90% Cryptocoryne melted after 3 months!!

[nys]

I have rescaped my tank into a Crypto tank which consists of of C. Wendtii 'red', C. Wendtii 'green', C. Beckettii, C. Undulata 'red' & C. parva 3 months ago. Suddenly, I discovered that 90% of my crypto except C. parva melt when I wake up yesterday.

Tank parameter
Size: 35 x 25 x25 (cm)
Light: 5W for 14-16hrs
CO2: Seachen excel
Substrate: GEX light green package for plant
Fertilizer: Wonder-Gro root+ only
Filtration: Eden 501
Temp: 27-28 degC (a fan run 24 hrs)
ph: unknown

Any idea?

[EvolutionZ]

did you bought he crypts from somewhere else and plant in your tank then it melted?
if so, its normal, crypts melt when theres a change of water parameters, new leaves will grow out after the melting..
i recently bought 6 - 8 pots of crypts wendtii'green' all melted tilll now left only the stalks...

[Quincy]

Did you just did a major water change? If so its perfectly normal for them to melt.

[nys]

Those crypts have been in my tank for >3mths. I experience crypt melt before but not sudden 90% melt overnight.

I change 10% water daily.

[berlinjs]

l know wat you mean, mine also had them for many months then ALL wenditi green melted leafs become 'tissue-paper'.

How is your tank now?

[nys]

I removed those "tissue-paper" as the whole tank look messy. Now my crypt grown again. E. tenellus was added as foreground to replace C. parva.

[bossteck]

Aside from water change, did you introduce anything else into your tank recently, something which was not done in the past? E.g. adding root tabs?

Quite amazing to hear about such dramatic melting.

[berlinjs]

actually bought 1bag of crypts from another bro, washed them and let them float in tank.
my moss, downois, octopus plant ok. now can see my brown/green crypts and red and green lotus also melting.
just did a water change 10%,usual lushgro dose the two days later.

[nys]

Wonder-Gro Root+ tablets added. Will that cause crypt melt???

[illumbomb]

My experience with my emersed cultivation is yes and no:

1) I added a Wonder-Gro Root+ tablet into one of my mineral water bottle filled with water to just covering the soil surface and all the C. crispatula (I think) within the mineral water bottle melted within 2 days. I can however still see the white roots in the soil now after 2 months.

2) Despite the above, I recently added Wonder-Gro Root+ tablets again to all my potted emersed cryptocoryne and surprisingly, non of them melted. Maybe it is because this time round, I only inserted 1/4 of a tablet per pot and placed it just below the surface of the soil away from the crypt. The water level is a few cm below the fertiliser tablet too so I guess this minimised the fertiliser release rate.

So case 1 might be similar to your case (i.e. you placed the tablet too close to the crypts and the crypts could not take the sudden surge of fetiliser?)

Regards,
T S Wang

[beetlejuice403]

Hmm.. I'm experiencing massive crypt melt in my newly set-up crypt tank [1-feet base with 16 inches height] also for the past few days... Very heart pain to see all the nice crypt leaves turn into 'tissue paper' as someone said here...

However, I am still leaving the roots (whatever you call them) of the melted crypts in my tank to see if new growth will take place in the next few days (weeks). Really keeping my fingers crossed...