Low tech Crypts melting

[wantsome]

My Crypts have been melting slowly over the past week since I set the tank up. I have 4 bunches of Wendetii.

Do Crypts usualy bounce back from this? At what point should I pull them?

[CL]

Yes, crypts grow back They melt when they are moved. Wendtii is a very hardy plant

[Down_Shift]

I was freaking out also. My crypt melted for almost 2 weeks. All the old leaves are gone.. and now I see some bright fresh baby leaves!!

[cah925]

This is typical of crypts. They are sensitive to moving and replanting. Give it a few weeks and you should see some new growth. I had one that I thought was dead and dug around the substrate moving the root/bulb unintentionally. A few weeks later it started growing in a different spot.

[SearunSimpson]

Also, I find crypts like "dirty" substrate. One thing that I have found very succesful is to not plant crypts into a new tank for at least the first month or so. If I want crypts in an area of a newly set up tank, I just leave that spot bare, then put them in after that month or so. For whatever reason, I find that the moe mulm is in the substrate, the better crypts do. Addition of root tabs are also very appreciated.

[skabooya]

My crypts melted after they were in my tank for a few months and now one is comming back after 3 months but its weakly looking. I use root tabs and have a fluorite substrate so i dunno whats up with my crypts.

[jusu]

Originally Posted by skabooya

My crypts melted after they were in my tank for a few months and now one is comming back after 3 months but its weakly looking. I use root tabs and have a fluorite substrate so i dunno whats up with my crypts.

I think crypts are not only melting because of replanting - it is also a response to change in water hardness and so on (if I'm not mistaken).
If you use NPK tabs, all should be fine in a while.. well, guess as long the conditions are stable.

[Karackle]

Well I agree with everyone else, crypts tend to melt when moved to new conditions, but do bounce back quite well.

To answer your other question too, just pull the leaves out that are clearly not going to make it so they don't foul the water. And then it's just a waiting game for the new leaves to pop up! Root tabs definitely help as Crypts get their nutrients via roots more than through their leaves like some other aquatic plants (probably also why they tend to do better in older, "dirty" substrate).

[Church]

My crypts melt when I look at them wrong.

They ALWAYS come back though, even fuller and bushier than before. Just be patient. Crypts are some of the hardiest plants ever.

[Crystalview]

My cryps were sensitive to Excel so I no longer grow them

[skabooya]

Good info on crypts here but i was curious (ive never moved my crypts) but i wanted to see if they were still in the substrate... nope. Completely melted. I pulled up completely rotted squishy white hollow falling apart holey roots. And i only found one. I could not even find the other ones theyre just gone. makes me so sad because i really wanted my windetii reds and bronze to grow. Only my green seems to have made it.

[Church]

That's interesting. Do you have snails? Maybe some snails took advantage of the melting crypts and finished them off? I don't know what to tell you, other than I've had crypts come back from the grave after 6 months of thinking I removed every last trace of them! It's usually not a good thing, either, because when they decide to resurrect from the dead, they always try growing up through a thicket of rotala or didiplis.

Speaking of didiplis, I also once experienced a spontaneous regrowth of this plant after thinking I had eradicated it. Unlike the crypts, though, this one came back in the perfect location, and the look of it was stunning, because it came up as individual stems, nicely spaced apart from each other, as opposed to the big bunch of them I had originally planted.

I still love crypts, though. How could I not? My 5g is filled with them, even though I never fertilize, I rarely change the water, and seldom add Excel.

They are the low-light plants, for me.

[skabooya]

Nope my tank is snail free. Ive never had snails in that tank. And i agree i love crypts... i just wish i could get them to grow in my tank. They are prob the easiest plant to grow and i just cant grow them. Maybe if i see some in my lfs as bare root i will pick up one and try again. But this is my second time already... 3rd times a charm i hope.