who's been eating my wendtii red?

[mikemou]

I bought a potted wendtii red for my 55 gal last week, and already 3 leaves have been chewed off. Is it my zebra danios? tiger barbs? or algae eaters???
Also I don't think my plants are growing very well lately, is it because of the heat? The temp is hovering around 81 in the past two weeks.
Thanks for your help!

 

[savga]

Crypt species usually suffer from a bout of melting if there roots are disturbed or water conditions change. It is normal. Most people recommend that you go ahead and remove all but the four inner leaves when you transplant them since the other leaves will usually melt off anyway. Once your wendtii settles in, it should recover completely. Most common crypts are pretty hard to kill. I dont think it will mind the temperature. My tank stays at 80 and my crypts are fine.

 

[mikemou]

Thanks!
BTW, is it advised to remove the plant from the pot? I didn't, I just drop it into the tank and used marbles to hold it down. I have other potted plants I never transplant them. I don't have special substrate so I figure the pots have better nutrients.

 

[savga]

Yes, you should take it out of the pot. If it is growing in rockwool, I would go ahead and pull off as much of that as possible too. It doesn't contain nutrients in itself. The plant was probably grown in fertilized water. Your plant will absorb nutrients from the water and from mulm in the gravel. There are root feeding fertilizer tablets that you can bury in the gravel also, but I just fertilize the water myself.
Also, check out Rex Grigg's Planted Tank Basics article in the articles section of this site. Alot of good info there.

 

[trenac]

It could be your algae eater they have been known to eat plants. But more than likely it is Crypt rot which the plant will recover from. Yes, remove the plants from the pots & wool wrapping, then plant in your gravel & use ferts. They will not be able to grow properly if left in the pots.

 

[mikemou]

thanks trenac i suspected it's the algae eaters coz they munch on the leaves a lot i just didn't know if they actually eat the leaves as well.
so, what should i do to stop them???
thanks!

 

[smilla4]

What kinda algae eaters you got? (snails?...)

 

[trenac]

Mike... The only thing you can do is to remove them from the tank.