I think I hurt my plants :-(

[ErinMcG]

Hi all,
I have a 30 gallon planted tank. Aquaclear 70 (with a bottle baffle). 6 cardinal/neon tetras, 8 glowlight rasboras, 1 bn pleco, ramshorn snails and assassin snails.

Plants are: java fern, java moss, anubias, Myriophyllum mattogrossense, vals, and Cryptocoryne willisii. No C02 - everything grows like crazy without it (usually).

I just fought a fast battle with either a fungus or columnaris (still not sure which!). I lost a few fish, but seem to have kicked it with Furan 2. My LFS said that there would be no problem using Furan 2 in my tank, but....

My java ferns look grey/brown in patches (sometimes with entire leaves faded out) and some of the leaves look skeletal. The Myriophyllum has wilted back in some parts, but has continued to grow in others (it needs weekly pruning normally, but not now!). The rest seem ok.

What can I do to bring them back from the edge? I love my java ferns! They are so big and beautiful.

Any advice is welcome!

Cheers,
E

 

[aqua_chem]

What's your setup like? None of those drugs would probably damage plants.

 

[ErinMcG]

Hmm... Can you clarify what you mean by set-up?

Here's a link to how a video of my tank, last week, before the fish got sick.
30 gallon tank, aquaclear 70 - YouTube

It also pre-dates the bottle baffle - I took this video to show how strong a current the new filter was producing.

It's a 29 or 30 gallon tank. Heated. Aquaclear 70 filter. Wood and live plants. Sand substrate.

Anything else you need to know?

 

[aqua_chem]

What kind of light do you have?

 

[ErinMcG]

Ah! Right, I knew I was forgetting something.

The fixture is Coralife - it holds two long bulbs (one kind of pink and one kind of blue). They are T5 HO or something like that. Last changed before Christmas - either Dec or Nov.

 

[aqua_chem]

I would probably give it a bit more time and see if it bounces back. You have a reasonable amount of light for the plants you have, so unless somethings up with your water chemistry. Do you happen to know your nitrate levels? Also, are you dosing anything?

 

[ErinMcG]

I haven't checked my nitrates today, but they were at 5ppm a few days ago. Only things that go in my tank are Prime and Am Guard (there's ammonia in the tap water here). The Am Guard is new - my LFS recommended it because of the ammonia problem. They have been using it in-store too.

 

[Wepwawet]

Give them a cpl weeks to rebound before doing to much. I don't know what am guard is but prime+plants +bacteria should clear your ammonia in 24 hours. In my my big tank only takes a cpl hours and the test is yellow. My tap runs between. 25-.5 and tested 2-3 times a day due to being new and my first dirted tank.

Sorry rambling..... just make sure your not buying snake oil for a non issue Remember most would sell you the dirt off the floor if they could.

 

[ErinMcG]

Thanks for the advice. I am going to stop with the Am Guard and just see how things go. Plants are definitely unhappy with me.

 

[Wepwawet]

You may want to snag a small bottle of a liquid fert like flourish to give them a treat for the punch in the face I would just do it a cpl times to help the rebound. After if you don't like it stop or if you see it's helping and like it keep the ferts rolling