Plant tops developing "rusty" colour?

[Glenn Simmons]

Hi all...

 

In the past few weeks I have noticed the top shoots of both my "Hygrophila polysperma" and "Lymnophila aquatica" turning a rusty colour... this colour change has not affected the "Bacopa Caroliniana"... one of my Hygrophila has also developed some leaf deformity, but the others are unaffected, so I suppose this might be a genetic disposition of this one particular plant...

 

The tank is a 15gal, moderately heavy planted, using only gravel no substrate, no additional fertilizer, with 4 tetras and two pictus catfish as residents (as well as many snails)... lighting is 2w per sq ft (two F15T8-cw)...  There is no obvious sign of algae on the plant tops... and the plants are very bushy and up until recently seemed to be doing well... even the "rusty" looking plant tops seem to be still growing (ie, expanding laterally) and the lower branches on the plants are still a nice bright green...

 

My question is... Is this some sort of nutrient deficiency or excess? I have also noticed a nitrite spike in the past week (caused I believe by an explosion in the snail population, but now down to 2ppm) which I am dealing with by more frequent water changes (20% every third day)... could the excess nitrite be causing the colour change?  I am fairly new to growing aquarium plants but have much experience with growing tropical houseplants... Ammonia levels are 0... ph is 6.8...

 

Any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated...

 

Glenn

[Paul Secinaro]

In article <xhJR2.48$9G3...@198.235.216.4>,
Glenn Simmons <mir...@ntl.sympatico.ca> wrote:
>In the past few weeks I have noticed the top shoots of both my =
>"Hygrophila polysperma" and "Lymnophila aquatica" turning a rusty =
>colour... this colour change has not affected the "Bacopa =
>Caroliniana"... one of my Hygrophila has also developed some leaf =
>deformity, but the others are unaffected, so I suppose this might be a =

>genetic disposition of this one particular plant...

Hi Glenn,

In my experience, h. polysperma is very sensitive to nutrient deficiencies
in the water column (even when rooted in a nutrient-rich substrate). I
grow h. poly in a 20g, and when I see the red color starting to show up, I
usually put about 0.5ml of Seachem Flourish in, and it greens up nicely.
I couldn't tell you which specific micronutrient deficiency is causing the
red color though. Maybe iron?

Anyway, get a good liquid fertilizer like Flourish and use it sparingly
(be careful, because if you have an excess of macronutrients, like nitrate
or phosphate in the water, Flourish can really cause the algae to take
off.) You might also try just an iron supplement, like Flourish Iron to
see if that helps, but Flourish will give you a balanced dose of
micronutrients, including iron.

Paul

[Glenn Simmons]

Hi..

Thanks for the input Paul... I suspected a nutrient deficiency but, being
more familiar with land plants, it was hard for me to determine what the
deficiency was. So, I followed your advice and picked up a liquid
fertilizer this afternoon,(not seachem, couldn't find it here)... added it a
few minuted ago, and will be very interested to see how things turn out in
the next week or so...

I noticed that there is no specific breakdown of nutrient percentages on
the bottle as there is with ordinary fertilizer for house plants (ie N-P-K
10-10-10 etc)... would you happen to know of any websites where one could
obtain the actual chemical breakdown of a few different brands of liquid
fertilizer?

Thanks for your help...
Glenn

Paul Secinaro wrote in message <7f7pgp$f...@shell3.shore.net>...
<snip>,
>

[ibu...@my-dejanews.com]

In article <nR5S2.55$nn4...@198.235.216.4>,

Unfortunately aquarium fertilizer makers seem to be afraid of disclosing
their product's makeup. I researching the best way to use the PMDD
technique, I searched many LFSs looking for all fertilizer bottle labels
I could find. Out of the roughly one dozen brands, the only one that
explictly says the concentration in ppm of every single item used in its
manufacture is FloraSan. This is a trace element supplement and does
not contain neither N, P or K. Maybe its' not good for you since you are
looking for a macro element mix, but it is almost perfect for making my
PMDD mix.

-Ivo Busko

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