Help with Rotala wallichii

**shrimppaste** · 6th Sep 2009, 01:17

Hi Guys, I bought some R. Wallichii and planted them in my tank. They have been in there for like 3 months now, and I have some questions.

1. When I bought them, they were showing a very nice pink. Almost luminous. Now mine is more like rusty red.

2. Some of my stems are showing thick bush, while some are like stunted. Small short whorls.

3. The main stems are all very green.

4. Some of the leaves are like wrinkled at the end. Like burnt.

I am using EI with CO2 at like 30ppm and light at 3.6WPG. Chiller at 25. KH at 4 GH at 7.

It's a 3ft tank dosing 2 capful of Seachem Fluorish and one capful of seachem iron on alternate days. Then on the other 3 days, I am dosing 1/2 teaspoon of KNO3 and 1/4 teaspoon of KH2PO4.

So my question is.

Is there any deficiency in my rotala, or could the plants that are smaller be due to the fact that those are the ones that was there before the plants start acclimatising to the tank?
Why is the main stem dark green?
How to make the rotala have that very nice pink again? I saw from a lot of other tanks in magazines and on the web that mostly it is rusty red not that surreal pink when I bought it.

Thanks everyone!

**shrimppaste** · 6th Sep 2009, 12:56

Anybody with any expereience?

**shrimppaste** · 7th Sep 2009, 02:08

Anyone? HAhaha before I pull out my Rotala! and my hair!

**Raven** · 7th Sep 2009, 08:29

It is possible that maybe there is a lack of traces. Didnt saw you mentioning some traces at your fertilizing program.
With all that powerfull lights and CO2 at 30ppm the R.wallichi would need all the nutritians to be present ,otherwise deficiencies may appear.
Also check for Mg , B, and Ca.

**shrimppaste** · 7th Sep 2009, 09:05

Got ah. I dose 2 capfuls of seachem fluorish and 1 capful of seachem iron on alternate days.

**Jungle-mania** · 7th Sep 2009, 16:29

I think the colour is changing due to the fact most of them have just turned submersed from their emmersed form when they reach the shops. Plant farms here normally submerse their plants for 2 weeks before shipping them to make them more appealing. So over time they will change their colouring in the water. I cannot advice correctly on the burnt leaves, but it sounds alot like burns caused by excessive nutrients.

The dark green stem is normal and so is the different growth rate which usually is determined by the lighting.

**Raven** · 7th Sep 2009, 19:17

Originally Posted by shrimppaste

Got ah. I dose 2 capfuls of seachem fluorish and 1 capful of seachem iron on alternate days.

Not enough sometimes with difficult plants. Seachem flurish has some traces but there is seachem trace as well , which is considered as a supplement for seachem flurish.
Before I turned to E.I. method, I was using as well 2cap. flurish, 2cap.iron, and 3cap.trace every 2nd day in 300liters

**PeterGwee** · 7th Sep 2009, 20:04

Poor CO2.

Regards,
PeterGwee

**shrimppaste** · 7th Sep 2009, 21:46

Har? What poor CO2? I have CO2 at 40ppm.

**felix_fx2** · 8th Sep 2009, 13:42

dear shrimp paste,

please do not pull your hair, wait need to go yunnan hair care

Likely reason is submersed - emmersed form problem mentioned by junglemania.
Met with that problem when i got my plants the last time i go LFS, was brightly reddish now like rusty.

**shrimppaste** · 8th Sep 2009, 22:01

BUt wallichi got immersed form??? I thought it is only submerged since it's sooo soft and it can't even stand on its own??

**chlorophyll** · 30th Sep 2009, 23:26

Mines only pinkish on top . i have them for about a month now on moderate lighting. Apart from liquid ferts, i supplement with iron tabs but i suspect wallichi take a long time to root in. So far im quite happy with the colouring considering the moderate light. Keep us updated. Good luck