[iKine]

In my tank I have Amazon Sword, Wisteria, Java Fern, and Dwarf Sag doing quite well. The sag is growing slowly, but seems healthy.

I also have (well, had) jungle vals which utterly failed. While everything else was growing the vals slowly died. I have a little in there still but its too far gone for it to come back as far as I can tell.

Are jungle vals a more difficult plant to grow?

Its a soil/flourite base with play sand cap tank, DIY co2, 2.5wpg. The light is about 28" off the substrate now.

 

[Patriot]

what ferts are you giving your Vals? They seem very easy to me, I never had one melt like most people. I just planted them and let them grow. The two videos below show how much the Vals are taking over the tank.

http://youtu.be/58ad-8zl1VA

http://youtu.be/Kc7vJ0iafTY

 

[iKine]

The only dosing im doing is a couple capfulls of flourish a week.

 

[Higher Thinking]

I have jungle val thriving in three of my tanks. One without co2 and fertilization, another with co2, but very low light and maybe some seachems every couple weeks if I'm bored. So they can and do grow across all types of tank setups, perhaps it has to do with something else. Did you start dosing Excel because supposedly that will make them die off?

 

[iKine]

Not flourish excel sorry, im dosing comprehensive.

Since I began the tank they slowly died off while everything else was doing well. Maybe I was given false info at the LFS. They may have not been jungle vals after all? Are there any other plants that are similar that arent truely aquatic?

 

[ykh]

what is the temp of your tank? In my experience with the vals, they seem to "melt" at higher temp.

 

[iKine]

temp stays around 77

 

[ykh]

hmm....that temp should be ok. When you buy the vals, were they in good shape and with lots of roots? Lots of good roots will make the plants more adjustable to the new tank.

 

[iKine]

I bought the vals when the tank was first setup in late July. From day one they started to decline. They were about 7 inches tall when I bought then, and had minor root. I cut back the leaves and roots when I first planted them.

 

[150EH]

They could have gave something like mondo grass if you've never seen a Val before, Vals do tend to melt and come back, maybe a little more time is needed, but they are easy to grow, I have about the same light (wpg) with CO2, I have corkscrews and nana right now with no problems in red flourite.

A jungle val should have crisp leaf, if you bend it will snap easily, where a non-aquatic should bend easy without breaking and a soft thin leaf. It could be you just got a bad batch that was tortured in the UPS truck with 90 degree heat. Another thing they grow really long, my tank is 30 inches tall and my jungles would have another 10 inches floating on the surface. Corkscrews stay at 10 or 12 inches so you don't have to cut them at all, just thought I'd mention it.

 

[iKine]

Well, I just took a close look and there seems to be a couple (and I mean only 2 or so) leaves coming up from the substrate. Only about an inch tall, and still very slim looking.

I may just need to wait longer, but it has been a couple of months now with no success.

Would it be better to just remove and replace with new ones? im thinking so.