Plants falling to bits

[abisheridee]

Is there any way I can prevent this happening? Plants are still tied with sponge and lead until they spread their roots a bit more. They are in a ten gallon bowl, fully stocked and heavily planted. Just a normal light, no extras added specifically for the plants benefit.

http://photos-c.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc3/hs175.snc3/20232_1324319712346_1361479051_890587_2848186_n.jp g

They also get a bit furry...

[reiverix]

What kind of plant is that? When I see those leaves I am reminded of plants that are not true aquatic but get passed off as such.

[clb2196]

I can't see the picture (I'm at work), but it's not uncommon for a plant new to your tank to melt completely, then regrow. If it keeps happeneing, it may be a different issue.

[irishspy]

I'm with reiverix: that almost looks like a dracaena leaf with the red edging, and the disintegration looks like a terrestrial plant that's been underwater too long.

[Slappy*McFish]

Agreed. More than likely it isn't a true aquatic plant.

[schaadrak]

Most of those are definitely dracaena leaves, not aquatic.

[Crispino Ramos]

you might as well plant it in a pot as a house plant. :)

[Cory Keeper]

Agreed, non aquatic.

[abisheridee]

Thanks for the info guys, do you know of any other plants which look similar which would be ok in my tank?

[reiverix]

I can't think of any aquatic plants with green leaves and a red outside edge. Hygrophilia corymbosa almost looks similar. It gets fairly big though.

[EileenH]

I have a sword plant in my 55 gal. no co2 just 2 15 watt bulbs that is simular to that. It is doing well. I put plant tabs under the plant every few months and that seemed to work. Some other low light plants I have that are growing well in my tanks are:

Java Fern
Wendelov a type of fern
Java Moss
Taiwan Moss
Pellia Moss
Hornwort floating plant
willow leaf hygro
anubias
Dwarf Sagittaria

Vallisneria, and spiral Val this grows tall like kelp but can be cut to the lengh you want
Cryptocoryne Wendii "Red"
chain sword or dwarf sagittaria

When I first put my Cryptocoryne Wendii it melted but came back same thing happened with my sword. It could have been a shock to uproot it from my friends tank and changing tanks. The root tabs helped and now it is fine shooting baby sprouts.

[irishspy]

Thanks for the info guys, do you know of any other plants which look similar which would be ok in my tank?

Plant Geek has a very nice guide you can look through: http://www.plantgeek.net/plantguide.php :read:

[abisheridee]

Thanks everyone!! I love this site, everyone is so helpful and I'm learning so much :)

[abisheridee]

WELL, you guys who said they weren't aquatic plants were SO right.

This week I haven't been doing very much on tank maintenence as haven't had much time other than to feed and dose up on some medication they needed, so today I did a big water change and pulled some plants out of the gravel to cut off dead leaves etc, and pulled out the ones which were falling to bits to get a good look at them.

I was wondering why the loaches had been hanging around on the tops of leaves instead of playing round the bottoms of the plants and now I know, when I pulled the plants out all of the bottoms were ROTTEN, they were all furry, just falling to bits of slop in my hands and they stunk. I feel so bad, but I've done some tests and there's no ammonia, and nitrates are a bit higher than they should be so I think I pulled them out just in time! My poor fishies!!

Does this kind of thing happen a lot? LFS selling people non-aquatic plants? My LFS is very well respected and the guys in there are always so helpful to me, always giving me advice, telling me cool stuff and giving me freebies, so I'm not upset with them, but I didn't think they would intentionally sell stuff like this, as he pulled the plants out of an actual stocked tank, not just a bucket of water like they normally do.:huh:

Anyway thanks again for all your help, I'm so glad I asked as you've all saved me a lot of trouble !! :D