Plants losing leaves

[Shekoi]

the plants in my 20g were growing really well, but laterly they have started to lose alot of leaves. (see link below for setup details)

main ones are the crypts 'melting'

i'm also moving my tanks back to my parents later this week - hope to just empty 20g and leave the plants in place - is this best? i don't want to make problem worse.


would co2 injection help???? i would have to be cheap one or home made - if i find time!!

Cheers
shekoi

 

[jordank]

Well you only have like 1.4 watts per gallon... I'd get atleast 2-3 watts per gallon and diy co2 might help.

 

[Shekoi]

i was thinking that could be the problem - but all the plants i have are considered low light plants and they were fine for couple months with only the 10000K bulb in. i only added the second bulb week or so ago when i noticed the loss of leaves - but it didn't help.

cheers

 

[Blinky]

If you've recently upgraded the lighting, that's likely the cause of the Crypts melting. I've found that pruning and moving them around sometimes triggers a melt, but for me a large change in the amount of light they receive almost always guarantees at least some melting. A while ago I moved some C. wendtii from a tank with medium light and a pH of ~7 to my 65g which has high light and a pH of ~6.6 and everything melted.
They should come back, if you provide good conditions and have the patience to leave them alone for a month or so you should start seeing healthy new growth. I've read articles about Crypts melting in the wild at different times of year when conditions change - some say it's not any type of illness, it's natural Crypt behaviour.