It's all going badly, I need help!

[u2_Crazy]

OK,
I have a bunch of different plants in my tank and they are not doing well. Here is the list of problems.

1. Hair algae is showing up on various plants.
2. Leaves are gettings holes in them
3. the leaves are disappearing from the bottom of all the plants.

What can I do, What info do you need to diagnose this properly? I will post pics later tonight.

Plants I have had trouble with:
Swords - I added 1 bunch and half of the plant just seemed to disappear, like the stem got transparent and then got kind of thread like then broke off.

Water Hysteria - looks like trees now, no leaves on the bottom, I have also had some small bunches break off.

L. Repens (sp?) same as hysteria, seems to die from bottom up., Stems are in great shape, just no leaves.

Java Fern - Grows very well, has some hair algae now (small fine black fuzz on edges), occasionally one leave turns black and breaks off.

Anubias Nana - Growing beautifully.

Equip. 29 Gal, 3 Inches of gravel, 55W PC, Penguin 200 Filter, 100W heater (80F), Lights on 12 hours a day, Bubble wall, Jungle Labs Fizz Factory (drop 2 tabs a week).

Fish - 12 Tiger Barbs, 2 Gouramis, 4 Cories, 2 Clown Plecos, 2 Apple Snails.

Any other info, just ask and I will provide it. Thank you so much, hopefully we can get this tank looking beautiful again.

 

[Purrbox]

Please provide test kit readings for Nitrate, Phosphate, KH, and PH.
Are you currently dosing any fertilizers? If so, what, how much, and how often.

It sounds like your tank is suffering from one or more nutrient deficiencies. Between the test results and your dosing schedule, we should be able to figure out what you are short on.

Also, the tab CO2 kits are generally considered worthless. Most do not increase your CO2 at all, but in one instance someone was able to massively overdose their CO2 using them. More importantly, any CO2 that they might be able to generate is being gased off by your bubble wall. You would be better off switching to DIY CO2 and removing the bubble wall. These two steps will help with the Algae and depending on what else the tabs are doing to your water chemistery, could help with some of you other plant problems. If your Penguin filter has a biowheel, that would also be gassing off CO2 and should be removed if you switch to DIY CO2.

 

[rich311k]

The leaves falling off the bottoms is a sign that you not getting enough light to the bottom of the tank.

The sword disintergrating is also a sign on not enough light. Though it could also be nutrient levels.

The black fuzz is probably BBA which is indicative of lack of CO2. The fizz factory is not a great system and is not going to supply enough CO2 for a 29 gallon tank. The bubble wall you are running is causing surface agitation which is dispersing any CO2 you are adding to the tank. You need to kill the air pump and hook up at least a couple gallon jugs.

What are your KH, PH, nitrate and phophate levels?

 

[u2_Crazy]

which test kits should I have for those readings? I have the AP Master Test kit but it only tests nitrate, nitrite, ph and ammonia.

Thanks

 

[rich311k]

The seachem test kit for phosphate is very good. The AP KH test kit is just fine.

 

[Purrbox]

Some Master kits include PO4 and KH kits, but most don't. You'll need to buy them separately since the AP Master Test Kit is one that doesn't include them.

 

[u2_Crazy]

Here are some pics of what I was telling you about. I will have to go purchase a test kit this weekend, any suggestions in the meantime?

 

[sherry]

wisteria also melts in soft water.. I could never keep it.. repens does fine without too much co2.. but I'd supplement with excel.

java fern and annubias should also do well with excel..

 

[Friendly]

I agree with rich that the wisteria might not be getting enough light at the bottom of the stem. Hopefully that's the case and all that you have to do is just move some plants aside or something so that the bottom part of the wisteria can get more light.

 

[u2_Crazy]

The only thing blocking the bottom of the plant in my case would be hte tops of the plants. Here is another pic, maybe you can suggest something about the layout.

Also, I have turned off the bubble wall and added 2 root tabs and another fizz tab for CO2. I understand the jungle fizz isn't the best, but it's what I have to work with for now. perhaps someone can suggest a good do it yourself co2 setup.

also, test results for what I can test,
ph 7.8 - 8.0
Nitrites 0
Amonia 0
Nitrates 20 - 30 ppm

Thanks for all yur help here.

 

[rich311k]

You could cut off the bottoms and replant. Try and space them out a bit.

There are dozens of disussions about do it yourself CO2 around here. I use two one gallon jugs piped into my eheim cannister.

You could also give excel a try. It can get pricy, but you would only need 3ml a day.

 

[Wizzard~Of~Ozz]

Using the tray that you have (bell reactor) you can hook a 2l bottle of DIY Co2 to it instead of those silly alka seltzers.. it will keep a constant flow to the tray, if you find it's building up then move the tray to a higher current area.

I would agree, potassium def. and low light (tho it shouldn't be unless it's a 50/50 bulb).. why is there a shadow on the right side of the tank?

Nice Mopani wood BTW.

 

[u2_Crazy]

So here's my plan, tell me what you think.

I'm going to pull out all the wisteria, cut off the bare stems and replant in a brigther spot. I turned off the bubble wall. I am going to the lfs in a few hours, I was planning to buy a po4 test kit, kh test kit and some new ferts (Seachem Flourish and excel) this sound like a plan?

Thanks

 

[czcz]

Great advice and good plan. Only thing that would make it better is implementing Purrbox, Rich and Ozz's CO2 advice. Yoiu could do this slowly since you'll have Excel, if you wanted.

 

[u2_Crazy]

I agree, I am investigating a DIY CO2 alternative and I think I have found a fairly simple set-up that should work. How's this:

2 Litre Pop Bottle, Silicon tubing, 1 way valve, re-use my jungle labs container as a Bell reactor. Yeast and SUgar mixture. I will probably also add in a 1 Litre bottle filled mostly with water to use as a bubble counter. Anyway, this should help with a more balanced CO2 injection.

I was also at the LFS and purchased some Seachem Flourish. I was unable to find Excel. Also, the test kits were not available. I was able to find a dip test for Alcalinity, is this the same as the KH test? and they didn't carry a Phosphate test, I'll have to look around for it or order online.

Anyway, pwc tonight, will do some trim and replant and begin dosing with flourish and my new CO2 setup and we'll see how things go. Thanks for all the advice.

BTW, will this have any effect on the algae or is that another problem altogether?

 

[rich311k]

This will help with the algae. Getting your CO2 levels up and your nutrients in balance is the way to defeat algae. Once you get your CO2 working I would suggest adding a second bottle on a staggered schedule for better consistency in your CO2 levels.

Big Als has the test kits you need as well as the Excel. The kits are not very expensive.