What's wrong with this plant?

[Elpez]

I just got this plant last week and does not look healthy at all. It was fine when I bought it but it looks like it is losing mass. Here are the pics. Is this when you use the term melting?
What causes it? The plant is an amazon sword ( Echinodorus Paniculatus ) at least that's what the label in the pot said. Does this plant have hope? All the leaves look the same now almost transparent.
Thanks

 

[MMantelli]

Give it a quality root tab and some time.

 

[Elpez]

I am using DIY root tabs (dynamite) and doze my tank once a week with flourish comprehensive as recommended in the bottle. I also have a pressurized co2 system. So it like time is the key. All other plants in the tank are doing fine.

 

[Elpez]

If all conditions are ok how long should it take to recover?

 

[Mebbid]

It does look a bit like an amazon sword but I haven't personally seen one that large. If it is in fact an amazon sword it is definitely in it's emersed growth form. The emersed version has leaves that look like that which are suited to growing out of the water. Once the plant makes the transition to the submersed form the leaves will change shape.

Just keep giving it some love and it should switch over.

What lighting do you have over your tank? Also, do you add a carbon source such as excel?

 

[Krissycakes]

When my old leaves look bad, and I have starter ones growing, I just trim those leaves off.

 

[Elpez]

It does look a bit like an amazon sword but I haven't personally seen one that large. If it is in fact an amazon sword it is definitely in it's emersed growth form. The emersed version has leaves that look like that which are suited to growing out of the water. Once the plant makes the transition to the submersed form the leaves will change shape. Just keep giving it some love and it should switch over. What lighting do you have over your tank? Also, do you add a carbon source such as excel?

I have a 6500K LED light fixture 55w. Also a lot of indirect sun light. No algae issues. All other plants are growing like crazy.
I have a pressurized co2 system and based on my readings I get 15 to 25 ppm of co2. I have liquid carbon but to dozing at the time. Since I have co2 already I stopped using it since I heard it melts some plants.

 

[Elpez]

When my old leaves look bad, and I have starter ones growing, I just trim those leaves off.

Thanks for the pic. If I see any starter leaves then ill trim them.

 

[Elpez]

Mebbid, I forgot to mention that the plant is about 10 inches high.

 

[MMantelli]

Amazon swords get huge. Just trim off Tue oldest looking leaves as new ones come in it is def transitioning from emersed to submersed. If all your using is comprehensive I would also add leaf zone along with the comprehensive it makes up for some of the nutrients that the comp lacks.

 

[aqua_chem]

What's your nitrate at? Phosphate (if you have the kit)? That kind of melt screams macronutrient problem or non-nutrient insult like Excel overdose or too little light.

How long have you had it?

 

[Elpez]

Another question, do you fully bury the roots? I see in one pic that they are partially exposed . That's how mine is.

 

[Elpez]

Nitrates 20 to 30 ppm
Phosphates 0.5 to 1.
CO2 15 to 25 ppms.
Light should be fine since I have other plants that demand high light and they are doing great.
I am not using liquid carbon at the moment.
Flourish comprehensive 7.5 ml per week.
DIY root tabs using size 0 and Dynamite fertilizer. One tab per plant, about 25 tabs total in tank.
KH 4
GH 6 water changes are a mix of tap water and RO water.

 

[Mebbid]

Assuming you do have a high light level I would suggest getting dry fers and dosing that way. It will give you a much better blend of ferts that your plants need. The comprehensive is great for low light / low tech tanks but when you are adding co and have high lights it's just not enough. I would suggest the EI pack from Green leaf aquariums.

 

[Elpez]

Is EI method the one that requires frequent water changes? Also are these ferts are dozed in a liquid form correct? So they are in the water column absorbed by plants through the leaves correct?

 

[Krissycakes]

Another question, do you fully bury the roots? I see in one pic that they are partially exposed . That's how mine is.

I don't see why they can't be=) A few of my Amazon Swords are buried, and a couple are not=)

 

[Fish_lover]

My are like that right now too , because I haut got them , it's probably because it has to get used to the tank and all the new water conditions , so it might die than come back all pretty and new looking , and if you have snails let them chew all the dead parts and bad stuff on it .

 

[Elpez]

Cool thanks! I'll just wait and see what happened.

 

[MMantelli]

Is EI method the one that requires frequent water changes? Also are these ferts are dozed in a liquid form correct? So they are in the water column absorbed by plants through the leaves correct?

Dry or mixed with distilled water. And ei is the one that requires weekley 50% changes I reccomend pps-pro I use it and my plants love it I've been dosing 3 tanks with it for 6 monthsish and have barley used half of each bottle and I still have a ton of the powders left. Plus you only have to do the weekley pwc that your tank needs since you are only dosing what the plants actually use and not (in my opinion) grossly overdosning like with ei

 

[Elpez]

I'll check those out again. What happens if I can't do a water change for two weeks? Will it hurt the fish or plants?