Why moneywort puts out bubbles on its roots?

[freshwaterluis]

Hi,

I tried looking online for the answer, but I cant figure out if this is normal or what. I thought plants putout oxygen bubbles from their leaves but my moneywort puts out (oxygen??) bubbles from their roots. They keep coming out of the gravel. I thought this was bacteria build up or something but i replanted this moneywort, accidentally leaving some of its roots out of the gravel, and noticed that it is producing bubbles from their roots. I can clearly see them clearly comming out. Here is a pic:

Thanks,

 

[An t-iasg]

What you may be seeing is called "streaming". We call the bubbles that you see on plant leaves - as a result of photosynthesis - "pearling". The "streaming" phenomenon occurs when the plant has been broken in some way. The most common occurrences of streaming happen after a plant trim. You'll see bubbles "streaming" out of the trimmed area and rising to the surface. The streaming can continue for a day or two until the plant tissue heals in that area.

 

[freshwaterluis]

Ohh, Thank you, I took that picture yesterday, and I had replanted last Thursday, so it has been 8 days now, and I noticed the bubbling approximately 3-4 days ago. Also, other moneywort plants which I have not moved are bubbling under gravel. I get sudden big bubbles comming out of the gravel. Is this normal for moneyworts?

 

[An t-iasg]

No, I don't think it's normal for plants to bubble under the surface like that.There is nothing unusual about streaming, but are you seeing large bubbles? Larger bubbles coming from the substrate can indicate a gas pocket trapped under the substrate. Does the water smell like rotten eggs? If so, make sure you do gravel vacs to vacuum out the debris that falls in the substrate. If the tank doesn't smell, the gas may be just a byproduct of the good bacteria doing their job, or it could be trapped air. Either way, vaccing into your substrate to help aerate it (be careful of plant roots) will help eliminate the gas pockets. I have seen medium to large bubbles rise up in my tank at times and my tank is doing well.

Regarding the streaming in your first question, if you have any fish that like to nibble on the plants, that can cause streaming also.

 

[freshwaterluis]

Thanks for the reply, the water does not smell, I am following everything by the book. I perform 20% water changes every weekend using a siphon. The bubbles are not that big, they are about the size of a airpump bubble without an airstone (so considerably bigger than the little bubbles you see on the picture). However, since they are coming right underneath a moneywort steam, I thought it was streaming that gets trapped on the gravel. I hope its not toxic.

 

[black hills tj]

If you recently replanted the moneywort, and the larger bubbles are coming from the substrate in the general viscinity of the plant, then I would think you are just opening up gas pockets in the substrate.

 

[An t-iasg]

It sounds like everything is fine in your tank. 20% water changes every week with a gravel vac is good maintenance. Plants don't normally bubble at their roots but I think black hills tj is right - the larger bubbles that you see must be coming from a gas pocket under the moneywort, and not the moneywort itself bubbling.

 

[An t-iasg]

I just did a water change and trimmed my moneywort. I trim from the bottom when they get too tall. I pulled up the plant and the roots were pretty long. A few medium-sized bubbles rose up when I pulled on the roots to get them all out of the substrate. So I would say that is what you're seeing also - just the long roots of the moneywort, especially if you just replanted, breaking up a gas pocket.