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I just added 2 water sprite plants to my 29 gallon tank and they're hatin' life and looking kind of crispy and brownish. What could be wrong? Is this just "shipping shock" and they'll recover or something worse? Here's the 411:

Lights: 2 x 20w 6700k bulbs for a total of 40w which equals 1.4 wpg

CO2: None, but I dose Flourish Excell once a week (5 mL)

Ferts: Kent's Freshwater plant once a week (10 mL)

ammonia: 0
nitrite: 0
nitrate: 20 ppm
pH: 7.2
gH: 300 ppm 16 dgH
kH: 80 ppm

I just put the water sprite in there Monday 12-12-05. I haven't seen any fish (rasboras, platies, cherry barbs, gourami, pleco) bothering them. What can I do?

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~~Melissa~~
"Beauty is in the eye of the beer holder."

crazyred,

If they arrived on Monday, when were they shipped?

If they have been in a package for a while this might be enough for them to die.

Also, I don't know where you live, but is it cold anywhere between provider and your place? Might be frozen along the way?

Anyways, brown is pretty certain dead. You can keep them in to see if any new green is coming in, but if it starts to desintigrate you should remove it as it would pollute the water.

Ingo

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

I believe they were shipped on a Firday via US Postal Service "Express" (I use that term loosely) They came from Aquatic Plant Depot, wherever that is, but it has been pretty warm down here in extreme South Texas....we're talking 70's and 80's. So, I don't think freezing down here in our post office would be the problem, perhaps they were in transit too long.

They aren't totally brown, just on the tips. I'll be looking out for new growth. How long should I leave them in there before I ounce them dead and remove them? So far the water params are spot on.

BTW: where does new growth appear on Water Sprite?

Last edited by crazyred at 15-Dec-2005 13:07

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~~Melissa~~
"Beauty is in the eye of the beer holder."

New growth appears everywhere.

It might develop an entire new stem from the base, it also could get new smaller stems along the existing stems.

If it is only the tips then I would not worry too much. Just keep an eye open in case the whole leave structures turn brown, then they are pretty much dead. You could then try to cut of a stem that is all brown and wait further to see if new ones come out.

Ingo

Aquatic Plant Depot is in Florida, so I guess freezing should not be an issue

Last edited by LITTLE_FISH at 15-Dec-2005 13:33

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

LOL From Florida to tropical South Texas.....probably not a freeze issue. Maybe in a plastic bag in a box too long. Okay, I'll keep and eye on it. There is still green, so maybe there's hope. I like this plant a lot and it supposed to be one that will do okay in the lower light range tank so I hope mine pulls through.

Thanks Ingo!

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~~Melissa~~
"Beauty is in the eye of the beer holder."

crazyred that's pretty dim light to get things going. I would float some of it and see if there's a difference in root production, etc.

Also dosing excel once a week I don't think will do much. I believe the carbon is only available in the water column for 24hrs.

My Scapes

Darn...I was afraid of that. I can't do it too often, it will kill my anacharis. That stuff is sensitive to Flourish Excell. I'll try floating the sprite, but I hate to uproot it. It's pretty tall, so it's faily close to my lights.

I thought water sprite was considered a "low-med." plant on light requirements.

Jeez...I guess after this Christmas nightmare is over I'll have to invest in a PC light.....Every plant I want seems to need 100 wpg.

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~~Melissa~~
"Beauty is in the eye of the beer holder."

Hey now,

I dose my none high tech tanks with everything (including Excel) only once a week. No negative side effects have been detected.

I say you can do that

Ingo

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

I didn't say there are negative side effects or you can't do it, I just said I don't think the plants will gain much from once a week dosing. The following is straight from Seachem.

"Carbon intake is a function of photosynthesis. based on this, it would be ideal to dose Flourish Excel during the day. But given that Flourish Excel can stay complexed as a carbon source for up to 24 hours before it dissipates, you can dose at any time of the day and the product will be available for the next 24 hours. Flourish Excel is not carbon dioxide and there is no impact on pH using Flourish Excel."

So basically the carbon source from excel is only available for 24 hours.


Last edited by tetratech at 15-Dec-2005 18:12

My Scapes

I understand the 24 hour availibility issue, although the bottle recommends every day or other day (24-48 hr) dosing schedule. If I do this my anacharis will melt away and it's just now starting to take off. Dang, maybe I'll see about a small CO2 set-up, perhaps a DIY.

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~~Melissa~~
"Beauty is in the eye of the beer holder."

Well,

Tetratech is for sure right, it will not generate rampant growth, or even equal uptake during the course of a week.

But it is better than nothing as the first 24h will see good uptake. My 20 and 29 for sure did well with this process.

Ingo

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

I decided to try more frequent, small doses of the Excell. Maybe not every day, but at least every other day. I will def. have to keep an eye on my anacharis and make sure it's not melting. Problem is, the maintainence dose is 5 mL (1 capful) for every 50 gallons. I have 29, so should I do half that dose?

Last edited by crazyred at 15-Dec-2005 23:04

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~~Melissa~~
"Beauty is in the eye of the beer holder."

I dose about 1/4 a capful every day or every other day in my 29... along with a handful of other ferts...seems to do well

Light requirements vary for water sprite...depending on who ya talk to. Yea, it's a low-med light plant if it's on the surface right up by the lights...but it needs a lot higher light if it's on the bottom.

That's all I know about the plant, sorry

HTH

my first water sprite went brown so i removed it however a piece broke off in the process so i let that float and it grew roots like mad! i moved that piece to another tank and bought a nice healthy new plant and tried again. i found its easy to bend the stems and once some got damaged on the first plant they died off so i was really careful not to damage the second one and now its growing good. it shoots new growth from the base and once it settles in it seems to grow fairly quickly, mine has shot 3 new shoots up in a week about 6cms. just leave the healthier part of the plant planted and maybe cut off a healthy stem and let that float, therefor if the main plant dies hopefully the cutting will produce roots and you could then plant that one.
i would also remove the weight that they sometimes put around the root/stem as this bruised my first plant by crushing the stems, i carefully removed it from my second plant.

That's great to know, loulou. If some breaks off I'll leave it in there and see if I can get some roots. One of my sprite plants is sending up a new shoot at the bottom already, so even if the top part dies off I think that new shoot will grow. Thanks for the heads up.

IMO these plants were in the plastic bag in a box longer than they needed to be. Funny, it didn't seem to affect the corkscrew vallisneria or the java moss. Of course, it wouldn't hurt the java moss....that stuff can grow under a rock in a cave. I think my water sprite isn't too far gone, I'll try to be patient with it.

Hey Poison!! Thanks for the dosing tip on the Excell. Sometimes it's hard to know how much to put in and how often to do it. :%)

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~~Melissa~~
"Beauty is in the eye of the beer holder."