Leaves of stem plant all disappeared

[leafhorn]

Few days never check on my tank and today checked on it and discovered all the leaves of my Ludwiga inclinata stem plant missing, only left the stems.

What could be the cause? Fishes makaned the leaves?

[subxero]

Ha Ha.. Autumn has arrived

[theodore]

Give us more info or all you get will be more questions.

Is it freshly planted (approx 1 week)? Shedding of damaged leaves is not uncommon for weaker stem plants like MMs and Ludwigia but they should recover in time if conditions are good.

Are you providing sufficient lighting? Ludwigia requires relatively strong lighting.

Since you are suspecting your fishes are the culprit, what kind of fishes are you keeping?

What's your fertilization regime? Are other plants (name them pls) growing well?

[leafhorn]

thanx for reply, I think will test for fe later. New tank but not exactly that new, about 2 months. Other plants are all tenellus hairgrass and a few bigger echinodorus. lights 4 wpg, must be the liquid fert not enough...

[FC]

I have Ludwigia too.

Try bringing down the KH (reduce/stop the baking soda) to 2 degree.


Regards,

Freddy Chng
www.killies.com

[juggler]

L.inclinata is not an easy plant. I have it and only the top portions grows nicely. The bottom leaves tend to get holes like K deficiency.

It needs strong lights. I guess what FC said works for me too. kH is low at 2. gH also low -- mine at 7 dgH. I have a little coral chips to provide for Ca and Mg. So I don't dose Mg to this tank, only N,P,K and the traces.

[FC]

You can never have enough light for lower part of the stem plants - light is not the problem to keep the leafs intact. I now have extreme dense Ludwigia growing at right back corner with no leaf drop problem. Light hardly reach the lower leafs for the dense plants that grow nearly 2 ft tall.

I do not know exactly how I solved the Ludwigia leaf drop problem but one thing for sure is the low KH helps. I suspect the excess sodium is the culprit.

Now all the plant lower leafs, buds and branches stay intact and green, even under shade by its' own upper leafs/stems. These lower part stay "hibernate" state until enough light appears. That's when I prune the top. When that happens, the lower buds and stems will "wake up" and do all they can to compete to reach the top.


Regards,

Freddy Chng
www.killies.com

[theodore]

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On 8/8/2003 5:17:08 PM

I do not know exactly how I solved the Ludwigia leaf drop problem but one thing for sure is the low KH helps. I suspect the excess sodium is the culprit.

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Interesting ... I wonder if my recent woes with MMs (growing well for the past few months until recently) has anything with the salt (NaCl) I added to treat ich.

[leafhorn]

Wow this really helps lots and pinpoint the problem, yes I have high kh, to deal with aquasoil's initial ph dives, never check ph and kh for a while and recently discover my kh about 12 and ph 7 with amazonia.

[PeterGwee]

You can no longer depend on the pH and KH table if you are using ADA soil...the peat would render the table inaccurate. Most plant issues generally stems from too little CO2 to too much NO3...get them fixed and much of the problems should be minimized.

[kaipium]

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Interesting ... I wonder if my recent woes with MMs (growing well for the past few months until recently) has anything with the salt (NaCl) I added to treat ich.
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Mmmmm, I always add some salt to my tank whenever I change water. Never add any anti-chlorine but always add some salt.

Will this be a problem?

[PeterGwee]

How much water are you changing and how frequently? Too much Na can cause plant and critter issues but if you change lots of water weekly, it should not be happening.