Help with Amazon Sword

[Smitty]

Howdy!

I've had my tank (a 55g) going since about November. One of my first purchases was a beautiful Amazon Sword. The leaves were wide and about 8" long each.

Shortly after getting it set up the leaves all fell off. It did start growing new ones so I wasn't too worried about it.

The problem is that the new leaves only grow about 2-3" inches and then stop. It isn't growing out to be the really big plant anymore. This is very frustrating and I don't know what to do.

All my parameters are spot on. I'm also using presurized CO2. All the other plants are doing great and growing like weeds.

This is an older picture but it hasn't changed much. Look right in the middle under the driftwood:



One thing to mention: I never trimmed the roots or anything when I put it in. I've been thinking of doing that but never have. Also, it was like this with a gravel substrate as well, I've only changed over to the sand in the past 1-2 months.

Thanks!

[meegosh]

Are you using fertilizers? I use some roots tabs with a 15w bulb in my 10g and my Swords grow pretty well. I have never trimmed the roots. I did separate the main plant into two smaller ones a while back. Both plants were about 2" tall with 3-4 leaves on each before I went to a playsand substrate. Now with root tabs in the sand I have about 15 leaves on each, and it is about 4" long.

[kaiofcanada]

I agree with Meegosh...usually sunted growth is a sign of CO2 deficiency. But since you have injection going and your parameters look good, there could be another cause which is easy to check. You may have plentiful CO2 for your plants but they still need to access it. Check your swords roots. If the plant is not rooted properly in the substrate it wont take up the nutrients well as you can imagine. Since it was smallish in the gravel substrate you might not notice much of a difference, but check the roots anyways to see that they are healthy. When you got the plant, was it in a pot with a scaffold substrate? If so, it may have not adjusted to the new substrate, which is completely manageable.

Swords are heavy root feeders, so the carbon tabs will help alot. Also, add some gravel underneath its root bead and a carbon tab ...or stones to hold it down might help as well if you dont want to add gravel or vermiculite. Once its roots are established again and tangeld around a scaffold or gravel I am sure it will be able to absorb what it needs from the sand. Since your other plants are fine, you may only need to use the tabs to dose the sword, but I am sure you the other plants will appreciate the extra nutrient source.

[Smitty]

I will have to check on the roots as I haven't dug it up in a while. It wasn't in anything from the store as it had a huge root ball. I'm not using much in the way of ferts right now, I have two different store bought things that are liquid and I add in the recommended amounts once a week.

I'll look into carbon tabs and pick up some of those tonight after work. I think I'll split it into two different bundles tonight as well, doing that may help spur some growth too.

[meegosh]

When I split mine they died off a bit but quickly bounced back when I bought a new bulb (same wattage and color) and added some root tabs. After that they both took off like crazy. Good luck!

[Smitty]

I bought some root tabs but was not able to do anything last night. Perhaps tonight I can try and then wait and see!

Thanks for the ideas.

[jackdaniel]

I'll try this on my Amazon Sword in my 56.1 gallon column CA cichlid tank. Originally the thing was HUGE, but the fish started tearing it apart and now it's down to 20-30 small leaves that don't grow any more. I'll try the root tabs and let you know how it goes!