in there ever again , so if you're planning on putting it in again, use the gravel vac to pick up the dead stuff near/on the hornwort so it doesn't make AS much of a mess.. Just a friendly tip.
HTH
-Stewie

 

[TankGirl]

When I try to do that - to just get the dead and semi-detatched bits off, it sucks up the whole plant, so then I take my hand and shake the thing a little and vacuum that up. I know I will want to keep it in this tank, since I love the way it looks tucked into the lace rock stack, and unless there was a huge coincidence I am certain what caused the problem and I won't repeat it.

The valisneria in this tank was completely unfazed by the "salt" treatment, fortunately.

 

[fisch]

I had some hornwort in a tank that was dying. i took a small piece of just the stem and moved it into another tank. within a few weeks it has grown about 3 inches. i'm not sure what killed it in the other tank but it was not salt. but in my case it was saved so there may be some hope for you.

 

[shannen]

Funny i was just reading today that Hornwort can live in brackish conditions. Dunno about that one tho. I want to try but my scats will eat it. I'll stick some in my puffer tank and see how it does.

I've seen it be really hardy and really fussy. I'd just give it a wait and see.

I'll post back to let you know what it does in the brackish tank.

To be fair to what I read, they did say you should acclimate it over the course of a few weeks.

 

[TankGirl]

Right - there was no acclimation here, but the salinity was not really raised with this stuff.

Now that you mention it, fisch, I recall that when I originally got this plant (which is in several of my tanks) I received it in the mail in an almost completely dissolved state, where I picked the main stem out of a nasty wad of needles. I complained to the company (nameless ) and they did not respond, but I tossed it in the tank nonetheless. I had completely forgotten this. Now all the mass quantities I have came from that original piece of stem, so there's my answer. Maybe what I'll do is try to remove it with minimum mess to the tank, if possible, and then rinse it to death in a bucket and get off all the dissolved needles that are coming off, and start with a bare stem again.

I should just start over with some healthy hornwort but I really want to see if I can save this piece - just bored, I guess.... :?

 

[krap101]

does the same thing ever happen to anacheris because i had it once but didnt take it out of its lil clump i bought it in and it just started dropping leaves. they said it was because your not suppose to keep anacheris close together because the leaves dont get enough light but... yeah

 

[TankGirl]

It is definitely coming back, now. It is still goingto lose some more needles but thre is new healthy growth, so I am relieved.

Now, after all this, when I get my calvus they'll probably tear it to bits! (Natch )