Why do my plants look like this?

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grattu

Aquarium Advice Apprentice
Joined
Oct 25, 2014
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36
They're brown and yellow around the edges, and it just looks like they dying. Very unhealthy looking, what could be causing this?

55gallon with 2 6700k bulbs, Flourish root tabs, and I add 6ml of API CO2 booster everyday
 

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What kind of plants? That is concerning. I'm a newbie to plants so I want to know what this is.
Hope someone answers soon.
 
What kind of plants? That is concerning. I'm a newbie to plants so I want to know what this is.
Hope someone answers soon.

I have Amazon swords and one other type of plant, but I don't remember what it's called. These are my first plants too, so I'm learning a lot of this for the first time
 
Macro deficiency. U need to dose the water column with seachem flourish or something of the same nature. I'd also get some trace aswell although that's not as important.

Your giving your plants co2 in liquid form so that's increasing uptake of nutrients but there is no nutrients available apart from the root tabs so they are starving.
 
12 hours is probably too long for the co2 booster to support growth. Try reducing to 8 hour photoperiod. Don't focus on the old leaves. They will never recover. Always look for the new ones. Amazon Sword leaves in my experience start off translucent but perfectly shaped. They fill in as they grow. If the reduced photoperiod doesn't help I agree with Bert you need more nitrogen, phosphorus, magnesium and potassium.
 
@Bert2oo1
Sachem flourish doesn't contain macros besides a little bit of potassium. I don't like it.
@grattu
It does look like a macro deficiency. If you are getting new leaf growth, you need to dose some potassium. If you haven't noticed any new growth and the plant is just dying, you probably have too much surface agitation (air stone or filter splashing water on the surface). It could also be the API CO2 booster causing the plants to "melt" so I would suggest you stop using that at least for a week and see how it works out for you.
 
@Bert2oo1
Sachem flourish doesn't contain macros besides a little bit of potassium. I don't like it.
@grattu
It does look like a macro deficiency. If you are getting new leaf growth, you need to dose some potassium. If you haven't noticed any new growth and the plant is just dying, you probably have too much surface agitation (air stone or filter splashing water on the surface). It could also be the API CO2 booster causing the plants to "melt" so I would suggest you stop using that at least for a week and see how it works out for you.
Flourish has 11 micros. And all macros. Trace will give you the missing ones. While many dislike the cost or want a more customized program; the products do work well
 
Flourish has 11 micros. And all macros. Trace will give you the missing ones. While many dislike the cost or want a more customized program; the products do work well
When I said "Seachem Flourish" I meant Flourish (comprehensive) the single fertiliser. I wasn't talking about the whole line of ferts seachem makes, which I like by the way but not Flourish comprehensiveflourish.jpg
 
I know it does contain them, but in micro amounts. There needs to be a significant amount of macros
 
I know it does contain them, but in micro amounts. There needs to be a significant amount of macros
Imo that would depend on par, ppm of co2, plant species, plant mass,fauna bio load, and any nutrient rich substrates that may be in use.

Imo for tanks in the 29g range and smaller they can be a simple effective option. I think one can build an impressive 10 or 15g around these products.
 
Imo that would depend on par, ppm of co2, plant species, plant mass,fauna bio load, and any nutrient rich substrates that may be in use.

Imo for tanks in the 29g range and smaller they can be a simple effective option. I think one can build an impressive 10 or 15g around these products.
Yeah, I especially like their Iron and Potassium. People say a lot of good things about Excel, but when I tried it a couple years ago, my plants continued to grow at the same rate as they were before dosing Excel. Even without dosing CO2 or Excel, I feel like if plants decide to take off, they can grow too quickly for my nano tank. I have to trim my cabomba and java moss more often than I'd like
 
This is my first tank with excel ive dosed daily at label rates since day one...do I think it helps. I honestly dont know. My algae issues have been minimal so I keep using it.
 
The reason they look like that is because those leaves were not grown submerged, instead they are the emersed-form sword leaves which can't survive underwater. You can tell because of the rounder shorter leaf shape and longer stems. Just trim off the old leaves as they start to look bad like that, and wait for new growth.
 
The reason they look like that is because those leaves were not grown submerged, instead they are the emersed-form sword leaves which can't survive underwater. You can tell because of the rounder shorter leaf shape and longer stems. Just trim off the old leaves as they start to look bad like that, and wait for new growth.
Good answer....guess thread got off track. But ya emersed sword look different. Someone recently posted a picture of huge one outside in a pot.
 
The reason they look like that is because those leaves were not grown submerged, instead they are the emersed-form sword leaves which can't survive underwater. You can tell because of the rounder shorter leaf shape and longer stems. Just trim off the old leaves as they start to look bad like that, and wait for new growth.


Good catch. I'm so engrossed in nutrients at the moment I failed to spot it.
 
The reason they look like that is because those leaves were not grown submerged, instead they are the emersed-form sword leaves which can't survive underwater. You can tell because of the rounder shorter leaf shape and longer stems. Just trim off the old leaves as they start to look bad like that, and wait for new growth.

Okay, I will do that.

Thank you everyone for the advice, I forgot to mention I also use Nutrafin Plant Gro everytime I do a water change.

So I will trim off the old leaves and reduce the amount of time I have my lights on.
 
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