Amazon Sword + 20:1 Bleach Solution

hage0245

hage0245

AC Members
Dec 8, 2010
212
0
0
39
Minnesota, baby!
Real Name
Shane
I have been battling staghorn algae in my tank that consists of Amazon Swords, Dwarf Sag, and Wisteria. The Wisteria seems to get the brunt of the Staghorn. For a temporary solution, I have been occasionally dipping the plants in a 20:1 bleach solution to kill off the Staghorn which seems to work quite well.

About a week ago, almost all my plants had some amount of Staghorn on them so I removed them all and dipped them in the bleach solution. But I just let them float in it, so the roots were also treated. I didn't think this would be a problem, but my Amazon Swords seem to be responding negatively. Each Sword has a root tab, but the leaves have slowly become slightly transparent and overall look like the bleach has done damage to them.

I think I made a mistake submerging the roots in the solution, so does anyone know if the plants have a chance at survival? Only the Swords seem to be effected, the Wisteria and Sag are doing fine.

BTW, the tank is 55g, with 80 watts of T12 light and two bottles of DIY CO2. I dose Flourish liquid ferts twice a week. The substrate is pool filter sand.
 
Staghorn is a beast. I had an issue with it when I was running DIY Co2 also. I've attempted a bleach dip on a few new plants and it completely destroyed my water lettuce and random other plants. Hopefully they will recover.
 
Yeah it's weird the Staghorn never showed up until I started my CO2. I assume it must be due to the fluctuations in CO2 levels that inevitably occur with DIY. The Staghorn is relentless, I've even seen it on the shells of my little pond snails. It started off on my Wisteria only, then slowly spread to my driftwood, filter inputs, and other plants. This is the first time I've ever exposed any of my plants roots to the bleach solution and it's kind of weird that only the Swords are damaged. I suppose they are pretty heavy root feeders.
 
I agree with jetajockey. I tried DIY CO2 on my 55 gallon and had the same results as you. It was not worth the effort and the result were suboptimal. I use less light now (1.75w/g) and dose with liquid carbon sources and have much better results with my plants, without the algae issues.
 
Just an update, my plants seem to be undergoing a mass death. The Swords look much worse today, and now I can tell the Wisteria is rapidly thinning and the Dwarf Sag is melting. I think this is the biggest mistake I've ever made in my tank, soaking the roots in bleach. As a relative newbie, I have spent countless hours researching and partaking in my planted aquarium, and now it appears I will have to start from scratch. Two weeks ago I was proud of my tank, now I feel ashamed.

So long story short, I recommend against soaking your plants roots in a 20:1 bleach solution when spot-treating for Staghorn algae. Your plants may die and leave you sad.
 
Sorry to dig up an old thread but I have another question concerning this issue.

I decided to apply the "wait and see" method with the plants over the past week or so and they have slowly been melting. I took all the plants out for a trimming today, in the hope that it would trigger some growth. Most of my Sword leaves were heavily damaged, one of them I couldn't salvage even one leaf. The Dwarf Sag seems to be doing the 'best' but I still had to remove ~50% of each plants' leaves. The Wisteria was hit very hard. Before I dipped them, they would consistently sprout new roots along the stem and produce bright, green leaves at the top. When I inspected them, nearly all the leaves were destroyed so I removed the vast majority of the leaves on each plant. They were not sprouting stem leaves either. Now they're just big, tall, ugly stems with maybe a couple small leaves on top.

I don't have much experience in plant death, so how do I know when the plant has no chance to recover? I inspected the root systems and some of them had brown, scraggly roots but most of them had at least a few white, seemingly healthy-looking roots. Does this mean they might survive? How do I know for sure if they are dead?
 
Shane,
Talk with Milo from "MAS", perhaps he has a helpful answer.
Milo is the person who always did and I suppose still does bring wonderful collections of plants to monthly meetings.
Say hello from me - far away.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
AquariaCentral.com
Top Bottom