# Ludwigia - sudden rot (HELP!)



## tom_zg (Oct 20, 2006)

My Ludwigias (L. palustris and L. repens) have been literally decimated within 24 hours! The stems simply rotted away (they didn't turn black in colour as is sometimes usual with Ludwigias), and leaves exhibit a rather strange rotting pattern (see attached). I repeat again, this thing happened within *one single day*, causing approx. 50% of the plants to be destroyed. It is strange though that undamaged plants seem to be fully healthy&#8230; what may have caused this? If anyone has a clue, I'd be very grateful!


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## Bert H (Mar 2, 2004)

I have had that happen with L. repens in the past with newly introduced plants. A couple of stems survived and it went well thereafter. Are these new plants?


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## BryceM (Nov 6, 2005)

More info would help. Did you recently change something? How long have you had these? What is your lighting? CO2? Fert routine? Substrate?

Most catastrophic "melts" in my tank have come from high light, rapid growth situations when I let the nitrate levels crash.


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## tom_zg (Oct 20, 2006)

*hmmm...*

...well, the plants have been well established already, I've had them for some months. And they used to grow very well, so I had to prune regularly.

Now, this suggestion from guaiac_boy made me think:

A week before this happened I introduced some additional light, together with CO2 (which I didn't use before). Naturally, I started having problems with brown algae. When the situation became somewhat alarming, I decided to change some 15% of water, and added some NitrateMinus (Tetra).

Is it possible that's the problem?!?


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## southpark (Oct 9, 2006)

NitrateMinus keeps nitrate levels in your aquarium low for 12 months. It improves the water quality long-term and helps control algae, thus reducing additional maintenance work and helping to keep your aquarium in top condition
• NitrateMinus consists of granules that remove nitrate in a natural, biological process. During this process, micro-organisms slowly decompose the granules of NitrateMinus by using nitrate as their oxygen source. This way, nitrate is irreversibly removed
• As nitrate, one of the major nutrients of algae, is removed, algae growth is also reduced
• NitrateMinus has a stabilising effect on KH and pH - if used with existing high levels of nitrate or other products that stabilise carbonate hardness, KH levels may increase

This is the info i found on nitrateminus, you apparantly just did the equivalent of starving your plants, whether or not this caused your ludwigia to melt..

how much of the nitrateminus did you dose?


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## tom_zg (Oct 20, 2006)

southpark said:


> NitrateMinus keeps nitrate levels in your aquarium low for 12 months.
> ----- ----- -----
> This is the info i found on nitrateminus, you apparantly just did the equivalent of starving your plants, whether or not this caused your ludwigia to melt..
> 
> how much of the nitrateminus did you dose?


12 months?!?! I used to dose it regularly every week, for almost a year, and nothing similar happened ever before. Even the dosage instruction on the bottle itself says the regular use is recommended (2,5 ml per litre every week). 
I stopped using it a month ago, because it didn't seem necessary. Though, as I introduced additional light, brown algae appeared, as I described above. So I added some of that TetraAqua NitrateMinus again, but instead of usual two capfuls I dosed only one. And in order to try something new I added a small quantity of Nutrafin's Waste Control (but just a little, not more than a cupful - the tank is 75 litres /I guess cca. 20 gal/, and I dosed with three days gap between NitrateMinus and Waste Control).

I understand now that the idea of starving Ludwigia to death seems very likable. But&#8230; how come the rest of the plants didn't suffer? Okay, Anubias nad Microsorium being hardy plants weren't afflicted. But Heteranthera? There's nothing wrong with stargrass&#8230;

And how am I suppose to fight back brown algae if I'm not allowed to deprive them of their food? By increasing fertilizers to plants so they can overpower algae in nitrate battle?


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## Bert H (Mar 2, 2004)

The question you need to ask yourself here is why your nitrates are so high that you need to reduce them? Are you dosing too much by way of ferts? Are you overstocked and your fish are creating too much waste? ----Why buy something to remove something your plants need?  Why not just do some water changes to drop your nitrates? Brown algae is one of the easiest to control algaes there is. It's common in newly set up tanks, or in tanks where you've undergone some major changes. Ottos will eat it up and time will usually take care of the rest.

Be more concerned with giving your plants what they require than with adding stuff to fight algae. Your tank's needs are dependent on the environment you have set up for it. What is your maintenance routine like? How much light are you using? How are you fertilizing?

Look at the sticky in for EI dosing. It's probably the easiest way to start and achieve stability. You can tweak this to modify it according to your tank as time goes by.

Whatever you do, remember stability is very important.


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## tom_zg (Oct 20, 2006)

Bert H said:


> Brown algae is one of the easiest to control algaes there is. .


Sorry... English is not my mother tongue, it's not brown algae but brush algae! Sorry again! :sorry:
But thank you for the helpful guidelines! I guess I understand now what I did wrong. I suppose... :-k


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## BryceM (Nov 6, 2005)

tom_zg,

Don't underestimate the change in your tank that results from increasing the light levels and adding CO2. This makes a fundamental and VERY large difference. The growth rate of the plants and subsequent nutrient removal will probably increase between 5 to 10 times of previous levels. I don't think anyone would recommend removing nitrates from a high-light, CO2 tank. Most people with high-light, CO2 supplemented tanks actually have to add nitrates - if not, it becomes rapidly depleted.

If this isn't the exact cause of your problem I'd be surprised.

BTW, black brush algae is pretty predictable. In higher-light tanks it will grow unless CO2 levels are high enough. High CO2 levels will generally not kill it, but it's growth will stop. Once it shows up, it usually will not leave unless physically removed. Affected leaves usually can't be salvaged, except perhaps with a bleach dip. One exception to this *_might_* be with the use of larger quantities of Flourish Excel. Many people swear by the stuff. Personally, I've seen only modest improvements with it.


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## tom_zg (Oct 20, 2006)

So, I guess the mystery is resolved, and I learned a very valuable lesson here! Increased light and introduction of CO2 should not be followed by decrease of nitrates. 
Thanks for the kind suggestions. I surely will try to get some of this Excel stuff. I hope I can get it here. Thanx again, to all! :thumbsup:


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