What on earth...?????

[bluerose]

I left Thurs pm and got back about fifteen minutes ago (Sat pm).

The majority of my Anacharis are brown or clear, floppy, very dead looking. Anubias are a little paler than usual but nothing horrible, my 'mystery plant' (sword of some sort I suspect) is fine. The ends of a few of the Anacharis are OK as are a few little stems that have been floating at the top. A few of them have actually fallen into pieces and their 'roots' are floating around like noodles instead of having a definite downward direction like usual.

I freaked and immediately checked ammonia levels- still 0. (Phew, no late night 50% changes.) Should I check nitrite/nitrate? All the fish are acting normally so I'm not too worried but...

The plants were gorgeous and green on Thursday. The only difference is that they didn't get any artificial light while I was gone...

Can plants go downhill that fast without flourescents?!!

I will be investing in a timer ASAP, clearly...

 

[black hills tj]

That's interesting. I wouldn't expect anacharis and anubias(both extremely low light plants) to die off like that. I would remove the obviously dead portions, replant what seems somewhat healthy, and see where it goes from there.

 

[neilanh]

3 days isnt a whole lot of time, but yes it will have some negative effects on your plants. Hard to say how much without pics though, but I wouldn't worry, they'll all bounce back in no time.

A timer would be a great idea, though.

 

[gheitman]

You didn't dose the tank with Flourish Excel before you left did you? Anachris is sensitive to that. Whatever happened I also suggest you get a timer for your lights. I have all of my tanks on timers in case I am gone for a day or two.

 

[bluerose]

I have been dosing with Excel for BBA but stopped a few days before I left- the Anacharis didn't seem to be affected.

Today I'll do a PWC and pull out all the dead pieces... my poor tank. I had just finished rescaping too

 

[black hills tj]

Excell is known to melt both anacharis and vals(not that you had any, just commenting). That doesn't explain the anubias though.

 

[bluerose]

The anubias got a direct swipe with the Excel thanks to the BBA that came in on them. It's just a bad bit paler than it was with the exception of a couple of leaves that had dead spots before I left.

Sigh. I almost bought a timer yesterday at PetSmart too (anyone else noticed that Petco has almost zilch for fish 'stuff' but PetSmart has TONS?). Any good ones to recommend?

 

[jrp1588]

you can also get a timer at walmart...or really almost anywhere. Even lowes/home depot carry timers. They'll probably be cheaper than what you'll find at a pet store

 

[gheitman]

I use the Coralife Power Centers which are power strips with built-in timers. I think they are great. Incidentally, while vals are sensitive to Flourish Excel they can become acclimated to it and do just fine. I have a couple of tanks with Italian vals that I dose with Excel. If you start with a minimal dose and then build up to a normal dose over a couple of weeks you shouldn't have problems.

 

[bs6749]

You didn't dose the tank with Flourish Excel before you left did you? Anachris is sensitive to that. Whatever happened I also suggest you get a time for your lights. I have all of my tanks on timers in case I am gone for a day or two.

The Excel is what I was going to guess too and I think you pretty much found the problem for the OP. I dosed Excel in my 55 gallon tank and my anacharis was gone in 3 days.

 

[Purrbox]

I agree that it was the Flourish Excel that did your Anacharis in. It can take days or weeks for the effects of the addition of nutrients to become apparent, whether it be an excess or a deficiency. The way you described the Anacharis is the classic symptoms of a negative reaction to Flourish Excel.

 

[bluerose]

Alrighty, well, no more Excel.

Got more Anacharis and Anubias Nana today and three shrimp to be my algae cleanup crew. There's not much right now so they'll do the job nicely.

I picked up some Flourish 'comprehensive'- there's a smidgeon of copper- doesn't say it isn't safe for inverts, and it is .0001% or something ridiculous... I'll be very careful not to overdose (tricky as it's roughly .5mL dosage). With the low-light plants that I have will once weekly dosing be OK? or should I try for twice? will the inverts be ok with twice weekly?

The LFS owner said that sometimes he has Anacharis die-off with Excel treatment and sometimes not (and suggested the shrimp if my algae problem was small, which it is now thanks to the Excel- grr!).

 

[Purrbox]

The small amount of copper in the Flourish Comprehensive should be safe as long as you don't have overly high levels of copper in your water or are feeding foods high in copper. Amano Shrimp, Ghost Shrimp, and Cherry Red Shrimp are all much more tolerant of small amounts of copper that other varieties of shrimp.

 

[bluerose]

They're either ghost or amano. Would prefer RCS but they are impossible to find... sigh.

They're pretty good sized, but my betta is very curious (they're floating to get the temp right). Might have to net her when I put them in so they can hide. I did just rescape completely though and there are lots of plants/driftwood/pots so I'm not too concerned as long as she's not going to be too nosy.

 

[Purrbox]

If you can get some pictures of the shrimp, we'll be able to tell you which they are.

 

[black hills tj]

If the shrimp fit in her mouth, she'll probably eat them.

 

[bluerose]

Don't think she'll be able to- they're pretty big. She was nosing at them while they were acclimating temp but I netted her when I let them loose just for safety's sake.

She's pretty peaceful so I'm not too worried.

I am counting on her for help if I start getting shrimplets though... there are only so many creatures that can live happily in an 8gal.

 

[black hills tj]

I keep a fair sized colony of Red Cherry Shrimp in a 2.5 gallon tank.

 

[bluerose]

I'm more concerned about having TONS of shrimp and not enough to feed them. Speaking of which are they OK with algae wafers? or do I need a fourth kind of food for them? (having many different fish makes for lots of different food...)

 

[SpeedEuphoria]

Yeah you can have over 150 RCS in a 10G

They should be fine with algae wafers, if they are ghost shrimp they will eat normal food also. I dont feed my shrimp much, like 2-3 times per week, the rest they need to clean my tanks, I put them to work, LOL.