Red Ludwigia new growth turned yellow

I find when that happens it is usually either micros (iron, manganese) or nitrates that ran out. Do you dose any fertilizer? Is the tank heavily planted? Might be just a simple deficiency.

I wasn't dosing but I did have the laterite.. which should cover the iron, right? I only had two african dwarf frogs in there so maybe they werent producing enough nitrates. When I noticed the yellowing I added Leaf Zone (iron and potash) but I am pretty sure it killed my frogs! they were dead the next day!

Will the yellowed leaves return to green when they have sufficient nutrients? or are they ruined? do i need to clip them off?

Sorry for your frogs... did you overdose maybe?

Hard to say if the leaves will turn green again, but I would not clip them off until you have enough new growth to take clippings and replant.

Do you have any other plants? Sometimes there are one or two plants that just don't like being in a particular tank, and rather than trying to make things fit for them, choose a few others that like the existing conditions. Example, personally I always hear Ludwigia is a fast, easy grower, but after keeping them alive for a few years they just disappeared from my tanks. I blame the hard water, but I am not going to buy a reverse osmosis system just to make one plant happy. Luckily there are another 999999 more that might like hard water. :icon_smil

Wasserpest said:

Sorry for your frogs... did you overdose maybe?

Hard to say if the leaves will turn green again, but I would not clip them off until you have enough new growth to take clippings and replant.

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I dosed for a 5 gallon but maybe it was too much. There's prob only 3 gallons of water in there with everything else in the tank.


Ok, so to clarify, the yellow parts are at the top. If i clipped it, I would basically have to clip the whole top off. The bottom leaves are fine and alot of root has grown.

My main problem is finding plants for a 5 gallon with gravel substrate that don't take up too much room. I put hornwort in there but it basically consumed the whole tank. I put amazon swords in there but I couldn't get them to stay "planted" in the substrate for anything. Getting my fat hand in there with the driftwood and filter and everything else is a nightmare, plus water changes basically make the whole tank swirl like crazy unless i just let the water trickle in.

But there are many suitable plants for "tanks" like this... definitely not Swords though.

Small crypts like parva and willisii...
Mosses, Pellia, SWtang...
Narrow leaf Java Fern...
Other stem plants...

For water changes, use a pitcher/jug of maybe 1/2 gallon. Hold your hand just underneath the water surface, and slowly empty the water jug into your hand, trying to distribute the water as evenly as possible.

Of course there are more high tech versions, but for a 5 gal tank that should work.

If your frogs went to heaven, who is now producing nitrates in your tank? Again, light colored new growth suggests a nutrient deficiency. Just clipping it off won't really help.

i went and bought a dwarf puffer and two cherry shrimp. the puffer's are supposed to be messy eaters but i am still worried there won't be enough waste.. that little guy is smaller than my pinky nail. Not sure what I'm gunna do at this point.. I might just switch to slower growers. I do have some Java Moss in there which is doing fine.

I'm going through the same problem as you tranceFusion with the new growth being yellow.......Did you solve the problem yet????

tranceFusion said:

i went and bought a dwarf puffer and two cherry shrimp. the puffer's are supposed to be messy eaters but i am still worried there won't be enough waste.. that little guy is smaller than my pinky nail. Not sure what I'm gunna do at this point.. I might just switch to slower growers. I do have some Java Moss in there which is doing fine.

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Puffers eat shrimp. I mean REALLY eat shrimp. Just a word of warning.