Stunt Plants

[limsteel]

Need to find out, I got a few stunt plant inside my tank. It is been sometime and my red plant is not growing even when others are bubbling and growing.

So the question... Will a "stunt" plant resume it's original growth rate?

PH: 6.5 - 7
KH: 5 - 6 (flux time to time)
GH: 4
NO3: 25 - 50mg/l (how to covert to ppm?)

Fert regime
1. Weekly FE & Trace Element AND MgSO4 AND K2SO4
2. 10 - 20 drops, every 2 or 3 days.

[David]

plants that are stunted does not mean that there is a problem with your fert regime. It could also mean that planted preparations may not be right, for example cutting the roots too short, planting to close......

My suggestion is to remove the plant check the roots and replant.

[limsteel]

Roots too short! I think I know the cause liao... so how... just let it be until they establish themselve again?

Thanks!

[Simon]

if roots aint growing, means there r other factors involved.. gravel, adjacent plants

[David]

I ruled out gravel being too small because there are other plants growing....unless different gravel has been mixed togather...best to uproot to check if the base is rotting.....

[limsteel]

Just uprooted last few days... nothing wrong... let time do the healing.

I suspected that the part of gravel where I planted these stunt plants contain rotting roots. A Bunch of Hygrophila was uprooted during rescaping and Since the root of hygrophila are well spread out, root torn off is almost inevitable.

I should do some gravel cleaning... Where is my Mr Cleaner![]

[David]

do you notice any blacken substrate where the stunted plants were?....use a long tweezer and plunge it randomly around the area. If you see air bubbles and it stinks like rotten eggs, it means that anaerobic bacteria has set in.....use a gravel cleaner to churn it...and do a 40% water change as its very toxic for plants and fish