Anacharis dying

[nightfish]

Theres another thread by me a while back, talking about the growth of anacharis or hornwort with my current lighting. the way i have it planted is all 20 or so "stems" of it are rubber banded togheter and slightly wedged between a rock, since i know they arent the best for planting. i really like the look of them, and i have been using excel, potassium, iron, and the comprehensive supplement as well. i dose each day or so, except the comprehensive as it recommeneds once or twice a week. anyways, what is happening is my anacharis is yellowing from the "root" up. it hasnt been growing all that fast, yet neither has my hornwort in the past. i run my light for 8 hours a day, and i am having no success with this "begginner" plant :( any input would be helpful as to why this is dying off. and just a little info, it is a 36g tank, with an 18w bulb, and my filter is rated at 30 gallons.

[Brhino]

excel kills some plants... anacharis is one of them. That's your problem.

[nightfish]

no way?!? a plant nutrient supplement is killing it? if you dont mind me asking, whats in it that kills it? and thanks for your input!

[Brhino]

I'm not sure what the mechanism is. Here's what the manufacturer says:

Q: I've been using Flourish Excel for the 4 days, and I've noticed that my Anacharis seems to be dying, while my other plants are doing fine. Why is this?

A: Anacharis is a particularly sensitive species (known to be sensitive to high temperature, trace copper, formaldehyde etc.). It is also sensitive to Flourish Excel. If you have Anacharis in an aquarium in which you are dosing Flourish Excel we recommend using Flourish Excel every other day rathter than daily.
http://www.seachem.com/support/FAQs/FlourishExcel.html

I believe there's a few other species as well, but I don't know them all offhand. I have anacharis too, and i used excel for about one week and found the same results you did.

[nightfish]

Thanks so much Brhino! one more question, should i just stop using it then? what did you do? oh and..sorry one more, what type of ferts do you use?

[Brhino]

I stopped using it. You'll have to chose between your anacharis and your excel. Can't have both. There are other ways to get carbon to your plants, like DIY or pressurized carbon dioxide. Lots of people here have experience with such things, but not me.

I don't use any fertilization besides a plant-friendly substrate. I have what you would call a "low tech" tank: low to moderate lighting, no CO2, no ferts. My plants grow pretty well (I'm pruning them all the time) but I do have moderate amounts of algae.

[nightfish]

well, i have to choose anacharis then! hopefully it will be able to grow nicely now, to me it seems wierd, since i have had it for around 3 weeks, and since day 1 i have had excel it has taken this long to start this...dying process, anyways, thanks for that information :) but 1 more thing! how do you "plant" your anacharis?

[genocidex]

i planted mine in my sand and its doing good.... like lady hobbs primer states "Do not bury the Rhizome in the substrate, only the roots."

[nightfish]

anacharis doesnt have rhizomes though, does it? atleast mine dont, they dont even have a root system

[genocidex]

oh poo im sorry i must be thinking of a different plant so sorry lol.... after looking at a search i know its a different plant my bad :(

[Jayme]

I had trouble getting mine to stay in the shallow gravel so I had to use those "non-toxic" (hopefully) plant weight strips.

I use the Seachem Flourish (regular not Excel) as per dosage instructions once a week in my tanks and it seems to do just fine.

You probably can't see from the poor quality cell phone shot but my Anacharis has lots of long root like things hanging down all over the place as of late which I assume means it's doing well!

Good luck with your plants!

http://the-bandys.net/jayme/anacharis.jpg

[Brhino]

anacharis does not have a rhizome; it is a stem plant. Furthermore, it is not a root-feeder. It does not have to be planted for the health of the plant, it can be grown floating (and some people do).

It does send out roots under the soil if you plant it. Here's a plant that I pulled out of my tank while I was upgrading it.
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c376/starmike82/DSC_0005-1.jpg

It will also grow roots from parts above the soil, and those roots will try to reach out to find the soil. That's what's going on in Jayme's picture.

When I plant mine, I just sort of shove it down in substrate, then pile the substrate back on top. Sometimes it comes back up, but usually I can plant it deep enough to stop it. When it comes time to prune it I cut off the tops and replant them, and discard the bottoms, so I don't get root systems like in my picture anymore.

[nightfish]

Its alright, i originally was mis-naming this plant as well, i got it confused with Anubias at first, then realized they are totally different haha.

[nightfish]

http://s1118.photobucket.com/albums/k609/nightfish2/?action=view&current=DSC04776.jpg Thats how my tank looks---->anacharis

http://s1118.photobucket.com/albums/k609/nightfish2/?action=view&current=DSC04773.jpg and this is what my anacharis looks like close up

[genocidex]

i would defiantly remove those bands very place ive read said they will kill and rot the bottoms. one site suggests to brake the bunch up and plant them about 2 inches apart in the gravel. i would just plunge them into the gravel and bury it

[nightfish]

i thought that for the longest time! its like, wearing a rubberband on your wrist, its okay for a while...then it will leave impressions, and when im wrapping them really tight and the anacharis are thin to begin with, i knew they would rot, but i was told otherwise though, i should just have gone with my gut :P the only thing i need to know is how to prune them then, because im clueless as to how to do that

[Strider199]

Wrap it around pieces of driftwood when it's long enough, bunch them all together with string, and then tie that string to a rock, wood, or some sort of weight and let them grow all bunched up.

Just a thought.

[nightfish]

thanks for that thought, although i literally just untied the rubberbands, and buried them. im optimistic that they wont rot in the substrate, but i cant be sure...i just want to have a nice, green bunch of it, i guess i will just stop using that excel, and increase my lighting for 8 hours to 11. i also would like to get a second filter. i did my change from 29g to 36g and im still using the 30g rated filter..its like an old beater keeping up on the highway. i think maybe one rated at 20 gallons along with the other one would help circulate the fertilizers faster and more efficiently :) any thoughts on those ideas?

[Beebz]

About the plant "meds". Flourish Comprehensive Supplement for the Aquarium, I think just the plain one, will that kill Anacharis?

[nightfish]

i know that "excel" by the same company that makes that comprehensive supp. is not good for anacharis, but as far as i know, the other is okay for it, umm, i do know though that it is not supposed to be dosed frequently, so, like everything else, dont over dose it, since there is so much different substances in it. but to give you a black and white answer, i say that it is safe to use, reason being, excel has Co2 (bad for anacharis, atleast, floruishs version) and the comprehensive does not have any, it consists of many metals and minerals.

[genocidex]

i would think the co2 would help since all plants need co2 to photosynthesize.... i wonder if its something else or maybe some variant of co2?

[nightfish]

i believe its the variant of co2, its not in actual form, such as how prime converts ammonia, to ammonium, which is non letal to fish. it might be similar to that. excel also has iron, and i know iron is good for plants so...i dont really know.

[shanamarie]

what if the anacharis start yellowing? means its dying? but why is it there's some roots coming out of its stems? rhizomes? not sure by the way... just want to know more about taking care of plants for the beginners.. thanks:)

[shanamarie]

where can i get iron? or where can i get the CO2, i haven't seen one yet...

[Lady Hobbs]

That looks like a low light plant and CO2 is not needed in low light set ups. I would also back off on all the dosing. You only have a very few plants in the tank and don't need to dose daily like you have been.

Some facts on Excel.
http://www.oscarfish.com/article-home/equipment/114-buyer-beaware-seachem-excel.html