starting over - melting swords

[angyles]

after my recent battle with Aquarium Armageddon (columnaris) and the loss of all my stem plants, all I have left is my swords. I did a complete bleach of all my substrate, equipment, EVERYTHING. I even bleach bathed the swords.

It's now been 3 weeks or so. The swords have taken a complete nose dive, and I'm not too surprised since, well I BLEACHED THEM. All the leaves have melted. they each have about 2 new baby healthy leaves, and the ton of dissolving monster leaves, left. it's very sad because they were HUGE. 2' tall, some of them!! I've now ordered a batch of new plants from Aqua bid and they should be here tomorrow.

I'm hoping someone can tell me that yes, this is caused by the bleach bath they had and that my new plants aren't going to do the same. I'm about to start ferts again and just put root tabs back in about a week ago. Can the swords recover if I cut off all but the couple new leaves? will my new plants melt away? should I put them in a 10G for a while? if so, until when!?

also, I feel confident there's no bleach left in the tank or substrate so I don't think that's the cause.

 

[echoofformless]

Barring the existence of any bleach, if you have healthy roots and a few good leaves they will likely come back. Just don't overdo it with the ferts or what not. Let nature take its course.
Hopefully your lights are in good order. Try a little Flourish Excel too. That will give carbon and also stave off certain forms of algae.

I personally wouldn't have bleached the tank. As nasty as columnaris can be, once it's killed off all of your fish that's pretty much it for the disease.

 

[fishcrazee]

Can the swords recover if I cut off all but the couple new leaves? will my new plants melt away? should I put them in a 10G for a while? if so, until when!?

Yes, cut them back and let them recover. your new plants may/may not melt, it mostly depends on whether they were growing emerged before they shipped them. My experience with swords is...well, I have never had one melt, and I love swords and have had a lot of them over the years.

I personally don't quarantine new plants, just inspect them and rinse off any snails or other debris that might be on them.

In the future if you bleach dip, use a teensy bit of bleach, 1 part to 20 parts water. That is enough to sanitize without overkill. Also for plants, don't leave it in there soaking; let it rest 2 minutes then take it out.

Good luck!

Fishcrazee

 

[bushwhacker]

Yes, cut them back and let them recover. your new plants may/may not melt, it mostly depends on whether they were growing emerged before they shipped them. My experience with swords is...well, I have never had one melt, and I love swords and have had a lot of them over the years.

I personally don't quarantine new plants, just inspect them and rinse off any snails or other debris that might be on them.

In the future if you bleach dip, use a teensy bit of bleach, 1 part to 20 parts water. That is enough to sanitize without overkill. Also for plants, don't leave it in there soaking; let it rest 2 minutes then take it out.

Good luck!

Fishcrazee

thats what i do a quick dip in a low bleach solution just to take care of any snail eggs rinse em real good and into the tank they go

 

[angyles]

I read to do 1 part to 19 parts and let them soak at least 3 mins. that's what I did, sounds like it was too much :-(

well, I cut them all back today. Took a look at the roots and had to toss a couple becasue they were brown moosh. I had like 8 though so that's okay. I just hope my huge amazons recover. They were magnificent. About 20 leaves each and so tall.

I put the new plants in that came today. Added some trace, seachem flourish (general fert), and excel. hopefully they'll bounce back but at this point, I'm more worried about the $50 worth of new plants though!! I guess time will tell. I know at some point the tank has to stabalize again and everything be okay. patience is not one of my virtues though ;-)