# New plants already dying...why?



## weister42 (Apr 30, 2006)

I ordered five amazon swords and I got them yesterday morning, I put them in my 29g tank and today they're starting to yellow out, in fact I've never been able to grow any plants in this tank. The light is a florescent Aqua Rays 20w and my water is at 80 degrees.


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## SangreRoja (Feb 18, 2006)

Were they inn water when you got them? How many of them do you have? For starters. And Images if possible.


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## cueball (May 24, 2005)

seems like thay were stressed to much out of water sometime,, ive never herd of plants diein that quick,,


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## SangreRoja (Feb 18, 2006)

Or to cold during the shippment.


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## flashover00 (Oct 19, 2006)

a lot of amazons are grown out of water....so when you put them in the tank they take a few weeks to adapt and will regrow what was lost.

Where did you get them from, a lfs or petco/petsmart type place


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## weister42 (Apr 30, 2006)

flashover00 said:


> a lot of amazons are grown out of water....so when you put them in the tank they take a few weeks to adapt and will regrow what was lost.
> 
> Where did you get them from, a lfs or petco/petsmart type place


I got them over the internet...on eBay. It was double wrapped in ziplock bags with water in them, but since it's winter I bet it has been exposed to freezing temperature before getting here. I bought five plants for ten bucks including shipping and they looked decent when I got them. I just cleaned my tank and changed water so I'll post some pics in a bit.


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## flashover00 (Oct 19, 2006)

Yeah the freezing temps might play a role....but they are pretty hardy.

You only have a 20 watt light over a 29 gal....thats less than 1 watt per gal so that may explain why you havnt had any success in the past.
On my 29 gal double stand that i just tore down, i used almost double the light on both tanks than what you are currently using.

Are you dosing ferts? Any root tabs?


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## Round Head (Sep 26, 2005)

cueball said:


> seems like thay were stressed to much out of water sometime,, ive never herd of plants diein that quick,,


Believe me my friend. Certain types of plants don't turn yellow, instead they will melt away in front of your eyes.
Eriocaulon setaceum is one of them. Very tricky.


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## weister42 (Apr 30, 2006)

flashover00 said:


> Yeah the freezing temps might play a role....but they are pretty hardy.
> 
> You only have a 20 watt light over a 29 gal....thats less than 1 watt per gal so that may explain why you havnt had any success in the past.
> On my 29 gal double stand that i just tore down, i used almost double the light on both tanks than what you are currently using.
> ...


Not to sound like a noob but I'm suppose to "feed" those plants? Really? I don't have enough gravel on the bottom to anchor them so they're just floating on the top, as for lights what should I get?

Never tried to grow anything in water so I really have no idea


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## flashover00 (Oct 19, 2006)

Round Head said:


> Yeah the freezing temps might play a role....but they are pretty hardy.
> 
> You only have a 20 watt light over a 29 gal....thats less than 1 watt per gal so that may explain why you havnt had any success in the past.
> On my 29 gal double stand that i just tore down, i used almost double the light on both tanks than what you are currently using.
> ...


Not to sound like a noob but I'm suppose to "feed" those plants? Really? I don't have enough gravel on the bottom to anchor them so they're just floating on the top, as for lights what should I get?

Never tried to grow anything in water so I really have no idea








[/quote]

Yeah ....you need a proper substrate...especially with swords. You need to anchor them in or they will die without question.
As for the lights..shoot for fluorescent bulbs reccomended for plants. Anywhere between 1 to 1.5 watts per gallon should do ok for these plants. 
Ferts.....well concentrate on the substrate and lighting first


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## cueball (May 24, 2005)

got a pic of what these swords might have looked like?


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## Zip (Apr 17, 2005)

Wingman said:


> I got them over the internet...on eBay. It was double wrapped in ziplock bags with water in them, but since it's winter I bet it has been exposed to freezing temperature before getting here. I bought five plants for ten bucks including shipping and they looked decent when I got them. I just cleaned my tank and changed water so I'll post some pics in a bit.


