Salt and Plants

[Allen_1971]

Just thought I'd document down the effects of high levels of salt on plants...

Some history... Dosed 1 Tbsp/5G of salt in my tank to combat a nasty outbreak of ICH. The salt level was left there for about 2 weeks. It is currently diluted to about 1tbsp/8G since the last water change.

Elatine - The first to show signs of problems... started wilting very quickly. Within first days, probably 30% died... however the remaining 70% seems to have adapted, and show no problems

Red Tiger Lotus - No effect... though there is some growth on green spot algae on leaves which could imply poorer health.

H. difformis - No effect

Alternanthera Reineikii - No effect

Ludwigia SP - No increased shedding of leaves, but there was a loss of redness... this was restored after salt levels where diluted.

Rotala Indica - Some increased shedding of leaves, but main stem is otherwise OK...

Blyxa Japonica - Initially no problems, after about a week starting to shed leaves. Still shedding even after salt dilution... seems to be quite slow at adapting

Najas Indica - No effect...

Nuphar Japonica - 1 Leaf lost, but not conclusive, could be due to normal growth

Crypts Wendii, Becketii - No Effect

E.Bleheri - After about a week started shedding leaves... lost 4 large leaves so far. Normally no leaves are shed. Still losing leaves after initial dilution of salt.

E. Red Flame - Similar to E.Bleheri... with 3 large leaves lost.

Hydrocoyte Leucocephala - No effect.

Hope thats of interest to some of you... It seems obvious to me that high levels of salt are detrimental to some plants... interestingly, for the many species, it seems to impact the larger leaves first.

[joe]

I agree on this too. Added salt as per advise 1 tbsp/5 gallons. The redness of some plants was gone immediately on the following day and in the course of the next few days, lots of leaves was shed and the some glosso started to have holes in the leaves too. Is this normal?

[Simon]

strange, my echinodorus were fine before when salt treatment was done in my 6ft and plus they were growing well too

[Allen_1971]

Actually I was pretty surprised by the response of both my Echinodorus species plants... I did not expect them to be affected at all...