# I REALLY need help



## IO~Incognito (Jan 8, 2006)

I do not have any pictures, or even a camera that I can use to take
pictures of this. I read your instructions for asking for help in
finding out the names of plants and if I had a way to attach pictures
I would. I apologize for the inconvenience.

I inherited an aquarium (29 gallon) complete with fish, heater, lights, filter
and plants. I'm doing my best to learn but I didn't get a chance to
learn before I got this set-up and I'm afraid that I'm not doing so
well.

I concerned myself with learning about the fish (8 tiger barbs) first,
since I don't want to kill a helpless fish because of my ignorance and
they seem to be doing okay. I don't even know what these plants are
but they aren't looking so good since they have been in my care and
I'm wondering if you could help me figure out what the plants are and
how to fix them. Most of the taller plant leaves almost look
transparent, they have a somewhat lacy look to them because there are
patches in the leaves that look normal surrounded by the larger areas
that are almost transparent. I have tried to figure out the problem
but I could not
find anything that reads like what these plants are going through.

There are (as best as I can tell) 4 different types of plants in the
aquarium. One type looks a little like a lilly pad (It might be one)
except that the leafy part is much smaller than lilly pads I've seen in
nature. Instead of being a consistent color the leaves have spots of really
dark green, and some parts that are almost transparent.

Another group of plants grows in tall clumps. Towards the bottom they
are straight and each stalk has only a few leaves on it towards the
middle and top. The leaves look a lot like a very thick blade of grass
with an overall oblong oval shape to them. Some of them curl along the
edges some of them do not. It's possible that the ones with curling
leaves are not the same type of plant but except for the curl they
look about the same. These leaves also have the transparent and lacy
looking problem. I do not know if they are suppose to be this color
but they look much brighter and lighter than the shade of green on the
other plants. These plants are also making babies (the very small
starts look like them anyway).

There is a plant that (I think) was suppose to be the focal point, it
resembles grass in that there are no visible stalks and the leaves are
long and thin. The overall shape of that plant remind me of putting a
rubberband at the base of a handful of yarn because of the way the
plant fans out, the shape could also be compared to fireworks that
explode from one point then fan out into a graceful spider shape. It
is between 5 and 6 inches tall at it's tallest point and about 9
inches across from the edge of the fanned out leaves The leaves go
from the tallest point back to the bottom of the aquarium. That one
looks fairly healthy to the best of my ability to judge the health of
the plant.

There are also a lot of plants that resemble grass. there is a thick
lot of it and it doesn't look too bad. The grass looking plants are
1 inch tall. Each blade is well defined and the color
is a deep green. I cannot tell if there are clumps of it growing or if
it's thousands of individual plants. The blade thickness is pretty
consistent from the bottom up and they are about as thick as a fine tooth
comb tooth.

When I got the aquarium everything looked really nice. I hate the
thought of killing off the hard work that was put into it. If you can
help me figure this out I would really appreciate it. I've tried
looking up different plants and different problems but I'm feeling
rather lost.

I promise to thoroughly research anything that I add to my aquarium so
this doesn't happen in the future and I will not buy either fish or
plants unless I know how to care for them. The only thing that I got
for water treatment or care was a bottle of aquasafe. I have been
changing out about five gallons of water each week, using a syphon to
clean anything that's on the bottom, then replacing the water I take
out.

If I could learn either the names of the plants or what's causing the
leaves to look as they do I would not mind doing the research on my
own. I'm not in this position because I'm lazy. I have looked through
countless pictures of plants but a lot of them look alike to me.


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## hoppycalif (Apr 7, 2005)

The names of the plants is not the most significant information right now. First: How much wattage of light do you have and how long do you leave it on? Do you fertilize and with what? Do you have any source of CO2, either Seachem Excel, a DIY system for generating it, or bottled CO2? Once we know all of that it is easier to tell you what you need to do differently.

All of the plants, whatever their names, require about the same things - Nitrates, Phosphates, Potassium, CO2 or another source of carbon, trace elements, adequate light for long enough, etc.


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## dennis (Mar 1, 2004)

Start here to find your plants
http://www.aquaticplantcentral.com/forumapc/plantfinder/index.php

Welcome to the hobby and to APC. I woudl start by reading as much as you can. The fertalizing andgeneral interst forums will give you the information you need. The link I posted is to the Plant Finder, a wonderful resource with tons of info.

