Why are new anubias melting?

[bazil323]

I recently got a bunch of anubias from Bayleesfishees on Aquabid. They looked pretty awesome when they arrived, but now they have started like melting. I received a variety of them and tied them to various pieces of driftwood in my 75g. I'd had that take populated since the end of December with some other plants (mostly bacopa monieri and what looks like really tall dwarf sag). I've had the anubias in there for about a week. They started melting amost right away. I put 2 plants in another tank (20g long with a few other plants, shrimp, and snails) and one in a third tank (10 g with a few strands of Java moss and a few baby mollies). The ones in those two smaller tanks seem fine.

I had added Plant Gro throughout January and then root tabs in late January/early February. I haven't dosed with anything since. My nitrates from the tap are actually rather high at about 20. I haven't measured the nitrates in a while since my freshwater kit only has nitrite, ammonia, and pH.

I have 3 18" 15w lights over the tank (under watts I know), 2 are over the side with the bacopa and "dwarf sag" the other is over the side with 8 of the anubias (there is one on the 2 light side with a total of 9 anubias).

Umm, what else? Stocking includes 19 diamond tetras, 2 L387 plecs, 2 baby bristlenoses, 6 juvie kribs, 1 male adult molly, 2 honey gouramis, and a billion mts. Oh, and about 20 or so guppy/endlers.

 

[Mgamer20o0]

water is deeper in the 75 too so less light gets down there add that to the fact they are grown out of water and take time to adjust. why not get some shop lights to put over it every little bit would help. you could go really nice with some t5 ho or cf.

 

[pinkertd]

Anubia leaves are pretty thick and hardy, I can't imagine them truly melting like crypt leaves do where they go all soft and mushy. Is it possible that you allowed the leaves to dry out too much while working with tying them to the driftwood?

 

[bazil323]

It's possible that I had them out too long. The tips turn yellowish and then brownish and then the tips start to disappear. The "frame" of the veins or whatever remains in place after the rest of the tip of the leaf is gone and then that disappears as well. The rest of the leaf seems okay, maybe a little yellowish/pale green. I was thinking that it was a lack of nutrients that was making them turn yellow and die (only a few of the plants are doing it though all seem a bit pale). I'm surprised that light would be the issue since I had an anubia with almost no light (see next paragraph) that's doing great. That would make sense to me since I've got so many plants in there and have not dosed ferts (other than the root tabs) since January. I would say that the tank is mediumly planted at the moment. Should I pick up some ferts tonight?

The thing that's weird is that they are only doing that in the 75g. The tank that has no lights over it and is in a spot in the room where it gets very little ambient light except for maybe an hour or two of indirect sunlight in the afternoon in about a quarter to a third of the tank has 2 of the new anubias plus an anubia nana petite that I've had for about 6 months, and they all seem to be fine. That tank has laterite in the substrate, and I hadn't actually cleaned it or done a decent water change in a long time (like a month and a half, bad girl!). It has the cherry shrimp, pond snails, ramshorns, and a few stray mts. It also has a few Java ferns, some Java moss, a couple of the "dwarf sag" in the spot that gets the afternoon sunlight, and some hair algae from my brackish tank. The rest are fake plants. Oh, yeah, and the anubias are in the part that gets almost none of the indirect afternoon sunlight.

The other small tank is a 10g with a few baby mollies and a couple cherry shrimp and pond snail hitchkikers. It has a small amount of laterite also and a little tiny bit of Java moss (say about 10 strands). That tank has more ambient light and also gets an hour or two of indirect sunlight in part of the tank. This one has one anubia in it which is also doing fine.

 

[pinkertd]

It's possible that I had them out too long. The tips turn yellowish and then brownish and then the tips start to disappear. The "frame" of the veins or whatever remains in place after the rest of the tip of the leaf is gone and then that disappears as well. The rest of the leaf seems okay, maybe a little yellowish/pale green.

The reason I mentioned dry out because it happened to me a couple of weeks ago. I relocated a large anubia, had it in a large container of water and thought the leaves were all totally submerged until I decided on a place to replant it. Well, the tips of two leaves weren't kept wet and the damage became obvious after I replanted it.......that area turned yellow, then brown and then the leaves looked so ugly I snipped them off...so I don't know what happens after they turn brown! LOL! But just the parts of the leaves that were dry for a while.

 

[bazil323]

When I got them, they were in those plastic cone-shaped plant protectors (like you get when you buy a bouquet of flowers) and they all seemed damp. The roots were in rock wool. I had them laying out on the paper (dry) that they were wrapped in while I tied them to the wood. They were probably out for a good hour. I wasn't able to plant all of them at once, so I dropped 2 in right away (before I did anything with them) and those likely did not dry out.

The ones that I put in the other tanks I just dropped in the tank until I could "plant" them.

 

[pinkertd]

Yes, you have to keep them wet while working. Usually I throw dripping wet paper towels over the leaves of stuff I'm working on cause sometimes I get interrupted a time or two or a million! I think that's all you're dealing with here too.