Plant start to melt/rot from stem upward...

[xion]

Hi all,

Please advice! My plant seem like not glowing and start to melt/rot from the bottom of the stem.

It use to glow well, but ever since after clearing the BBA which struck two months ago. Most of my plant start to die off.

I use a kind of white powder to clear the BBA, sorry don't know what chemical name cause it written in japanese. Bought from pet mart. After clearing the BBA, had did a 100% water change (that was 2 months ago)
I doubt this is causing the plant to rot/melt. Correct me if i'm wrong.

I wonder is it lack of fertilize or too much of it??

Is that any way to solve the problems?? or do i need to re-scrape the whole tank (i mean remove everything?)
What are measurement do i need to take??


Beginners Info Sheet
++++++++++++++++++

Tank Dimensions (LxWxH): 80x35x40
Lighting Intensity(No of Watts) : 36x2
Type of Lighting (FL/PL/MH) : PL
No. of Hours your light is on: 9
CO2 Injection Rate (bps) : 15 (based on CO2 / KH / pH table )
Type of CO2 (DIY/Liquid/Tank) : DIY x 2 bottles
Method of Injection (e.g. Diffusor/Reactor): flipper
Substrate Used : can't remember the brands (yellow container)
How Thick is your base fert : 2 inch
How thick is your gravel : 4 inch
Liquid Fertilizers Used : All in one type.
Frequency of fertilization : once per week
Tank Temperature : 29-30
Type of Filter (overhead/internal/canister) : Eheim canister
Filter media used :
How long has your tank been set up : 9 months


Chemical Properties (Fill what you can)
---------------------------------------

Carbonate Hardness (kh): 5
Total Hardness (gH):
PH : 7-7.5
NH4 (ppm):
NO2 (ppm):
NO3 (ppm):
PO4 (ppm):
Fe (ppm):

Bioload (Your Fish and Plants) Hygrophila diff. 'WEISS-GRÜN', Cabomba caroliniana, Hygrophila difformis, Limnophila aquatica, Echinodorus uruguayensis, java moss, 3 x tiger lotus & 12 cardinate

Describe your problem : Plant start to rot from the base stem upward to all the leaves.

[vinz]

When did the plants start melting from bottom up? Soon after the powder/water change 2 months ago? Or more recently?

Maybe your substrate is depleted or worse, turning bad.

[chua]

Maybe you want to check the lighting.

Yours is a nearly 3ft tank.
72w may not be sufficient.

[xion]

The plant start to melt about a month ago, initial state after clearing the BBA, my tiger lotus still giving out new bud..

l only recently upgrade my light from 18x2 to 36x2. Without upgrade the lighting all my plants are glowing well, so i doubt the lighting is an issues..
correct me if i'm wrong.

If my substrate is depleted or turn bad, what should i do next?? Is that any way to find out the status of it? please advice, thanks.

[xion]

Hi All,

Sorry, my mistake is not BBA is Blue-Green Algae (BGA).

regards

[vinz]

[quote:c08fe3b429="xion"]The plant start to melt about a month ago, initial state after clearing the BBA, my tiger lotus still giving out new bud..

l only recently upgrade my light from 18x2 to 36x2. Without upgrade the lighting all my plants are glowing well, so i doubt the lighting is an issues..
correct me if i'm wrong.[/quote:c08fe3b429]
Therein's the problem. Increase in lighting -> plants photosynthesise more -> need more nutrients -> used up what is/was available in your tank usually.

If my substrate is depleted or turn bad, what should i do next?? Is that any way to find out the status of it? please advice, thanks.

In this case I'ld rule out your substrate as a problem.

You need to supplement your tank with NO3 and PO4 most likely. And start looking at your liquid fert dosage too.

For NO3 and PO4, get KNO3 and KH2PO4 respectively. Source is Dr Mallick. You can also try the plant nurseries as they are used as paltn fertilisers too. For a list of Dr Mallick retail sources (including LFSes), see his website at http://www.singaporehydroponics.com.

You should be aiming for about 10pm NO3 and 1ppm PO4 dosing about 2 to 3 times a week. Use Chuck Gadd's calculator for details - http://www.csd.net/~cgadd/aqua/articles.htm see first 2 articles.

Your liquid fert... which brand are you using?

[vinz]

[quote:f76071a566="xion"]Hi All,

Sorry, my mistake is not BBA is Blue-Green Algae (BGA).

regards[/quote:f76071a566]

In that case, the white powder is probably an anti-biotic. Not a good choice of treatment. BGA is not algae but a bacteria, hence the use of anti-biotic. The problem is that you might end up cultivating a strain of BGA that is resistant to anti-biotics.