The plant that looks like a lily pad is probably a Nymphea species, maybe the one frequently called a banana plant, Nymphea aquatica. I don't know abouthte first one by the description but it is probably am Echinodorus species.

" it
resembles grass in that there are no visible stalks and the leaves are
long and thin. The overall shape of that plant remind me of putting a
rubberband at the base of a handful of yarn because of the way the
plant fans out, the shape could also be compared to fireworks that
explode from one point then fan out into a graceful spider shape. It
is between 5 and 6 inches tall at it's tallest point and about 9
inches across from the edge of the fanned out leaves The leaves go
from the tallest point back to the bottom of the aquarium.".....maybe Bylxa japonica.

" There are also a lot of plants that resemble grass. there is a thick
lot of it and it doesn't look too bad. The grass looking plants are
1 inch tall. Each blade is well defined and the color
is a deep green. I cannot tell if there are clumps of it growing or if
it's thousands of individual plants. The blade thickness is pretty
consistent from the bottom up and they are about as thick as a fine tooth
comb tooth."...possibly, probably Lilaeopsis species.

Those plants will al be listed in the Plant Finder.


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## IO~Incognito (Jan 8, 2006)

I am very much a beginner, so please be patient with me. The lighting has two different sources attached to the lid of the aquarium. Each holder has two bulbs that are 15 watts each, so that's 4, 15 watt bulbs. I have them on for 12 hours out of every 24 hour period of time.

The only thing that I've been putting in the water is aquasafe. I got the set-up from an older woman I went to church with who passed on and the aquasafe was all that we could find that went with it, so it's what I've been using. 

If you will recommend a type of fertilizer I will buy some tomorrow. I don't know about CO2, but again, if you will explain it to me I will purchase what I need.


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## IO~Incognito (Jan 8, 2006)

dennis said:


> Start here to find your plants
> http://www.aquaticplantcentral.com/forumapc/plantfinder/index.php
> 
> Welcome to the hobby and to APC. I woudl start by reading as much as you can. The fertalizing andgeneral interst forums will give you the information you need. The link I posted is to the Plant Finder, a wonderful resource with tons of info.
> ...


Thank you so much! The names give me a good starting point. I really appreciate it


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## IO~Incognito (Jan 8, 2006)

The "grass part" looks like Lilaeopsis brasiliensis, now that I've seen the pictures and read the description. 

Blyxa japonica is really close and I noted that it can change colors according to lighting. The only major difference between it and my plant is how far the leaves of mine droop back down. While the leaves of that plant do have the same graceful drop, mine go all of the way back to the bottom of the aquarium. That could be due to something that I'm not doing right though.

I'm still working on the other two but thank you so much for the start!


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## hoppycalif (Apr 7, 2005)

IO~Incognito said:


> I am very much a beginner, so please be patient with me. The lighting has two different sources attached to the lid of the aquarium. Each holder has two bulbs that are 15 watts each, so that's 4, 15 watt bulbs. I have them on for 12 hours out of every 24 hour period of time.
> 
> The only thing that I've been putting in the water is aquasafe. I got the set-up from an older woman I went to church with who passed on and the aquasafe was all that we could find that went with it, so it's what I've been using.
> 
> If you will recommend a type of fertilizer I will buy some tomorrow. I don't know about CO2, but again, if you will explain it to me I will purchase what I need.


I also have a 29 gallon tank, but with only 3 fluorescent bulbs over it, and it grows plants ok. So, you are ok for light. Now, you need to buy some Seachem Excel to provide carbon for fertilizer, plus some KNO3 (for nitrate and potassium), KH2PO4 (for phosphate), some MgSO4 (for magnesium), and CSM+B (for trace elements), from Gregg Watson, who helps sponsor this forum, and who provides the cheapest fertilizers I have found anywhere. Then, use the Fertilator above to figure out the proper dosages. The "EI or Estimative Index" method is the easiest to follow for fertilizing - you can read about that by searching for it here. Then, you are in business!!

If you find the Excel to be too expensive, you can use yeast and sugar to generate CO2 to inject into the water, but that is a pain in the neck, gives a varying amount of CO2 which can trigger algae attacks, and the sugar and yeast aren't exactly free either. However, many people do just that and it works for them, as it did for me a few years ago.


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