Plants rotting

[liamgibbins]

I have a problem with my plants in my 60 litre tank..
They seem to be rotting, I have trimmed back the rotting leaves and the ones that where fine before are rotting now.

I have tested the Ph ect and it all falls within the parameters for each plant.

I am currently using ets at home plant food to see if that helps.

I have noteced that they seems to be like hairs on the rotting leaves I was wondering if this could be some type of fungus eating the leaves, I have adiquate lighting for the aquarium ect ect ect, i was wondering if there was anything else i could do to try and sort this problem out?


Liam

[An t-iasg]

Moved to the Planted Tanks forum.

Can you tell us about your lighting? How many watts total do you have, and what type of bulbs do you have? How many hours a day are the lights on?

Can you tell us the names of the plants or post pictures? Some plants sold at the pet shops are not true aquatic plants and may rot if kept underwater for a while.

What are the ingredients in your plant food?

The hairs on the rotting leaves sound like algae. Here is a good website for algae:

PG: Algae - An Overview - PlantGeek.net

Oh, and welcome to AA!

[neilanh]

Welcome to AA!

Rotting leaves is usually a sign of a nutrient deficiency. Like said above, please provide some more details of your tank. If you have a lot of light on the aquarium, you'll need to be supplementing with Phosphates, nitrates, potassium and a trace mix that includes iron, as well as possibly CO2 to keep the plants healthy.

[liamgibbins]

the plant food contence just says trace elements?? thats all information it gives. its from pets at home and has there logo on the box. its says it helps with control of algie as well of which i dont have a problem with apart from that hair algie... (how do i combat the hair algie? could that be making the leaves rot?).

Light: Bright Day White 15W Flouresant light (energy saving lookalike)
and a Cool Blue Moon (for night lighting effect 15W again
that came with the tank (interpet fish-box) oo and its 48lt not what i thought.

The plants:

cryptocoryne - wendtii "brown" 109c pot
limnophila sessiliflora 047
hygrophila polysperma 050 pot

all listed on www.tropica.com references i.e. 050 pot used on this site.

I currently have the light on for approx 10 hours per day then switch to the blue moon lighting for a couple of hours before i go to bed.

[neilanh]

So from what you're saying, you're feeding trace elements, but not the primary elements. Look into something along the lines of Flourish Comprehensive to help supplement you. Or, many of us use dry ferts from www.aquariumfertilizers.net to mix our own (saves a ton of money going this route).

However, with your lighting and plants, I'm surprised you need any supplements. Except for the L. Sessiliflora, which needs more light than you're providing it.

Are all of your plants rotting, or just this one?

[Purrbox]

With only 15 watts over an approximately 15 gallon aquarium, you're dealing with very low light. With the exception of the Crypts, I wouldn't expect your plants to do well with that little light. I'd recommend swapping out the Blue light for a second daylight bulb.