# anubias "going soft"?



## TheBiig_G (Oct 17, 2012)

Hi i have planted anubus on some bog wood i have about 9 bunches of them but about four of them have gone soft! I dont know why this is happening and cant find any information on them goin soft,
if you have any information could you please let me know thanks.


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## Michael (Jul 20, 2010)

Hi G, and welcome to APC!

I've moved your thread and retitled it so that you will get more responses to your question.


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## Zapins (Jul 28, 2004)

You didn't say whether the plants are being grown out of the water or under water.

I have seen this happen when they are underwater right after being cut across the rhizome. There isn't too much to do for the soft parts. Usually the soft part of the rhizome will die and decay back until a certain point then stop. I have tried cutting the soft bits off, sometimes this stops the softness from progressing, sometimes it keeps going and more of the rhizome dies off. 

If you are growing them above water then check for fungus. There might be fine threads (almost like spider webs) around the rhizomes. If you see these then you need to submerge the plants in water and let them grow in those conditions for a few weeks. The fungus likes damp conditions but cannot grow underwater and so it dies off and stops eating the plants.

You might also have anubias going soft on you if you have kept them in the dark for a long time, or in the dark with water / air around them. The same sort of conditions you find when someone inexperienced ships aquatic plants to you with some water in the bag. I suspect this is fungal decomposition as well.


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## totziens (Jun 28, 2008)

Zapins, could you please elaborate more on the following sentence? Do you mean water will cause anubias to rot during shipment? Why?

"The same sort of conditions you find when someone inexperienced ships aquatic plants to you with some water in the bag."

I am very curious because anubias is one of the plants that I could never keep very well despite it's supposed to be the easiest plant to grow. They are often attacked by algae, rot or get eaten by fishes (I have Kribs that destroy plants. It's my mistake for keeping them in a planted tank). Sometimes, my friends passed me the plants in a container with their tanks' water. The so-called "shipment" could last 4-5 hours sometimes when we decided to chit chat or visit LFS. Will this cause the death of anubias?


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## Zapins (Jul 28, 2004)

Shipping plants with water in the bag or even a moist paper towel is a bad idea. As the bag sloshes around it damages the plants on impact. In the winter the water will tend to freeze and damage the plants, in the summer if the package is in a warm place for a while it heats the water up which stays warm for much longer than with no water causing damage to the plants. And at the same time the plant is using its stores of sugar to survive since it can't make more (darkness = no sugar production). While it is using its reserves it is in a weakened state and becomes more susceptible to fungal attack which coincidentally thrive in dark, wet, warm places.

Anubias do tend to accumulate spot algae over time since the leaves last for so long compared with other plants. Kribs shouldn't be eating the plants. Anubias are one of the few plants that can be kept with African cichlids of all kinds without getting mauled. Did you tie the plant down? Kribs will move plants around if they can especially when they build nests. 

The shipment that your friend gives you doesn't sound very harmful. I doubt it would hurt the plants to be in water for 4-5 hours. I'm referring to being shipped for 2-6 days in the mail with damp conditions.

Ideal shipping of aquatic plants is done by sealing the plants in a ziplock bag with as little air and water as possible. This prevents the plants from banging about during shipping and prevents fungus from gaining the moist/soggy conditions it likes. I've seen plants live after 2-3 weeks in a bag like that vs. other plants which are rotten after only 4-5 in a bag with water.

I just thought of 1 more reason the anubias might be getting soft. If you bury the rhizome the rhizome dies and goes soft. Only plant the roots leaving the rhizome on the surface. Or tie the anubias on to wood/rocks and leave the roots exposed in the water.


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## totziens (Jun 28, 2008)

Yeah, many people told me Kribs should not harm ferns and anubias. It's true for ferns but not anubias. My anubias' leaves were often eaten up or torn off by the Kribs till there was no leaf left. It happened more than once...at least 3-4 times now. So I have given up on anubias in that tank. The anubias were always tied to driftwood.


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## vancat (Nov 5, 2004)

really! my kribs don't touch any plants at all.


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## totziens (Jun 28, 2008)

Maybe your kribs are not ready to breed yet. They will be destroyers when they start breeding. Hopefully a friend of mine will adopt them after she has settled in her new house with a new non-planted tank set up. Then I can start keeping plants in that tank again with more peaceful tetras.


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## vancat (Nov 5, 2004)

i started out with a pair, and now I have about a dozen. I think they are breeding. 
maybe it depends on the species- mine are Pelvicachromis pulcher.
the other thing is- do you provide them with caves? I have flower pots & coconut shells.


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## BruceF (Aug 5, 2011)

Recently I had a small rhizome turn mushy. I was growing it semi -emersed and I failed to notice it was drying out. After I put it back in the water it started to rot. There was a fairly long discussion of this problem here&#8230;http://www.aquaticplantcentral.com/...gy-emersed-culture/80406-anubias-disease.html


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## totziens (Jun 28, 2008)

My kribs use the driftwood as caves. They also dig holes in between rocks. They use the subwassertang which covers my entire tank as shelters. That's the only plant they do not destroy. I have more than 50 kribs now. They're driving me nuts overcrowding the tank. It's not my intention to breed them. They bred naturally.


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## totziens (Jun 28, 2008)

Thanks, Bruce. Plant disease...that's my number one fear. My friend and I lost our Marsilea about a year ago to suspicious plant disease too - their roots started to rot and kept spreading till the entire tank of Marsilea died.


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## vancat (Nov 5, 2004)

yup, I thought perhaps if you had caves for them they might not dig so much.


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## totziens (Jun 28, 2008)

Thanks for the suggestion, vancat. It makes sense.


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