# New plants just die despite lots of plant care



## brsseb (Sep 17, 2009)

Im experiencing that new healthy green plants often die just days after purchase. Despice the fact that I have a JBL co2-setup, 4x T5 JBL lights, deep bottom layer with plant soil added, heater cable and JBL plant nutrient pellets dropped in here and there, and the fishes seem to be in good shape. The only plants that survive for longer periods of time are extremly rapid groving onces (they can replenish themselves faster than old leaves die). pH-values and temperature is stable. This is a 530 liter tank, pH kept stable at 7.0 with temperture in 28-30*C range. 

I have included here some photos of a few plants i brought just 4 days ago, when they were all nice and green/red. Now all leaves have a rust look, with holes and gray/brown spots. I bet many will die off completely soon. Does anyone know what Im doing wrong? Ive wasted so much money on replacing plants...


----------



## Chickadee (Nov 15, 2008)

Sorry that you have so much trouble and I do not know what to tell you. If they were growing outside I would say something is attacking them but since they are not, I do not know. What fish do you have? Any snails or invertebrates? What are your nitrate levels and KH and GH? Maybe a real plant expert can come in and give you a good answer but I am betting they are going to need that information. 

I have plants halfheartedly and do not have much luck with the ones I have so hesitate to try to give advice.

Rose


----------



## brsseb (Sep 17, 2009)

Chickadee said:


> Sorry that you have so much trouble and I do not know what to tell you. If they were growing outside I would say something is attacking them but since they are not, I do not know. What fish do you have? Any snails or invertebrates? What are your nitrate levels and KH and GH? Maybe a real plant expert can come in and give you a good answer but I am betting they are going to need that information.
> 
> I have plants halfheartedly and do not have much luck with the ones I have so hesitate to try to give advice.
> 
> Rose


Thank you for your reply. I just took some damaged plant leaves to my LFS and ask them, and they immediately recognized it as damage done by my fish, something I was suspecting. I got lots of catfish (ancistrus, gibbiceps, royals, some L-variants etc). Guess I didnt immetiatly thought of them due to the fact that they all seem pretty doctile and not interessted in the plants during daytime..but I guess the situation is strait the opposite at the middle of the night. Guess they have all been having a "new-plant!-yum-yum"-party the last couple of nights.

My LFS told me to focus on more hardy plants like Anubias or Java plants, as Anubias leaves are somewhat hardier and java plants are not that interessting for most catfish. Gonna test it out, Ill know the result in a few days.

Really irritating, since my favorite part of aquarium hobby is catfish and plants..maybe i gotta keep those two things in seperate tanks


----------



## Fishman Dan (Sep 18, 2009)

I would have to agree. It looks like fish damage to me. I see no yellow or brown coloration around the damage or leaf melt that would indicate a nutrient lack. Crinum Thaianum is another great plant for destructive fish. Will let ya know if any more tough plants come to mind.


----------



## Dmaaaaax (Nov 20, 2008)

When you get new plants do the following to promote better growth. Cut roots short (like 1/2" at the longest). For plants like swords cut off all leaves but the newest 4-5. Things like that will get the plants growing faster.

From the pictures I would say besides fish damage your plants are lacking some nutrients (iron/potassium/nitrates) that some plants need in the water column not just in the substrate (especially with high light setups). This is more appearent on the swords and the thinner sag plants in front of them that look yellowish.


----------

