Of amanos and marsilea

[shawnc9]

(Long story ahead)

I have a 5 gallon moderately planted tank of which I added Marsilea over the weekend (I got it from a LFS in emersed form). The tank has been running well for 2 years. (There are amanos, aura blues and red cherries in the tank)

The marsilea had been quarantined and rinsed in a pail with water changes for two days before adding it to the tank (and covers almost 60% of the previously exposed substrate)

4 hours after planting the marsilea, all of the amanos huddled in the corner, with some of them stacked on top of each other. The aura blues and red cherries does not exhibit any unusual behaviour.

The following day they exhibit other behaviour
1) No appetite
2) Frantically fanning themselves and cleaning their bodies with their legs
3) Avoid touching the substrate
4) Hiding in shelter

I was suspecting some sort of copper poisoning, so I did a 30% water change and added active carbon to soak up and toxins. I removed all newly planted marsilea from the tank. Also added some shizhen to hopefully lock in the copper that might be in the water (no way of making sure).

The following morning they stop fanning themselves and were slightly more active, however they do not have much appetite yet.

I was thinking it could be one of this few factors

1) Impurities in the substrate thrown up due to planting process
2) Fertilizers and insecticides on the marsilea
3) I covered too much of the exposed substrate which they used to graze on
4) Bacterial infection which only affect the amanos

Water parameters
water temp 26c
gh 5
ph 7.5
tds 100
ammonia 0
nitrate <= 10ppm

Any inputs on what could be the problem and personal experiences are welcome.

[avex30]

Could be your newly added plant. If it is such a mature tank most likely is your new plant. My personal opinion

[binniez]

Hmmm.. Usually it would be the pesticides that causes this symptoms. Heard of plants these days being soaked in pesticides to get rid of pest. But then again, It could be the soil which you stirred when you were doing the planting which caused it. Did you plant it using tweezers or bare hands?

[shawnc9]

Planted using tweezers. But as careful as I am, I could not totally eliminated impurities from being thrown up. I have not added any new substrate fertilizer after the tank was setup, so I guess it probably should not be the mixing of the root fertilizers in the water.

[cheetf]

Possible causes are ammonia spike and pesticides from the plants.

[shawnc9]

Quick update. There are some still fanning and leg movements going on but their appetites seemed to have come back and they were fighting for pellet food this morning. Seems like it would be wise to avoid emersed grown plants and adopt a more stringent quarantine process from now on.

Thanks for your input.