melting crypts?

[Karackle]

Recently some of my crypt leaves have been "melting"....it tends to be the older growth leaves...is this just something that happens to them? The melting starts in a circular spot and seems to spread, and it spreads into a melted mess of leaf in 1-2 days. should i just keep pruning them out? add more ferts? It's a 5 gallon with gravel substrate, 14w fluorescent bulb, dose flourish Excel every 1-2 days, flourish comprehensive 1-2 times per week, and nitrate tablets (that you put under the gravel) every 1-2 weeks because 1 Betta and 2 Otos don't create quite enough "food" for the plants

Here's one of the leaves at the beginning stage of melting:

Thanks!

 

[Lance M.]

I would just prune them a little bit. I have a bunch of crypt. wendtii in the back of my 54 gallon and it is doing well w/o any fertilizer, just a lot of fish waste.

 

[Purrbox]

Crypts can be sensitive to minor changes in water quality. Just remove the leaves once they start to melt.

 

[Karackle]

Great, thanks for the input!

 

[Purrbox]

Oh and even if all the leaves melt away, leave the roots in place. Most of the time they'll grow back even better than before.

 

[pitt420dude]

Oh and even if all the leaves melt away, leave the roots in place. Most of the time they'll grow back even better than before.

Ive noticed this with one of mine. Only a few of the larger taller leaves are left but there is a lot of new growth at the base.

 

[Karackle]

Hahaha will do! Thanks for that advice too...i probably would have pulled the whole thing if all of the leave melted! Now i know not to!