my MM is melting

**Addie** · 7th Apr 2003, 18:18

Hi,

My MM is melting and I would like to look for help from forumers. I heard that MM is pretty ezy to grow but doesn't seems that in my tank. It is my first time growing MM. Got it from a forumer and they are really healthy when I got them. After a week+ of planting, I notice quite a numbers of the leaves & stems turns brown and melted. Other plants are growing great.

Recently, there was a K defficiency in my tank and I have been increasing the dosage from 2ppm/day to 3ppm/day. I'm using Flourish Potassium.

Tank spec:
Size: 1.5ftx1x1
Light: 36W PL, 8.5 hrs/day
temp: 27C
KH: 5-6 dkh
pH: 6.5-7.0

Would appreciate if anyone can give me some guidelines.

Thanks and regards.

**PeterGwee** · 7th Apr 2003, 18:25

You need to give us more info like your NO3 and PO4 level...fert dosing regime.

Estimative Dosing method for your tank size
1)1/8 tsp of KNO3
2)1/4 tsp of K2SO4
3)1 rice grain of PO4 (those small reagent spoon that came with Sera NO3 or PO4 test kit should do fine)
4)CO2..maintain at 20-30ppm throughout lighting period
5)2.5ml of flourish or TMG (I add flourish plus seachem iron) 2-3X a week.
6)50% water change to reset the tank...[

]

Personally, I have tried quite a number of test kit and felt the results are not entirely spot on plus the fact some test kits have bad reagents due to human error or what (recently I post something on the KH2PO4 testing and my test kits recently bought not reacting to the addition of PO4..one small teaspoon would have turn the test solution dark blue but no reaction??? The 2 week older test kit did change to dark blue..well..unless we can get our hands on lamotte ..else I can only say the test are aga aga one)...Mmmmmmm...I do the estimative style and it works perfectly...plants are pearling like crazy (never seen that kind of pearling before...so intense) [

]

**Addie** · 7th Apr 2003, 18:37

The last measure of NO3 before 30% water change is 10+ppm (as kinda hard to read the color accurately. PO4 is has been around 0.5ppm

Dose Sera Florena 2.5ml 3x a week.

**PeterGwee** · 7th Apr 2003, 18:49

Stop using seachem potassium...it is not cost effective at all. Go for K2SO4 from Dr Mallick...at the same time get yourself potassium dihydrogen phosphate (PO4) and KNO3. (You will need to dose..don't trust the test kits...I trust those kits for some while and cannot get my plants to grow well...plus intense pearling which Tom Barr observed after he added PO4 to a PO4 limited tank. Its up to you though...just to be safe..maybe do 2 50% water changes on alternate days before commencing dosing. [

] )

Grow plants well and algae will not stick to them...Haha..

**Addie** · 7th Apr 2003, 18:56

As my tank is small, I'm using Seachem Potassium, Nitrogen and Trace.

As mentioned above, the difficiency of K had cause N uptake to slow down. Thus, I noticed the NO3 increased to be more than 10ppm (probably somewhere around 15ppm). As such, I have stop dosing NO3 and monitor the NO3 level before I start dosing N again to maintain ~10ppm.

**PeterGwee** · 7th Apr 2003, 19:01

I suspect is your PO4...the 0.5ppm you are measuring might be like 0.3ppm (this might be organic and cannot be used by plants).

**Addie** · 7th Apr 2003, 19:12

----------------
On 4/7/2003 6:49:16 PM

Stop using seachem potassium...it is not cost effective at all. Go for K2SO4 from Dr Mallick...at the same time get yourself potassium dihydrogen phosphate (PO4) and KNO3. (You will need to dose..don't trust the test kits...I trust those kits for some while and cannot get my plants to grow well...plus intense pearling which Tom Barr observed after he added PO4 to a PO4 limited tank. Its up to you though...just to be safe..maybe do 2 50% water changes on alternate days before commencing dosing. [

] )

Grow plants well and algae will not stick to them...Haha..

----------------

I understand that it will not be cost effective using Seachem K for larger tank. But will definitly use K2SO4 if I ever go for a larger tank.

I will give it a try on adding PO4 if the PO4 is the root cause of the melting MM else I rather let my fish load to take care of the PO4 level. MM is new in my tank. All other plants like APP, rotala m. spec &quot;green&quot;, Java fern are growing still growing fine at the moment.

Correct me if I'm wrong that deficiency in nutrient will show sign on the leaves most of the time rather than melting.

Would melting relate to insufficient light? Just realise that my light is 7 months old.

