# Why the black spots on my Cardamine Lyrata



## queijoman (Jun 23, 2008)

I just bought some cardamine lyrata aka "Creeping Charlie" from my LFS

http://www.aquaticplantcentral.com/...tails.php?id=34&category=genus&spec=Cardamine

I have put the plant into two tanks. 
My Home Tank 
Has been set up for ~ 1 year.
30g
Low Light 1.5 WPG fluorescent
No Ferts
~20 Fish 
various plants including anubias, java fern, amazon sword, nymphaea lotus, and cryptocoryne wendtii (sp?), ludwigia repens ruben

My work Tank
Has been set up for ~2 weeks
1.5g
~3 or 4 wpg. It has a 13 watt fixture, but the fixture is 1 foot above the tank.
No ferts
various plants including java fern, cryptocoryne wendtii (sp?), ludwigia repens ruben

I have had the plant for ~2 weeks, and now I'm getting some black spotting on some of the leaves, at the part where they meet the stem. This is occuring in both tanks. Does anyone know the probably cause? Do I need to send a picture?


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## HeyPK (Jan 23, 2004)

A picture would help a lot!


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## queijoman (Jun 23, 2008)

HeyPK said:


> A picture would help a lot!


To re-describe the problem with updates:

I have a small tank 1.5g.

Inhabitants:
I now have 6 inhabitants - on my original post I had 0. 
2 guppy-like fish, 1 striped khuli-loach, 3 shrimp. All pretty small. 
I have a tetra bubble filter.

Plants:
5-6 stems of ludwigia repens ruben.
5-6 stems of cardamine lyrata
1 young java fern
1 young nymphaea lotus (sp?)
2 cryptocorne wendtii (sp?)

Lighting:
13w CF. The light is not directly above the tank, but is 1 foot up, so the tank doesn't receive all 13w. No algae so far.

Ferts:
Before I was not using any ferts. I have now been using excel flourish for about a week. I put a small dose ~2x per week with a 30% water change.

Problem:
Black spots on the cardamine lyrata leaves. 
Leaves are falling off the cardamine lyrata and the ludwigia repens ruben. Other plants seem to be doing fine.
New growth is evident on both cardamine lyrata and ludwigia repens.

My question?
Has anyone experienced these black spots? Is it rot?
Why are the leaves dropping? Is this natural or should I be worried? This is only occurring in my 1.5g tank, these plants in my 30g low-light tank have not dropped any leaves.

Photos:

Sorry about the poor quality. My cell phone cam isn't too great.

The first image is of a bunch of leaves that have fallen off the plant. 









The second is a close-up photo of the tank trying to show the leaves that are blackening.


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## Tex Gal (Nov 1, 2007)

Your photos aren't here. Did you upload to photobucket or snapfish or flickr first? After that you click on the px and choose size. Then you paste the URL in the little px box in your post reply box.


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## queijoman (Jun 23, 2008)

Thanks for the tip texgal!


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## HeyPK (Jan 23, 2004)

Those are not spots, they are spreading areas of rot. I don't know what causes them, but I am very sure that it isn't a nutrient deficiency. It is some kind of damage. 

Also, I don't think your plant is Cardamine lyrata, which has alternate leaves. Your plant appears to have opposite leaves.


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## queijoman (Jun 23, 2008)

HeyPK said:


> Those are not spots, they are spreading areas of rot. I don't know what causes them, but I am very sure that it isn't a nutrient deficiency. It is some kind of damage.
> 
> Also, I don't think your plant is Cardamine lyrata, which has alternate leaves. Your plant appears to have opposite leaves.


Good eye. I had no idea what it was as I bought it under the name "creeping charlie". A simple google search brings up several plant species, even the unlikely "moneywort". I think it may be Micranthemum umbrosum. It seems to grow similar to the micr.. in the picture.


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## HeyPK (Jan 23, 2004)

Actually, the leaves are too large for the plant to be Micranthemum umbrosum. My guess is Lysimachia nummularia, but the picture is not sharp enough to be really sure.


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## queijoman (Jun 23, 2008)

*Re: Why the black spots on my Lysimachia nummularia*



HeyPK said:


> Actually, the leaves are too large for the plant to be Micranthemum umbrosum. My guess is Lysimachia nummularia, but the picture is not sharp enough to be really sure.


You are right about the MIcr. Umbro. I just found a sample and it is not the same thing. I think that you are right about it being Lysimachia nummularia. I just checked out the picture and it looks to be that. Thanks. You're pretty good with plants, even with my bad picture.


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