[CoRick]

Dear all,
I used substrate soil and was using dry start method to plant my Carpeet seeds , was giving them sufficient light for 12hours and Keeping it humid Using spray for humidity 2 times a day... only 2-3 plants grew and rest got fungus... Kindly tell me the reason ... Was covering it with Poly

 

[Kubla]

Lots of people post on here with this issue. The bigger issue is your seeds are most likely fake. The vast majority of "carpeting" seeds sold are semi-aquatic plants and can't be grown submerged. Aquatic seeds are difficult to come by. Unfortunately, most people spend time, get these going great, flood the tank and then they start dying off within a few weeks.

 

[ElleDee]

Fungus is an issue for seedlings because it grows in the same moist environment that is best for germinating seeds. You have to carefully balance your moisture and airflow so that things are moist, but not too stagnant. It can be tricky to get right, and there's always a risk. I saw on another thread that you reused some fungus infested soil and I would not have advised you to do that. The soil is fine for a flooded tank, but once it's gotten established it'll likely be able to reemerge quite quickly, which is what you have seen. Unfortunately there's not a good way to treat the fungus and not hurt the seedlings, except to reduce the moisture as much as possible (spray less, air out the tank daily) and hope that the plants will be able to survive long enough so you can flood the tank.

HOWEVER. You cannot ignore the issue of the fake seeds. Don't spend all this effort on a dry start that is likely already doomed! It's is really unfortunate that this fraud is so widespread, but you are not the first nor will you be the last person in this situation. I'm sorry, it sucks.

 

[CoRick]

For the airflow wht needs to be done? Should i remove the poly and keep it aireated all times ?

 

[Blue Ridge Reef]

A small fan over the top of the aquarium and removing the poly for a few hours a day should keep fungus to a minimum if it doesn't have a good foothold. Perforating the poly could help, but it's still going to be a wet, smothered environment unless removed to air out from time to time. A light spraying of diluted Excel to 5 parts water would go a long way. I'd try to aim it only where the mold is, if it isn't too bad. Don't get it on your skin or breathe the fumes -can't stress that enough.

And I hate to say this but if you got the seeds on Amazon or Ebay, I'd tear it down and start over. There are precious few suppliers of legitimate aquatic plant seeds. I put together a list of links from YouTube videos and posts from all over the internet where people had bought seeds that turned out to be terrestrial plants and grasses a couple of years back on this forum. Funny thing was, trying to find links to people with positive experiences from legit seed sellers was near-impossible. Perhaps there are some out there, but their numbers are dwarfed by all the scams. You're really better off starting with live (known species) plants. Fingers crossed for you. Where did you get them? Have a link?