What was the name of the store? I received some plants from Auquadise via Ebay last week (amazon swords and dwarf sags) packaged like that for the same price. They don't look TOO bad today, but I'm still not sure yet whether they're going to make it.....the weather was quite cold when they arrived. I had checked the weather forecast when I ordered and it was pretty warm, but it took a week for them to send the plants out, and it had turned much colder by then. Plus, they mailed them just before the Martin Luther King weekend, so who knows where they were sitting for 3 days. Don't think I will buy from them again. Good luck with yours.


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## BlackSunshine (Mar 28, 2006)

Ok. lets take this one step at a time.

1st. you need more light. 2X what you curretly have is a good starting point to keep low light plants. 
Swords,Java ferns, Dwarf Sag, Anubus. What you have is simply not enough. Thats the amount of light I would keep over a 5 gallon tank.

2nd most online sellers grow their swords out of water. So when you get them they have more rounded blades. these leaves will die off and be replaced with more blade like leaves. Give it a couple weeks.

3rd. Cold weather is best for shipping plants. Hot weather is bad. Freezing is bad but I doubt they got that cold.

4th. Regular aquarium gravel is not ideal for growing plants but can work. I would suggest getting Root fert tablets for the swords. This will take care of your Micro ferts. 
Depending on what your bio load of the tank is you may need to add ferts to the tank. sounds like we gota basic set up goin here so I would just say get one of those all in one ferts for the time being. 
But since you say that you don't have a deep enough bed anyways now is a great time to correct the substrate and get something a little more functional in there. You can either replace the whole bed of gravel or you can add soem better plant friendly substrate to the mix you already have. 
If you don't mind the color Schultz Aquatic soil that can be found at Home depot or lowes Is great. OR if you have a Lesco in your area you can get 50lb bag Soil Master complete. that comes in a couple different colors one being charchol. they are 6 bugs and 16 bucks respectivly. 
there is also Florite,Flor- base,Eco complete, And ADA brand soils. All are pretty much equal reguardless of what ppl say. 
But do not Use potting soil! you do not want to add anything that has ferts added to it or contains ammonia. as you will not be able to regulate how much makes it into the water.

5th Yellowing leaves can mean that there is an iron deffecincy. But since there are no other ferts going in the tank I would start there and then see if lack of iron is still an issue. Most all in one ferts do include some amount of iron.


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## flashover00 (Oct 19, 2006)

> What was the name of the store? I received some plants from Auquadise via Ebay last week (amazon swords and dwarf sags) packaged like that for the same price. They don't look TOO bad today, but I'm still not sure yet whether they're going to make it.....the weather was quite cold when they arrived. I had checked the weather forecast when I ordered and it was pretty warm, but it took a week for them to send the plants out, and it had turned much colder by then. Plus, they mailed them just before the Martin Luther King weekend, so who knows where they were sitting for 3 days. Don't think I will buy from them again. Good luck with yours.


Aquadise is horrible.....you think its a good deal because he picks up your shipping charge if you buy over 20bucks, but the plants arive in horrible condition usually without any heat packs and loaded to the brim with snails. It took like 2.5 weeks to receive my order...i feel your pain man. I had to nurse my plants back to life after i received them from him.


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## weister42 (Apr 30, 2006)

BlackSunshine said:


> Ok. lets take this one step at a time.
> 
> 1st. you need more light. 2X what you curretly have is a good starting point to keep low light plants.
> Swords,Java ferns, Dwarf Sag, Anubus. What you have is simply not enough. Thats the amount of light I would keep over a 5 gallon tank.
> ...


Thanks for the info Black, I should of looked more into taking care of live plants than just go buy them and see if they live. Well four out of five died before I got the correct substrate and lights in, and the last and only decent one disappeared last night, I think T-Bone ate it.

So....if your fish eats plants, should I even bother?


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## BlackSunshine (Mar 28, 2006)

Hard to say. It pisses me off when I have plants and the fish eat them.


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## Zip (Apr 17, 2005)

Granted, you may not have had sufficient lighting, etc......but the fact that the plants were yellowing within 24 hours and completely dead within the week makes me suspect there was something amiss with the plants (such as freezing).


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