Plants have transparent, yellowing leaves - anubias "rotting"?

[KatieJ]

I've posted on here a couple of times, but have since been busy with getting settled in to college. I originally wanted a 29g biocube, but realized there was no way in **** I'd be able to keep up with it financially (after all, I am a broke college student

), so I settled for just keeping a Tetra Crescent 5g for my betta.

All in all, the tank's pretty good. I'm using a little over half a 20lb bag of Eco-complete, and have it planted with water wisteria, Rotala rotoundifolia, Hygrophilia sp. (not sure the species - I think it's dwarf, but if anyone could ID it for me when I post pictures in a bit I'd really appreciate it), a little clump of java moss floating around somewhere, some Anubias nana, and dwarf hairgrass.

The tank originally came with a cruddy 16-LED light, but it was hardly giving anything off, so I switched it out for a clip-on 13w (6400K) flourescent light that really makes it brighter. I had a piece of unsoaked driftwood in their for a couple of days (employee either lied or was wrong about it being pre-soaked >_>) but took it out to soak in a bucket when the water started to look like coffee.

Now here's where things are tricky: I'm relatively new to plants - I've been doing as much research as I can in my spare time, but I'm not that knowledgeable on plant diseases/deficiencies. My hygro looks awful - its leaves are really transparent, yellowish brown, and bits and pieces break off every time I have to reach into the tank. The rotala doesn't look like it's doing too well, either, and the anubias is getting some yellowing and browning in some spots. It also had some sort of... rotting or damage to part of the rhizome and a whole bunch of leaves (some looking perfectly green) just fell off when I changed the water. I just planted everything some 5 days ago, so I'm not surprised if they just need to recover from the trauma of being moved, but I'm just wondering if I'm not doing things right.

The tank is cycling, so things are shaky as far as water parameters go. Water temp's around 80F. Since it's such a small tank it's hard to dose accurately, but I was given a dosing chart from Preuss Pets (wonderful lfs here in Michigan) for Flourish, Flourish Excel, and Iron. According to that I need to dose .8 ml (0.2 cap) of Flourish every two days, 1ml (0.2 cap) of Excel every day, and 1ml (0.2 cap) of Iron every day. Maybe it's... a nitrogen deficiency? Since the tank's only been set up less than a week, there wouldn't be a lot of nitrates to feed them, would there? Or maybe I didn't trim them properly?

All in all, here are my man questions. Are these dosage instructions correct? Do I need to do any pruning/replanting of anything? Am I missing a fertilizer? Or is this just normal and I'm freaking out? XD

I'll post pictures in a bit.

 

[jetajockey]

If the tank is cycling then the plants do have a form of nitrogen to feed on, which is nh3/nh+4.

It sounds like they may just be transitioning, but sometimes plants do have a hard time adjusting to a newly setup tank.

That dosing chart in general sounds like its pretty heavy for that setup. Did you do the initial large excel dose that the bottle recommends? I don't know why they recommend that, excel can kill plants if dosed too heavy.

 

[KatieJ]

Yeah, I don't know why it's that large either. I just did 0.2 cap, which is, like, only a few drops of the stuff.

I'm pruning down the dead leaves off the hygro, and taking a look at the anubias - I think I know what's causing it to go bad. I apparently didn't remove all of the spongy stuff it came in (I'm guessing a temporary nutrient thing, like the gel that some plants come in?). It was looking really ugly and goopy. Is it safe to cut or skin off the rot-y parts on the rhizome?

 

[KatieJ]

Finally got the pics up.

ImageShack® - Online Photo and Video Hosting Closeup of the hygro and rotala - they look horrible even after I trimmed all the dead/dying leaves off. ._.
ImageShack® - Online Photo and Video Hosting Full tank shot
ImageShack® - Online Photo and Video Hosting Anubias
ImageShack® - Online Photo and Video Hosting Anubias again... the one that had its icky rhizome was trimmed and just left uprooted.
ImageShack® - Online Photo and Video Hosting Hairgrass - kinda browning as well
ImageShack® - Online Photo and Video Hosting Hygro and rotala again

 

[KatieJ]

Anyone? *crickets*

 

[o.jonathan.o]

Anyone? *crickets*

Maybe you should try some ferts. I have 3 ozelot swords that did that when I put them in my tank (different water) my guess is its from adjustments so I would say give it time and trim the dead leaves off and they should grow nicely but I'm no expert

 

[reefdiver]

Is ur anubia on a stone or something of that nature since it can't be berried. That rest may be transitionning. you may have to experiment with your frets. From what I've read flourish is pretty strong.

 

[KatieJ]

Yeah, thanks. My anubias isn't attached to anything; three of them are buried (with the roots and rhizome still exposed) and the other, the icky one, is just kinda floating around. I'm gonna not dose the iron and excel today just to see what happens (would I see anything noticeable in a few days, or is that too soon?); maybe I'll try dosing only a few days a week instead of every day.

 

[KatieJ]

So I did a little bit of maintenance the other day - the rotala and hygro, I'm afraid, aren't going to come back. >.< There's, like, two or three stems that resemble anything remotely green and they're floating for now. I'm keeping up with the dosing, adding only a couple of drops of excel and iron every day, and a couple of drops of flourish every two/three days. Driftwood's soaking - gotta remember to change the bucket every other day x_x ). And sadly my apple snail died, I'm imagining due to the cycling process or the stuff in the flourish. (copper, maybe?) He'll be missed.

This makes me wonder, though - I have no cleanup crew now. Not sure if this is a problem or not since there's just one betta in a 5g, but I'm worried this one fish will produce enough waste for the cycle to keep going. Should I go buy another snail or two, or even some red cherry shrimp? I was looking at those guys earlier and fell in love with them; I'm just worried about potential conflict with the betta.

On a brighter note, the wisteria and dwarf hairgrass are actually growing. XD I'm seeing a few itty bitty runners pop up here and there where the DHG is planted - a lot of it died off, but I'm surprised that the really green ones are still going strong. A lot of it is around 2 inches tall; should I trim it down to encourage new growth? If so, how much?

 

[KatieJ]

*crickets*

*cliche tumbleweed*

 

[KatieJ]

Seriously guys, I feel like I'm talking to a wall here. |: