new plant rot or adjustment

[capn_kirkl]

Hello All

I finally took the plunge and bought some plants online and they all arrived basically in good shape.

Only problem is that three days later some have kind of a "leaf rot".. something similar to crypt rot.. I see new growth from the plants but some existing leaves are rotting from the inside out.

any suggestions..

thanks

 

[neilanh]

Are they crypts?

It's very common - crypts tend to melt (as we call it) anytime they're moved - I've even seen them melt moving from one side of a tank to another never leaving the water. They usually recover within a week or two and bounce right back, however.

Pluck/remove the leaves as they start to melt to help keep the tank clean.

 

[An t-iasg]

Neilan is right - crypts are very sensitive to being moved. Put root tabs under them, or some liquid iron fertilizer will help them to stabilize.

Other stem plants I have had also appeared to "melt" when all I did was move them to a different tank. Both of my tanks have pressurized CO2 so the parameters for each tank were not that different, I didn't think, but my Bacopa australis just melted into slime with the tank move and unfortunately, didn't recover.

In your case I'd suspect the plants are just getting used to your tank parameters. It's good that you're seeing new growth. Remove the melting leaves as Neilan suggested so that the plant doesn't spend its energy on repairing them. By removing the old leaves, you'll help keep the plant healthy for the new leaves to flourish.

Another factor to consider is that sometimes plants are grown emersed at the plant nursery (roots in the water, leaves above - although not all aquatic plants can be grown this way). If that was the case, it could be possible that the emersed leaves are dying off as you submerged them. You would still pluck them off to allow the new submersed leaves to grow.

 

[Purrbox]

Many plants are grown emersed by nurseries. Once the plant is submersed the emersed leaves die off. If the plant is a stem plant, you can simply top and replant once you have sufficient new submersed growth. For rosette plants like swords, just remove the dead leaves and you'll eventually have a nice new plant.

 

[dskidmore]

Stupid question: This is a fresh water tank? I see you also posted about a new SW tank, and you don't have a tank list in your signature.