Instead, in future outbreaks, siphon out the BGA during water change, and fix your fert levels so your plants can grow healthily and outcompete the algae.

[xion]

[quote:475f8efad0="vinz"]

Your liquid fert... which brand are you using?[/quote:475f8efad0]

I'm using "JBL - Ferropol" - it contail all 6 elements- Cu, Mn, Mo, Z, B, Co.

Ok, will go get KNO3 and KH2PO4 to try out the effect.

what i worry is the chemical effect of the white powder (anit-biotic) on the base substrate, maybe already depleted it or cause some chemical reaction...
now, my tank only left java moss, Hygrophila difformis & Echinodorus uruguayensis...

[vinz]

[quote:595b39935b="xion"][quote:595b39935b="vinz"]

Your liquid fert... which brand are you using?[/quote:595b39935b]

I'm using "JBL - Ferropol" - it contail all 6 elements- Cu, Mn, Mo, Z, B, Co.[/quote:595b39935b]
Dose as indicated on the packaging for now. I don't quite like FerroPol as each bottle does not last very long. Once it's finished, consider Seachem Flourish, Tropica Master Grow or EasyLife Pro-Fito.

Ok, will go get KNO3 and KH2PO4 to try out the effect.

what i worry is the chemical effect of the white powder (anit-biotic) on the base substrate, maybe already depleted it or cause some chemical reaction...
now, my tank only left java moss, Hygrophila difformis & Echinodorus uruguayensis...

Hmmm... it's possible that the bacteria in your substrate (different from the filter bacteria) that processes nutrients got killed. But the anti-biotic is suppose to affect certain types of bacteria (that's why your filter bacteria is not affected) only... something to do with gram-positive and gram-negative. I never paid much attention to that.

There is one anti-biotic frequently used to kill BGA, but I've never heard of it destroying substrates.

IMO, don't worry about that yet. It's more likely then not that it's the increased light and thus nutrient usage. Just dose the NO3, PO4 and traces (i.e. liquid fert) and see the response.

Really, seriously ignore the white powder affects for now. Fix one thing at a time, then you can eliminate the unknowns.

[xion]

Hi Vin,

ok, i had get the below from Dr Mallick:
KH2P04 (250g)
KN03 (1kg)
*LUSHGro-Aqua (500ml) - Contain N, K, Ca, Mg, S, Fe, Mn, Zn, Cu, B, Mo
*-Recommended by the shop owner.

and since my FerroPol almost finish had buy those liquid fert you recommended.

What next? Is it alright to add those one at a time in intervel (hour/day) or all together?? I thinking of changing 50% water plus the filter media before adding the above. please advice.

thanks in advance.

[Desewer]

Perhaps you can try dosing the liquid ferts less frequently. If your base fert is enough, IMO you will not neet to dose liquid ferts so much.

Also, since you have very few plants left, you will need less nutrients. Try adding fast growing plants again, like difformis, riccia, etc, and slowly replace them with your intended plants.

Do NOT change the filter media altogether. If you do that, the beneficial bacteria present in the media will go back to zero, and you may have problems breaking down the nitrates into nitrites (hope I got the compounds correct).

I dose Lushgro Aqua and NPK once a week, after 30%-40% water changes. I dose Dennerle A1 and Lushgro Micros daily too. Just don't add too much than what is recommended for your tank size.

Your tank temperature could be too high to sustain growth of Java moss. I presume your moss is not showing any signs of growth? Mine simply won't grow in my tank, and my temp is 27-28.

I agree with chua. Your lighting might be a problem. Try to reduce the period to 6 hrs daily, and slowly increase it to 10-12 hrs daily, in increments of 2hrs weekly. This will give the plants time to adapt to the new lights.

[xion]

first of all,
thanks to all advice..


update..
having added 10ppm(NO3) & 1ppm(PO4) every two days and EasyLife Pro-Fito (once every 2 weeks).
Have added a fan, temperature drop till 26-27. (have to top up water almost everyday )
below are the plants performance:

difformis (on pot) - No sight of any rot/melt at stem.
difformis (on Substrate) - A little rot at base of stem.
Vallisneria americana (on pot) - leave turn abit yellowish on top portion.
java moss on rock - not much glow..

will monitor further...

btw, using SERA NO3 measurement kits. keep getting 50 ppm
anyone encountered this before??

[hanleong]

get well soon, I mean your plants

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