Cryptocoryne undulata, slimy, "decayed" leaves...

[schoeplein]

On one of my crypts it had one of its leaves darken toward the tip. When I touched it, it was slimy and the piece came off. Today, it seems to have expanded a bit more onto the same leaf. Should I just leave it be, remove the slime portion, or cut the affected leaf off at the base of the plant? This is in the new tank, but all my parameters are good (7.0pH, 82F - may be a bit warm?). There is fertilizer soil under the sand substrate, and I've dosed the tank with Flourish twice in the last week.

I believe this was the plant that had the smell of "dead algae" on the top of the foam I removed - it was black, could have been collected dead plant matter, but it smelled awful... I scrubbed, rinsed, and did what I could to remove everything from the roots before planting it.

The other two "loose" crypts I picked up are looking pretty stressed themselves. They're rather young plants. Imagine they'll recover once they acclimate to the water. The small lily is looking fine - red/purplish leaves, and finally standing upright on its own after two days. One of the two echinodorus that I picked up looked "sad" in the tank I got it from (but the best option of the selection they had) - he has since brightened up and looks happier, greener. The other echnidorus was and is still doing great. Big and green.

I'm definitely upgrading my lights at the end of this week to fit more solidly into the "medium" lighting zone. CO2 may also be in my future.

 

[jetajockey]

If it's melting, cut off the affected portions. If it has multiple leaves left, then trim the stem near the base, but if its only got a leaf or two left, it may be best to just trim off the affected portion and hope for the best.

The temperature sounds fine to me, it's probably just experiencing the famous 'crypt melt'.

Cleaning the roots wasn't a bad idea however crypts can be super touchy when moved or changed around so try to mess with the root system as sparingly as possible in the future. It seems to help reduce melting.

 

[schoeplein]

Yeah, it has several leaves so I'll just nip that one off. The entire leaf has almost been taken over in the last couple hours.

 

[prinzlerr]

Crypts are notorious for melting in new tanks, but are really hardy. I've had them seemingly die off numerous times, but they always grow back better than ever. Excel can also pose issues for crypts, so that may be another part of the problem. I read in a few places that you can gradually increase your dosage, though, and they then build up a tolerance for it.