Sunset Hygro Deficiency

[LindaC]

What would cause Sunset Hygro to fall apart at the touch? Is this a lack of a certain nutrient? I thought I was doing pretty good with my fert regimen but I'm obviously not. I just looked in my tank and noticed that the hygro wasn't looking too good and when I touched it, all the leaves started falling off and the stems are limp and melting. Strange, there's no algae on it, just look sick. I managed to save a couple of stems and hope that I can find the cause of it's deficiency and help it out. Anyone?

I did a 50% water change on Wednesday and then added 1/2 tsp of baking soda to bring up the KH, then I added 1 tsp of Epsom Salt for Magnesium, 1/2 tsp of potassium and 4 drops of Fleet, I still need to find out how much phosphate a drop of fleet is, I can't seem to get this right. Although when I tested my phosphates a few minutes ago they were at 0.5 and after a minute it was a little higher, about 1.0, this is where I want my phosphates, isn't it? I let the fish and the food I feed them take care of the Nitrates, I usually don't dose KNO3 because it's always around 10 ppms.

The only thing that gives me pause because my water is soft, GH 40, is whether or not I should be dosing calcium. For the past two weeks, my tank has been doing so much better, so I don't know, it's so frustrating.

 

[bman]

Sounds like you have all the macros taken care of, but what about dosing micros and iron?

 

[SkullJug]

I think Bman is right.

It sounds like Micro deficiency, I have only had it happened once and I first noticed in on my swords. The leaves become very brittle and litteraly dissolve, they may also turn yellow and 'Glassy.

If this sounds like what is happening get some dosing drops (Dupla 24 is a really good one) and it should pick things up.

As Bman said you should also be watching your iron levels. Everything else sounds fine.

 

[LindaC]

Sorry, I forgot to mention my micro nutrients, I dose Flourish Comprehensive supplement on alternate days, macros on Wed, Friday and Sunday, and micros and Monday, Tuesday and Thursday, so that's not it. I also have Plantex CSM+B but want to finish up the Flourish first, I've heard that's just as good.

So still no answers as to what would make the leaves fall off and the stems sort of melt. When the leaves fell off, they still had color and were not covered with any algea, this is what stumps me. I'm hoping someone may have had a similar problem!

Thanks for all the help!

 

[Jchillin]

Just adding another thought, at what height are the leaves having problems? I do know that mine are great at the top and a little clumsy looking at about mid-level.

 

[LindaC]

They are now at mid level, I bought a bunch of stems online and when I got them they were looking poorly but stated to make a come back in my tank, as cuttings usually do. But just touched one of the few stems I have left and leaves started falling off and then the whole plant cutting came out of the subtrate. When I went to put it back, the stems was soft as could be. Wisn I could get to the bottom of it.

 

[fish_4_all]

To test the amount a drop of fleet is simply drop a drop in 1 quart of water. Measure it and add another drop until you get a reading. If it is too high, mix 1/2 the quart with another quart and keep doing this until you get a reading of about 1 ppm.

Example:
1 drop in 1 quart, too high
mix 1/2 of solution in another quart, too high
mix 1/2 of solution in another quart and get 1 ppm
This would mean 1 drop adds 1 ppm in 2 quarts water so 2 drops would be 1 ppm in 1 gallon. It might work better to do this in a measured 5 gallon bucket. Add 1 drop and measure the levels, if it is 5 ppm then 1 drop will add 2.5ppm per 10 gallons water. If oyu post your measurements, we can help you figure it out. But I will bet there is someone who uses fleet that has already figured it out. Just have to get them to reply, maybe ask malkore. If nothing else, start a new topic and you should get a quick answer.

Now for the growth problems. I thiks it may still be a trace problem in the idea you aren't adding enough. It also sounds like a possible NO3 deficiency. Your plants may do better with 20ppm NO3 and a double dose of your micros. My sword and crypts are looking much better since I started to double dose my CSM+B to .2ppm iron or more. 20ppm NO3 and 2ppm PO4 seems to work best 4 me as far as growth and health of the plants.

 

[LindaC]

I think you may be right about the KNO3, when I first purchased my dry ferts and added KNO3, it was too much, but then my fish load was a lot larger at the time too! I also tend to over feed, no matter how hard I try not too. Anyway, I stopped adding the K and started letting the fish and food take care of it and it was working well, at the time. Now I do believe that I am not getting enough KNO3 and need to start adding some with my other ferts. I mesasured the nitrates in my 29 gallon yesterday and they were 5.0, so I added approx. 1/16th of a tsp. I'm not sure if that was enough but wanted to start off low. My plants are still very pink at the top so I'm sure the nitrates are low.

As for the micros, I add 2 ml of Flourish every other day, do you think 4 mls every other day will be okay, it won't be too much and cause even more algea problems, will it? I am running only 1x55 watts over this tank (29 gallon) and that brings it to just under 2 WPG. I am planning on upgrading my lighting to 2x55 watts once I return from vacation at the beginning of Aug. I only hope that I still don't have problems getting my tank stablized, it's taking me forever. I go one week and it does great and I think I have it under control, then the next week somthing else happens. Now my hygro is just disintegrating and I am getting this brown algea that looks like dirt on my plant leaves, especially my Rotala R. It wipes right off but it sure does make the plants like lousy.

Sigh, I'm just so frustrated right now.

Thanks for the help, I really appreciate it!
Linda

 

[IceH2O]

I was taught that 2 ml of fleet is equal to 1 ppm per 75 gallons. 1 ml per 40 gallons. These are not exact but the differnce is minimal.

I don't know how that translates into drops but it would be easier to dose by syringe.

If you have a feed store you can get one there they use to give medicine to animals.

Or do like I do. Buy a printer ink refill kit and use the syringe from that, actually I have 2 kits and use 1 of the syringes.