Bayareafishnewbie

Hi @Rube_Goldfish it was the light that came with the hood that was part of the TopFin 10 gallon starter kit. I was leaving the lights on for upwards of 10-12 hours per day and the tank does sit about 5 feet away from a north facing window. My myriad of “bright light” houseplants seem to thrive in a similar spot close to the tank. I’m very puzzled as to why this is happening suddenly since the plants seemed to be doing well the first 3 weeks. Nitrates continue to measure in at about 30-40ppm using the freshwater API test kit. I do a 25-33% water change every 2-3 days.

Thank you both @Mmiller2001 and @TheSwissAquaristfor your guidance! I’ll try increasing lighting and regular doses of easy green. It has ambient light from a north facing window that’s about 3 feet away from the tank and I had been leaving the lights on during much of the workday and early evening hours. Maybe I overdid the lighting?

Hi @TheSwissAquarist, no unfortunately. They are both looking rather sad. I’m going to insert another root tab under the vallisneria. I added one yesterday underneath the red flame sword and dosed some easy green after a partial water change. btw, I just noticed your profile picture. I have a Dalmatian as well!

@TheSwissAquaristthere had been new shoots and new runners but they’re also showing signs of melting or yellowing. Not sure what I’m doing wrong. 😔 Should I reduce light, should I dose more fertilizer? @TheSwissAquarist yes, the vallisneria is planted in gravel substrate and the PSO was planted shallowly in the gravel substrate but have since allowed it to float as of today. I took it out of the tank to remove the melted leaves.

@TheSwissAquaristthere had been new shoots and new runners but they’re also showing signs of melting or yellowing. Not sure what I’m doing wrong. 😔

New aquarium owner here. I have a ten gallon with gravel substrate and only a single betta fish. Ammonia was 0.25, nitrite was 0, and nitrates were 40. About 4-5 weeks ago I ordered a Vallisneria, red flame sword, and a pogostemon stellatus “PG”. They were all healthy looking initially but over the course of the last few weeks, the vallisneria and PG both are looking terrible. Both seem to be melting away. The Vallisneria has two runners but even those are starting to melt. Both plants appear very faded in color. I’d been leaving the lights on the aquarium hood for about 8-9 hours per day. The red flame sword is growing new leaves every week or so but have noticed that some older leaves are starting to have yellow or rust colored spots. Is this normal? The crypt lutea I also got around the same time seems to be fading better as it has some new leaves and appears to still be a vibrant green. I have root tabs which I’d used once and have dosed Easy Green about 3 times since I got them. What am I doing wrong? I feel very discouraged now and I’d just ordered three more plants last week. I hope they all make it!