Plant help please!

Kim

I am getting a little worried about my 15 gallon planted tank. The plants have been in for about 4 days, and some of the leaves are dying off on the swords. I trimed off as many dead ones as I could, but it's pretty hard to get at them and trim them without uprooting them. Then I noticed a lot of debris floating around from the trimming, so I vacuumed it up and skimmed the vacuum over the bottom of the tank, and picked up a good amount of plant matter. The other plants appear to be doing fine, it's just the swords.

I am going to get a new light today, because the one I have is second hand along with the tank. I use eco-complete substrate, and do not have CO2. I use flourish excel instead.

I have read that some plants can go into shock when transplanted. If this is what is happening to my plants, how long should it take before I see signs of improvement? I am going on vacation in 3 days, and I don't want rotting plants messing with my water parameters when I am away.

Also, the water is slightly cloudy. Is this normal. Ammonia and nitrite are 0 and nitrates are low. I have 3 cory cats in there right now, and they are doing great. They seem really happy, and their colors even seem to have intensified since I got them from the pet store. They do not seem to be bothered by any of this, and are not skittish at all.

Please if you know anything about this, please tell. I don't want everything to be ruined when I go on vacation, and definitely don't want to put my fish at risk. Thank you.

1077

They aren't brazilian swords buy chance are they? I believe many have had problems with those. Amazon swords should rebound after planting. It's only been four days.Proper lighting will help.

Kim

No, they aren't brazilian swords. After a little research, I think one might actually be a cryptocoryne spirulis, and two of the others may be subulata. The bigger one looks like a sword to me though. The only reason that I don't know for sure is that when I went to order these plants, some of my choices were out of stock (I ordered them from bayleesfishees), so he gave me the plants that I had ordered, and several others for only $20! And I paid no shipping!

I got a new light, and what a difference. It is still only a 15 watt, but it has a 9350 K rating, and it is new. I am hoping that they will do better now, and I will just continue to trim any dead leaves so as to not pollute the water. The good thing is that the new leaves seem to be fine, so I am hoping that they will grow well. Thanks.

Kim

Would the dying leaves be causing the water to appear cloudy? It is not bad, but you can see the difference when you look at the tank next to it. Ammonia and nitrites are both at 0. My catfish are doing great, so this does not seem to be affecting them at all. Does anyone have any experience with this? It does not seem to be a problem, but I don't want something bad to happen when I go on vacation for a week. Thanks.

1077

It is not uncommon for a tank that is less than a month old to go through different stages during the maturing process which never ends. As long as the ammonia and nitrites are at 0 through the nitrification process and not through artificial means then I would not worry. I would probably do a small water change before I left for vacation and skip the vaccuming for a couple weeks. Chances are the water will have cleared by your return assuming no one overfeeds while you are away. Your tank looks good! Just one thing for you to consider, Were it me I might look at a little larger filter. I would want one rated for double the gal. the tank holds.

fish_4_all

Crypts will "melt" a lot of times when moved to a new tank or whenever they want to it seems. Keep them in place and they should come back in a couple weeks. They do not like to be moved so make sure to leave them in place as much as possible.

15 watts isn't reall that much for a 15 gallon tank but it really depends on the plants you have as to if you might need more. Cryps, some do okay in low light but some need higher light. Swords do fine and stray smaller in low light. Other plants depend on different light levels.

Try some root tabs in the substrate for the crypts and anyhting else really. It won't hurt just try not to uncover the tabs for the first week or so.

Kim

Well, the only reason I did not go for a higher wattage was that my fixture can't go more than 19 watts.

So I should not vacuum the gravel? I was not really digging in it, just hovering over it to get some dead leaves and such. The good thing is that the new leaves seem to be growing and doing well.

Yes, I think when I add more fish, I will get a second filter. Anyone know of one that is powerful yet quiet (I have 3 tanks in my bedroom and don't want to have to try to sleep through a ton of noise)? I added a small airstone for some more surface movement. Will this drive out too much CO2 for my plants? I have heard that plants use oxygen at night. Should I turn it on at night instead of during the day? I think the filter I have now should be fine while I go on vacation, as there are only 3 fish in there now, and I am premeasuring all my food.

Oh, all the plants that I have are low light plants. I researched to make sure that they would do fine, because I knew that I did not have a great fixture, all the other plants appear fine. Thanks for the advice! This is my first planted tank, so I really only have what I have read for experience.