Anubias melt

[shaman]

Some of my anubias nana melted. Just wonder what happened to them? Is it temperature too high... I put near the sun...

[budak]

How close to the sun? Are they all tied up?

[shaman]

Hi, the water is about 28 to 32 celcius, i put inside water. Sunlight come in only for 3 hours in the afternoon. I thought anubias is tolerant to heat. Just donno why some of the rhizomes melted and lots of leaves fallen out. Haha

[budak]

32 C is quite high...3 hours of full sun are quite siong for a shade loving plant. Are the plants tied to anything? sometimes if the tieing material (e.g. fishing line etc) cuts into the plant stem, it can trigger melt too.

[Fei Miao]

32ºC is high, if you notice, even for the emerse Teo grows them in the shade and with sprinkler on. Mine in the vivarium tends to have burnt leaves if it gets too dry.

[vinz]

Anubias usually does not melt. They usually just shrink, stop growing, turn yellow or the rhizomes rot/melt really slowly.

I have only seen one situation where Anubias melted into mush over a few days, much like crypts. Thats when I put them in the same tank as some light brown branchy driftwood that I have. I suspect the wood was hosting a bacteria, virus or other patogen that was fatal to Anubias.

So, how fast is your Anubias melting?

[shaman]

About 5 days, the whole rhizome melted. Quite terrible. Inside the tank, the java fern's leaves turn partial black. Could it be some virus or bacteria? Thanks a lot for all your help!

[vinz]

That's similar to what I had. I'm only guess-timating that it's likely to be a bacteria/virus/disease. I've grown plenty of Anubias and when there's a lack of nutrients or light, they just get stunted or die VERY slowly and never melts.

In my case, the Anubias melted into mush in a tank with moderate light, decent fertilisation, CO2, high temps (at least 30 degrees celcius, no fans, no chiller) and decent growth from all other plants. So that eliminates those factors.

I can't think of anything to help you.