**PeterGwee** · 7th Apr 2003, 19:21

Okay, lights might be a factor as well but the method of waiting to see which nutrient the plant is lacking is a big &quot;no&quot; &quot;no&quot; imo. You are likely to stunt the growth of the plant for a while before it starts to get going again. Why not give the plants all it wants? Simple and not much testing. Excess nutrients does not cause algae..nutrient imbalance does..(Plants that grow well do not have algae on them and the only way to grow plants well is to give all the necessary nutrients to them.)..Okay..sorry if I offended you in any way...its all up to you lor...I can only do that much. Good luck![:

]

**Addie** · 7th Apr 2003, 19:21

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On 4/7/2003 7:01:47 PM

I suspect is your PO4...the 0.5ppm you are measuring might be like 0.3ppm (this might be organic and cannot be used by plants).
----------------

Ha.... this is new to me, organice PO4 that cannot be used by plant. Would probably have to add PO4 to try it in this case.

**Addie** · 7th Apr 2003, 19:25

----------------
On 4/7/2003 7:21:00 PM

Okay, lights might be a factor as well but the method of waiting to see which nutrient the plant is lacking is a big &amp;amp;quot;no&amp;amp;quot; &amp;amp;quot;no&amp;amp;quot; imo. You are likely to stunt the growth of the plant for a while before it starts to get going again. Why not give the plants all it wants? Simple and not much testing. Excess nutrients does not cause algae..nutrient imbalance does..(Plants that grow well do not have algae on them and the only way to grow plants well is to give all the necessary nutrients to them.)..Okay..sorry if I offended you in any way...its all up to you lor...I can only do that much. Good luck![:

]
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No problem. It is all about exchanging knowledge here. I feel that it is good to have someone to discuss about a problem here.

I agree with you that we should give all the plants need and limiting nutrient will typically cause algea problem.

Thanks for the discussion.

**timebomb** · 7th Apr 2003, 20:13

Correct me if I'm wrong that deficiency in nutrient will show sign on the leaves most of the time rather than melting.

Would melting relate to insufficient light? Just realise that my light is 7 months old.
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It's not due to insufficient lighting, Addie. MMs, like many Crypts and Hornwort, are sensitive to water changes. They will melt when there's a sudden change in water parameters.

Loh K L

**theodore** · 7th Apr 2003, 20:47

Timebomb is probably right - Abt 50% of my MMs melted over their 1st 2 weeks in my tank a while ago. Those that survived have been growing rather fast though algae seems to enjoy the older, shaded leaves near the bottom.

My own observation : The trimmings I got did not have roots and it takes a while for them to establish themselves. They seem to grow their roots in 2 ways : Some just develop roots at the base while others developed roots along the stem (like the Cambomba I had back then). My guess is that the 2nd type of roots exist cos I accidentally damaged the stem near the base or I didn't plunge them in rite.

**vinz** · 7th Apr 2003, 20:47

One forumer solved his problem with MM but letting them float for a few days. He plants them only after they grow some roots. You might want to try that.

**lorba** · 7th Apr 2003, 22:14

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On 4/7/2003 8:47:14 PM

My own observation : The trimmings I got did not have roots and it takes a while for them to establish themselves. They seem to grow their roots in 2 ways : Some just develop roots at the base while others developed roots along the stem (like the Cambomba I had back then). My guess is that the 2nd type of roots exist cos I accidentally damaged the stem near the base or I didn't plunge them in rite.
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Many stem plants produce roots this way, eg stargrass, rotala species etc. If the stems are soft enough, you can promote creeping growth by planting the head and tail of a cutting.

kc · 8th Apr 2003, 08:29

Hi Addie,

You may want to save some MM before it's too late. Keep some in a tank and leave them in the balcony.

They grow without co2!

**Addie** · 8th Apr 2003, 13:47

Thanks guys,

Looks like this is one of those new plant syndrome for sensitive plants (ie. climatisation). I'll keep some floating, some planted and some at the bolcany area before they all melted away.

BTW, I notice an increase in NO3 content recently. Is it due to the rotting plant? Excuse me as I'm very pool in biology/ecology

Just measured my NO3 last night and it was close to 20ppm.

**anttz** · 8th Apr 2003, 13:47

Used to have this melting problems initially until the LFS owner told me not to plant it immediately. Put the plant which is still in the pot in your tank for a few days before planting.

i'm not too sure if it is for the plant to get adjusted to the water parameter or to grow some roots. So far, no melting problem.

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