Black roots???

[limsteel]

just did my rescaping... happen to remove some Cabomba Furcata & E. Diversifolia... saw that their roots are BLACK in Color! Anything wrong with that???

The stem are very brittle, easily broken... Some thing missing from my fert regime?? I using Dr Mallick stuff LushGro Aqua & KH2PO4 and Some crushed coral chip... nothing else.

[wks]

What kind of substrate are you using currently?

[limsteel]

usual gravel with 2mm grain size

[eric_kclee]

as far as I know this is some kind of a dead spot in your gravel....they call it 'anaphobic??'(cannot remember correct term, someone please advice). something like rotting without sufficient o2, or decay witht the lack of o2 under gravel...it is highly toxic..probably due to poor circulation, and without proper aeration, the spot will remain 'unplantible'.

It is not hard to realise that some spot in our tank has this problem.
And plant with black root problem doesn't really grow well..observed carefully. (I have same problem with Lobelia)

[limsteel]

But the E Diversifolia are growing so fast at that spot, it is so over grown that I pull out the whole 1ft long... cut and replanted the top portion throwing the ugly blacken lower portion. <<<???gt;>>

I was told by the mods before about the situation. When poking a stick into the gravel, bubbles will emerge... these are highly toxic... Will do a gravel vacuum... HOW TO VACUUM! GLOSSO ALL OVER!

[eric_kclee]

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On 8/24/2003 10:51:45 PM

But the E Diversifolia are growing so fast at that spot, it is so over grown that I pull out the whole 1ft long... cut and replanted the top portion throwing the ugly blacken lower portion. <<<???amp;amp;gt;>>

I was told by the mods before about the situation. When poking a stick into the gravel, bubbles will emerge... these are highly toxic... Will do a gravel vacuum... HOW TO VACUUM! GLOSSO ALL OVER!
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KeKeKe , sorry I don't have a remedy for your situation. some ever suggested to leave the spot unplanted for a while...may be a decade[] ??

Your E.D. grow fast probably it took nutrients from the leaves mostly.

Do you remember the actual term for these 'undergravel toxic'?
[]

[PeterGwee]

You probably damage the roots or lower portion of the plant while planting. Just trim off the bottom portion of the plant and remove the leaves from the last 2 or 3 nodes and then plant it in.

[geoffrey]

limsteel, I hack E diversifolia frequently. It is normal that some of their roots are black. Did you notice that they are pretty strong roots even when they are black. Had it been rotting, they wouldn't have been strong.

[vinz]

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On 8/24/2003 10:51:45 PM

...

I was told by the mods before about the situation. When poking a stick into the gravel, bubbles will emerge... these are highly toxic... Will do a gravel vacuum... HOW TO VACUUM! GLOSSO ALL OVER!
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Eh... the bubbles are indicative of an anaerobic substrate only if they stink really bad. Sometimes its just oxygen bubbles.

Cannot vacuum? Take a chopstick and poke the substrate throughly... make sure its not oxygen, else you're doing more harm then good.

If most of your other plants are growing well, the anaerobic zone may be localised... you only have to handle that area.

Anyway, use the health of the plants as a guage.

[bclee]

Limsteel, the echinodorus I got from you was rotting at the root too. You really seem to have a problem with your substrate.

What do you have for base fertilisers? Do you insert any tabs? If you do what type of tabs you used?

BC

[peterkoh]

are you bunching too many of them together ?

[limsteel]

I think my right side of the tank got some problem. using the base fert I first added and nothing else... Does addition of additional fert stick help? I got some JBL Balls left... You guys think I should add them?

Plant are not tightly packed... I planted the E. D***folia about 2 - 3cm apart... Some Bacopa was also planted there also growing well but no Black root... Or maybe E. D***folia just like to have black roots?

BC, Echinodorus in my tank ok leh... I gave Mr Jugg a twin and when visted him a few weeks back, it seems OK too. All from same batch left floating in my tank before given to you.