Amazon Sword Shrinkage

[ZorroNet]

I have a strange thing going on with one of my Amazon Swords... It's "shrinking"!

Here's what happened...
The plant was flourishing a little too well in my small 29 gal tank, and it sent off a runner with 3 new plants on it. We can talk about my regrets about moving it later, but I decided to move it to a bigger tank [40 gal octagon tank] that is also almost twice as tall as the previous tank it was planted in. This tank has a different substrate as well which should have been beneficial (50/50 eco-complete and gravel mix) due to an increase in iron available to this heavy root feeder.

Now on to the shrinkage... one by one the long lush leaves died and shorter new leaves were put out at the center of the plant. It now has 1 long leaf in the back making it look like a Cleveland Indians mascot, and all the other leaves are healthy looking but half the length! I'm not sure what has happened, but I'm not liking it. Anybody have any natural approach to try to nudge my former monster along to return to its state of majesty? I don't do chemicals, fertilizing, or CO2.

Thanks for helping me think outside the box a bit!

Tank plants are: Java Moss, Dwarf Sag, Val Americano (straight, not the coffee drink), 2 small Java Ferns, and a baby Amazon Sword still on the runner.
Tank inhabitants are: 1 Male Betta, 3 Siamese Algae Eaters, 1 Chinese Algae Eater (can't catch him), Japanese Trapdoor Snails, Malaysian Trumpet Snails, and the occasional Pond Snail.

 

[THE V]

When swords are short on fertilizer thet do exactly what you are describing. Give the monster some more food and it will grow strongly again.

 

[ZorroNet]

You know, now that I think about it, I did overfeed the fish in that tank when I first set it up. I bet the excess fish food was fertilizing the sword, and I never put two and two together. I hardly feed the current tank at all because of its small amount of inhabitants. :/ Hmmmm...

 

[jpappy789]

Keep in mind that while Eco Complete has a high CEC, it has very little available nutrients itself. Root tabs would be an easy boost to the substrate for the sword.

 

[ZorroNet]

Keep in mind that while Eco Complete has a high CEC, it has very little available nutrients itself. Root tabs would be an easy boost to the substrate for the sword.

Would you mind defining CEC? So many acronyms in aquaria!

As for root tabs, I might have to go that route, but I was trying to go as ecologically natural as possible. I thought about it overnight, and I think my original tetra breeding plan will help the sword get some more nutrients. It's in another thread, but basically I want to build a breeding ground for tetras in this tank, so there will naturally be an increase in nutrients for plants due to the increase in fish load and feeding. I'm ok with it not being a quick fix, but do you agree that this would have a good long haul effect on the plants in the tank?

 

[tanker]

Would you mind defining CEC? So many acronyms in aquaria!

As for root tabs, I might have to go that route,

I am not sure what the Acronyms is, but it is the absorbtion rate of the subtrate. It means that the gravel will absorb the nutrients from the water and hold it.

IMO--Swords need lots of food (root tabs). My tanks are heavy on the ferts (because I have high lights and CO2), but my swords grwoth rate jumps whenever I add tabs. Even in the tank with ECO.

 

[THE V]

CEC is actually an acronym from soil science. Cation exchange capacity. It refers to the soils ability to weakly bind to positively charged ions. Most nutrients are positively charged ions with a few exceptions.

Nitrogen can form ammonium NH4+ but is not safe in aquariums. Normally it is in the form of Nitrate NO3- that doesn't bind to the soil but leaches out easily. Phosphate is the same way.

K+, B+, Fe+, Mg+, Mn+, Mo+, plus more are all positively charged and held held in thr substrate. Of course soil with high CEC also need to be slightly acidic. The extra H+ ions swap with the nutrients and make them float free. 6.3-6.7 pH range is ideal if I remember correctly.

CEC capacity is commonly from the molecular structure of clay and decomposed organic material.

 

[ZorroNet]

Ok, so if fish food is composed of nutrients, overfeeding (which I did before because I was a newbie) fertilized the substrate before and fed the sword. I get it... It also caused a hug snail population boom haha! Either way it's a cheap way to fertilize somewhat naturally with either decomposing food or detritus. I'll report back after I put a load of fish in there and start feeding them... I bet the sword will return to its monstrosity... I shall overfeed (a little) in the name of science! haha

 

[jpappy789]

CEC is actually an acronym from soil science. Cation exchange capacity. It refers to the soils ability to weakly bind to positively charged ions. Most nutrients are positively charged ions with a few exceptions.

Nitrogen can form ammonium NH4+ but is not safe in aquariums. Normally it is in the form of Nitrate NO3- that doesn't bind to the soil but leaches out easily. Phosphate is the same way.

K+, B+, Fe+, Mg+, Mn+, Mo+, plus more are all positively charged and held held in thr substrate. Of course soil with high CEC also need to be slightly acidic. The extra H+ ions swap with the nutrients and make them float free. 6.3-6.7 pH range is ideal if I remember correctly.

CEC capacity is commonly from the molecular structure of clay and decomposed organic material.

Particles can have pH-independent CEC sites too. Depends completely on the composition of the material though. Soils can also hold anions so some extent but less so and in the aquarium I doubt it would be a significant factor to consider.

Over feeding can work for certain tanks...but you may not want the other negative consequences such as water quality issues or snail population explosions. Honestly, root tabs are very easy to use and you wont notice them hardly at all.

 

[ZorroNet]

Over feeding can work for certain tanks...but you may not want the other negative consequences such as water quality issues or snail population explosions. Honestly, root tabs are very easy to use and you wont notice them hardly at all.

I'll consider root tabs... I just didn't want to get into "fake" ferts and chemicals. I'm attempting to keep my tanks as natural as far as ecology goes as possible. Obviously things like mechanical filtration are important and even exist in nature... just not in the form of a HOB haha... Hey look it's a Fluval 8000000 on that beaver dam!