Ugh! Tiger Lotus Melting!

[PlantedTankLover]

I dont get it, if one plant is doing good in my tank, another is doing horribly! My lotus is melting, ideas why?

[PlantedTankLover]

bump

[AirstoND]

Some recommendations/reasons
1) It's natural for some leaves to melt
2) Abrupt water change/temperature can send it into dormancy if it is not receiving nutrients.
3) What's your lighting?
4) Try high N-P-K root tabs such as tetra pond tablets
5) Too much agitation/circulation? Do you vacuum substrate too frequently?

[PlantedTankLover]

I do water changes ever 10 days or so, Last one was on Saturday. I've been using seachem flourish root tabs. Lighting is 2, 39 watt T5 bulbs (6700). I just hold the hose on top of the sand to suck up the poo. Most of it collects in one corner of the tank. Should I take the spray bar out?

[AirstoND]

Ditch the Seachem tabs and use Tetra root tabs, they have much higher N-P-K in addition to micronutrients. Those are good lights for these plants, so you need to back it up with nutrients, I would only move the spraybar if its current is directly hitting it, but some current is not bad

[PlantedTankLover]

Awesome thank you. Could you PM me a link?

[JMN16150]

Nymphaea despise too much water current, they also die if buried a bit to deep(over the rosette center), just the roots should be buried...

[newms]

You might also consider dosing Seachem Iron or something similar. I have my lotus in a dirt tank with clay in the dirt as a primary iron source. Occasionally dosing the Seachem Iron as well usually gave me monster lotus leaves. Here's an old pic from when I was running DIY co2 for example:

[mrkookm]

Originally Posted by PlantedTankLover

I do water changes ever 10 days or so, Last one was on Saturday. I've been using seachem flourish root tabs. Lighting is 2, 39 watt T5 bulbs (6700). I just hold the hose on top of the sand to suck up the poo. Most of it collects in one corner of the tank. Should I take the spray bar out?

Is that all that is done & added to this tank? Without more info I would say you are missing one or all of the following: K, Mg & traces.

[snausage]

lotus leaves tend to get melty once the stems get longer and start getting hit with more current and more light. I noticed in the picture you provided that the newer smaller leaves look nice and healthy. For now I'd recommend just trimming off all the old growth and trying not to fret too much.

[cprash]

Is this a new addition to your tank? Assuming your lighting and ferts are fine, lotus leaves melt away when disturbed or placed in a new tank. Mine sent up new leaves a week later.

[PlantedTankLover]

I've had it for about 2 years now. I started with 1 and it multiplied, but ever since I changed the substrate over a year ago the growth has never been the same. This is what my tank looked like a yeah 1/2 ago. The growth is nothing like this now.

[snausage]

Originally Posted by PlantedTankLover

I've had it for about 2 years now. I started with 1 and it multiplied, but ever since I changed the substrate over a year ago the growth has never been the same. This is what my tank looked like a yeah 1/2 ago. The growth is nothing like this now.

Is the new substrate just sand?

Maybe you planted it a little too deeply.

[AirstoND]

Originally Posted by PlantedTankLover

Awesome thank you. Could you PM me a link?

Here ya go!
http://www.thatpetplace.com/lily-gro

Look into a blackwater setup, i.e. using peat filtration to soften water for lotus

[snausage]

Originally Posted by AirstoND

Look into a blackwater setup, i.e. using peat filtration to soften water for lotus

That's unnecessary; lotus lillies grow fine in moderately hard water.