Red Ludwigia Problems

Z

Zonker

AC Members
Jan 25, 2004
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Hello,

I'm having trouble keeping my Red Ludwigia happy. The leaves are yellowish, some have pinholes in them, and the stems/leaves have dark spots on them. Many of the leaves have fallen off. All water parameters seem ok. At first, this seemed like a potassium shortage, so I tried out Flourish Pottasium. This didn't seems to help out. I have since switched to dosing No-Salt to get 20ppm and still no improvement. I'm using 15W compact fluorescents and they're on 12hrs/day. I've also added at Hagen CO2 system. While this made a difference for the other plants, the Ludwigia is still struggling. Any idea?

Thanks,

Zonker
 
I had red ludwigia once and it slowly died off, but before doing so, the leaves slowly turned brown and kind of wilted. Anyhow, I attributed it to not enough light so maybe that's the solution to your problem as well. From what I've learned since, they seem to be a high light plant (as most/all red leaved plants), so I'm not sure what size tank you're using, but if you have 2-15w compacts, it may or may not be enough light depending on what size your tank is.
 
Are you talking about L. Repens? If you are, then I'll tell you my experience with these plants.

I had the same problem with the leaves. I have a highlight tank, but it didn't seem to matter to it. The leaves looked horrible and it wouldn't grow (it had a lot of algae on it too). I wrote about this not long ago. I discovered that it needed not only enough light, but also some KNO3. I had none in my tank. When I added this, they started growing and since then, they have been doing well (they have a nice rosy color near the light).

Have you checked for KNO3? Maybe that's your problem. It might help if you can put a little more light in your tank too.

HTH

Lissette :)
 
Kcl

The tank is a 10G...sorry, forgot to mention that. I've been adding KCL (No-Salt), and from what I've read, it has the same effect and using KNO3. My leaves also have a lot of algae on them.

Zonker
 
Zonker,

I don't think that No-Salt is the same thing as KNO3. KNO3 is for Nitrates. If you do some searching in this forum, you'll find that they are both different ingredients. I'm not an expert on this, because I'm fairly new to plants, but I think that I'm right. If not, I hope that someone can chime in and correct me.

I hope that Len is around to help you with this problem. Many others, including myself, consider Len as the expert. He's helped me out a great deal with my plants, so I hope that he sees your post and helps you too.

As far as your light is concerned, I think you need more light for your plants. 15 watts is too little for this plant. If it does grow, it will be a pale green merely surviving. I'm sorry to tell you this, but it's true. Try to get a little more light into the tank. From what I've learned, low light plants are the only ones that will survive in the type of light that you have. Too much fertilizer is not really needed in your case, you'll be growing a lot of algae instead of the plants.

I hope that Len or someone with more experience can guide you.

Good Luck.

Lissette ;)
 
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KNO3 provides the plants with both potassium (K) and nitrates. No-Salt is a good source of potassium; if there is enough nitrogen in the tank the plants will still be getting both.
Zonker, I think Aquabum has the answer - this plant needs more light to thrive. Are you using 15W screw-in CF bulbs in a 10g incandescent canopy? I've got this setup on my 10g and while it does provide a lot more light than the 25W incandescent bulbs usually used in these canopies, I don't think Ludwigia would survive in my tank. When I first got the bulbs, I figured that 2 15W spirals would give me 3WPG, but RTR mentioned that with these bulbs you end up losing a lot of light because of their shape.
 
Zonker said:
I've been adding KCL (No-Salt), and from what I've read, it has the same effect and using KNO3.
Click to expand...
Sorry, I should have quoted this in my above post, to make it clearer (feeling very foggy tonight!) - I meant to explain exactly what Zonker says here. AFAIK the reason you (may) get the same results with either KNO3 or KCl is in tanks where enough N is present for the plants not to need a supplemental source, KCl supplies the K, and the plants are still getting everything they need. If there are lots of plants, KNO3 supplies the additional N they'll need after using up the ammonia produced by the fish. :)
 
Blinky,

You learn something new everyday.

Now I understand what the difference is between KCI and KNO3. I'm definitely a newbie when it comes to chemicals (more like a dunce). :p

I knew there was a difference. I just didn't know what. Thanks, in my part for clearing that up.

Lissette ;)
 
I'm still learning too, but that's what I've read and it makes sense to me. You're not the only one who gets overwhelmed; when I started with plants I had no idea I'd need to review chemistry, latin, or study lighting - it feels a bit like I'm in highschool again :D
 
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