[CJ0435]

My tank has been running for about a month now, and I planted it pretty well within the first week. At first, everything was doing great. My plants were growing very nicely and looked nice and healthy. Over the last couple days I've noticed lots of brown leaves that looked like they might have been covered in a brownish algae but after trying to wipe them off I noticed it was just the color. I've pruned some of the old leaves off of the plants that I could, but still notice a good amount of leaves dying.

My setup is a two cartridge hang on back filter, and for lighting I have 4 - 32 watt florescent daylight bulbs sitting on top of the tank and stay on 10 hours per day. I dose liquid ferts with Flourish and API leaf zone weekly, and flourish excel every other day.

The inhabitants are 6 turquoise rainbows, 2 shrimps, 6 khuli loaches, and a 3 inch pleco.
There are also a decent amount of small round brown snails that hang out on leaves so I'm thinking it could be them tearing some of them up?

 

[BraveBuc]

Sorry to hear that. Are you getting brown stuff on your glass?

What size tank is it? What kind of plants?

I'd start by switching to daily dosing of the excel.

 

[CJ0435]

Thanks for the response!

Its a 55 gal, Eco complete substrate topped with black sand, there's no brown stuff on the glass, very little algae as well. I have a couple swords, anarchis, Anubias barteri, Money Wort,. But my Brazilian Pennywort seems to be doing the worst, 75% of the leaves are turning brown and white and dying. They all look kinda burnt, but I dont think too much light could be the problem.

The only plant that still seems to be thriving is the Egeria densa in both of my tanks for some reason.

 

[Zapins]

Please post some high detailed close up photos of each affected plant. Make sure the newer leaves and older leaves are visible and try get in as close as you can while maintaining focus.

 

[houbanna]

As zapins said need pics of both old and new leaves, some deficiencies cause the new leaves to suck the nutrients from the old growth. Also a reason why u should have some indicator plants (fast growers) to help identify deficiencies before they do a lot of damage. Also remember if u add or subtract a reasonable amount of plants, u should Change your dosing of ferts to keep it balanced.

 

[CJ0435]

Alright here are some pics

http://imgur.com/eN3Th7t,rFSwjXh,ZWQDzoo,EAVIRA3,sjmGVeD#0

Pic 1&2, a healthy Brazilian Pennywort leaf next to a browning one.
Pic 3, A dying Brazilian Pennywort leaf, what many of them look like
Pic 3&5 Another dying plant Im pretty sure is moneywort. You can see the new stem next to the browning old stem

Thanks

 

[goneRogue]

You are missing macro ferts nitrogen and potassium (N and K). Here is some good reading: http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/showthread.php?t=21944

Flourish and the API leaf zone are micro nutrients. You will need to get KNO3 and KH2PO4 at a minimum. Follow the dosing guidelines in that thread 1x per week for your tank size.

 

[Zapins]

API leaf zone has iron and potassium and Flourish, I assume you mean Flourish Comprehensive, has most of the other micros in tiny amounts.

The deficiency isn't extremely clear yet, but I feel it may be a phosphorous deficiency. Old leaves are deteriorating from the edges inwards while new leaves remain normal shape. This distinguishes it from typical late stage nitrogen deficiencies which have deteriorating old leaves (from the tips inwards), and new leaves grow out progressively smaller until the plant stops growing.

There is a chance that it may be early nitrogen deficiency before the new leaves start to stunt.

Flourish comprehensive is extremely dilute, and does not contain potassium, phosphorous, or nitrogen in large enough quantities.

If you can buy some potassium nitrate (KNO3), and some potassium monophosphate (KH2PO4) from http://www.aquariumfertilizer.com/index.asp?Option1=cats&Edit=2&EditU=1&Regit=2 or ebay or another site and then add 2 ppm phosphate to your tank each week. Use this site to calculate how many grams or spoons to add: calc.petalphile.com/

Wait a week or two and the plants should no longer deteriorate. Any damaged leaves will remain damaged and possibly even keep deteriorating, but no more previously undamaged leaves will die.

If the KH2PO4 doesn't solve the problem after a week or two, then add 15 ppm KNO3 once or twice a week using the above site to calculate it out for you.

Do you have a phosphate or nitrate kit handy?

Also one final bit of advice, I'd remove the bubbler you have in the tank, it will drive out most of the CO2 in the water and slow the plant's recovery down a lot. Plants need CO2 to grow and the bubbler is essentially the same thing as taking a can of soda an shaking it.

 

[BraveBuc]

I disagree about the bubbler. In a non-co2 injected tank, more surface agitation will increase CO2. There may be some build up over night but that will quickly be used up when lights go on. Once that happens, things reverse and CO2 will transfer from the air to the water. Stability of the carbon source is most important anyway. That is why I recommend daily dosing of excel as it doesn't last more than 24 hours.

I do agree about the macros. Eco complete will absorb nutrients over time but it is otherwise inert. Some root tabs would be very helpful too.