Plants Melting/Not Green

[marky1991]

I've started a new tank recently (around 3 weeks at this point, not quite fully cycled yet. (nitrite levels have peaked but not yet gone down) and the plants look like they are either dying or at the very least not doing well. I'm not sure what the issue is. I had started doing EI, but stopped about a week ago (I did it for about a week) when the plants all seemed to suddenly start doing worse. (they since kind of got a little better and fertilizing might have been completely unrelated, but I've just felt skiddish about changing anything right now)

All of my elodea densa is melting and now appears to be growing algae of some kind. The new growth is vibrantly green and looks very healthy though. Should I just prune the rotten leaves? Or should I clip and replant the new growth and just throw the rest away?

My sword is turning yellowish and generally just not looking great. The small leaves all are turning to lace and brown. (not sure which came first, I didn't notice either until just now)

The anubias is in general exactly as it was when I bought it, except for those three brown spots. One of the leafs on one of the plants has turned a lellowish green.

The java ferns are all doing not terrible, but some leaves are getting diffuse black shadows and some are getting small black dots. Some leaves are fine, but none of them seem to be thriving.

As you can see from the picture, half of what I think is water wisteria has just died. I'm not sure if the other half is still alive or not.

Any tips would be welcomed. This is my second planted tank ever and I'm not sure what's wrong.

My specs:
40 gallon breeder
Pressurized co2
sunsun hw-303b
finnex planted+
ecocomplete gravel

My plants:
Elodea densa
Anubias (i've forgotten the exact species)
A sword (I don't think it's an amazon sword, not sure)
Java fern
Water Wisteria (i think, not sure)
(in retrospect, I should have kept better track of what exactly I got. Will do in the future)

Levels:
Temp: ~75 F
Ammonia: 0 ppm (bumping up to ~3)
Nitrite: 2 ppm
Nitrate: 40/80 ppm (nned to do another water change)

 

[FreshyFresh]

How long do you leave the light on? The Finnex planted + will definitely grow plants, but I'm not sure it's enough intensity to keep up with the pressurized CO2 and the fert regimen you're doing

 

[marky1991]

I've got it on for 7-8 hours every day. Should I get another light? I thought about getting 2, but was hesitant because some said that beginners should lean towards less light and I got conflicting suggestions as to whether 1 planted+ would be sufficient for a tank similar to mine.

 

[Tifftastic]

Its normal for swords to melt when they're transferred to a new tank.

Java fern and anubias don't like to be buried in substrate. But they prefer to be attached to a rock or a piece of driftwood. They're also slow growers.

 

[marky1991]

I've just tied the java ferns to rocks. None of the rhizomes are actually buried. The java ferns are loosely tied to rocks and only the anubias' roots are buried in the substrate.

The sword isn't melting at all, it's just turning brownish. Is that just the plant getting acclimated to the new tank?

 

[Tifftastic]

Turning brown is the start of melting. The leaves turn brown and then they die, that's melting and is due to the change in conditions that they are growing in

 

[fishorama]

You're having a new plants & tank issues...don't freak out!

The old leaves of many plants will die back as they adjust to your tank. Most are grown emersed (out of water except the roots) in commercial plant farms. I have never grown elodea well, its a cooler temp plant but can grow ok at...whatever temp...after adjusting. You can trim off the yellowing & brown dying leaves. On stem plants like elodea keep the good tops, replant them & throw out the nasty squishy brown stuff.

On crowned plants like swords, the old leaves will gradually die off but new growth should be slightly smaller & maybe a different shape but healthy looking. Trim off old leaves as they turn yellow or brown (all the way down to the "crown" where leaves & roots meet). Be careful not to plant them too deep, the "crown" should be at or ever so slightly above the substrate

Ferns --their leaves can turn brown (trim off) ...or the dark dots are actually how they reproduce, by spores on the leaf undersides. Baby plantlets will form on the older leaves. Just leave them alone for a while until it looks like enough roots have formed. It can be a bit ugly before that but hang tough & you'll have several new ferns that can be detached from the old leaf & attached to wood or rocks...or even in the substrate as long as the "rhizome" (sideways stem) is above the substrate.

 

[FreshyFresh]

I tried elodia once and didn't have luck with it at all. It's more of a pond plant I've read. Cold/cool water like said above, but you could probably make it work in a tank. I still question why you need pressurized CO2 and EI dosing for these plants though. I keep various anubia, java ferns and sword plants with neither and just ordinary gravel substrate. I do dose occasional liquid glutaral products for CO2 as well as Seachem trace elements and Seachem comprehensive supplement. One of my tanks with plants uses a 48" Current Satellite +, the other has a 30" twin tube T5HO (24" tubes).

 

[Floridaman]

This is virtually the same as what is happening to me. It is fustrating.

 

[FreshyFresh]

A good point brought up by fishorama is the how the're grown thing. I know plants I've bought in a bag or tube from the chain stores do take more time to do well than the ones I buy from my LFS that come out of a regular stock tank. This may be the major factor on what's happening above?