Help! All my plants die!

[Nomoretent]

Help!  I am new to this hobby, so please be kind.  I have a betta in a 10 gallon tank and he is doing well, but every plant I put in there dies.  I want to give him some tank mates, but I can’t without more live plant hiding places.  My tap water is soft and low pH.  My tank water has 0 kH, so I add seachem equilibrium just to bring pH up to 6.8 ish and have a kH higher than 0.  I also dose easy green to about 20.  The only odd thing is that my water in my tank tests off the charts for hardness - like 300.  I am only adding 1/4 tsp of equilibrium every week, so that shouldn’t do it.  My nitrites are 0.  What am I doing wrong? My betta started out in a 3.5 gallon tank with green water - as soon as I took out the plastic plants and put in live plants, the water cleared up and my new plants thrived.  When I moved it all to the 10 gallon tank, the plants slowly started dying.  I have added Brazilian pennywort, java fern, annubias nana, vallisneria, and two water sprites and it is all dying.  Even my java moss is failing to thrive.  I did change out the painted rock gravel to natural stone aquarium gravel from petco.  Also, you can see the decorations in the tank - it’s my daughter’s fish and she picked those out.  Please tell me what I am doing wrong!

[xXInkedPhoenixX]

Hi there. You won't get any mean from this forum so be comfortable asking questions, no question is dumb. First stop doing this Equilibrium thing- this raises your GH/water harness. You will find adding chems to bring something up or down isn't the best way to do it- it's just a temporary fix that sometimes also causes problems. Now, to bring it down start doing small 10-20% water changes, every day if you're ok with that, nothing too crazy so it won't stress the fish. After about a week test the water and see if that did the trick. THEN, look into buying a bag of crushed coral- this will be a buffer, the low pH is acidic and start to break down the coral which will then bring the pH up SLOWLY. You'll only need a handful or so either in the substrate or if you have a hang on back filter it's best to put it in there. 

[xXInkedPhoenixX]

Now you mentioned moving to the 10 gallon recently. How recently was that? When you move a plant to another tank despite some of the familar stuff you put in there with it, you should expect some die off as it has to adjust- and obviously the water parameters in this tank is not the same as the other tank they were in. For example: you live in Alaska and fly to Hawaii- that's quite a difference in climate/conditions. The plants are responding to it. Did the plants do ok before?

[Guppysnail]

I have one of my tanks that for no reason killed all plants. It was identical substrate lights and water as my others. I started floating ALL plants no matter what they were until the acclimated and showed new growth then did what I wanted with them. That worked. I still have no clue why it kills plants I don’t float first but it still does. Not super helpful to identify your problem but may help until you figure it out. 

[xXInkedPhoenixX]

It looks like you have an Aqueon hang on the back maybe the 10? You can buy a net baggie from a local fish store used for filter media you can place some coral in that and put it in the body of the filter, that way you can keep it contained and add or subtract from it as needed. 🙂

 

[Nomoretent]

On 7/16/2021 at 7:59 PM, xXInkedPhoenixX said:

Hi there. You won't get any mean from this forum so be comfortable asking questions, no question is dumb. First stop doing this Equilibrium thing- this raises your GH/water harness. You will find adding chems to bring something up or down isn't the best way to do it- it's just a temporary fix that sometimes also causes problems. Now, to bring it down start doing small 10-20% water changes, every day if you're ok with that, nothing too crazy so it won't stress the fish. After about a week test the water and see if that did the trick. THEN, look into buying a bag of crushed coral- this will be a buffer, the low pH is acidic and start to break down the coral which will then bring the pH up SLOWLY. You'll only need a handful or so either in the substrate or if you have a hang on back filter it's best to put it in there. 

Thanks for your help!  I will stop the equilibrium for now.  I had crushed coral in both tanks and took it out thinking that may have raised the GH (though it would be strange if that were the case given that the KH was 0).  I will put it back in the HOB filter and get to work on water changes.  Any thoughts on Wonder Shell given my parameters? Thanks!

[Nomoretent]

On 7/16/2021 at 8:03 PM, xXInkedPhoenixX said:

Now you mentioned moving to the 10 gallon recently. How recently was that? When you move a plant to another tank despite some of the familar stuff you put in there with it, you should expect some die off as it has to adjust- and obviously the water parameters in this tank is not the same as the other tank they were in. For example: you live in Alaska and fly to Hawaii- that's quite a difference in climate/conditions. The plants are responding to it. Did the plants do ok before?

My husband bought the 3.5 gallon as part of a glow fish kit when he bought the betta for our daughter.  I am using that tank now for red cherry shrimp (plus a nerite).  So it should (and does) have similar parameters.  It never occurred to me that that the plants would have to adjust moving from one tank to the other.  

[Nomoretent]

On 7/16/2021 at 8:07 PM, Guppysnail said:

I have one of my tanks that for no reason killed all plants. It was identical substrate lights and water as my others. I started floating ALL plants no matter what they were until the acclimated and showed new growth then did what I wanted with them. That worked. I still have no clue why it kills plants I don’t float first but it still does. Not super helpful to identify your problem but may help until you figure it out. 

I will try that - thanks! I am trying to stick to plants that feed from the water column for now, so that should work.  Goodness knows my water sprite was happy floating in the top of my 3.5 gallon, before I moved everything to the 10 gal.  Do you think that the plants want more light now that they are in a taller tank, and that is why they like floating?

[Guppysnail]

On 7/17/2021 at 9:31 AM, Nomoretent said:

I will try that - thanks! I am trying to stick to plants that feed from the water column for now, so that should work.  Goodness knows my water sprite was happy floating in the top of my 3.5 gallon, before I moved everything to the 10 gal.  Do you think that the plants want more light now that they are in a taller tank, and that is why they like floating?

Taller tanks probably. Mine that kills non floaters is only a 10. I know i get more color floating and quicker growth in all mine. 

[xXInkedPhoenixX]

On 7/17/2021 at 6:22 AM, Nomoretent said:

Thanks for your help!  I will stop the equilibrium for now.  I had crushed coral in both tanks and took it out thinking that may have raised the GH (though it would be strange if that were the case given that the KH was 0).  I will put it back in the HOB filter and get to work on water changes.  Any thoughts on Wonder Shell given my parameters? Thanks!

You're welcome. 🙂 

Crushed coral may have some effect on the GH but it's actually easier to just do water changes if need be to lower that. I don't think the hard water is necessarily the issue with the plants, just so you know. I have pretty hard water and my plants  and fish do ok, just wanted to help you figure out how to naturally stabilize your pH/kH and coral is usually the easiest, lower maintenance, and less of a roller coaster ride for your tanks. Chemical solutions are very temporary and fine to use in a pinch but it's not something you should have to, or want to do all the time. 

On 7/17/2021 at 6:28 AM, Nomoretent said:

My husband bought the 3.5 gallon as part of a glow fish kit when he bought the betta for our daughter.  I am using that tank now for red cherry shrimp (plus a nerite).  So it should (and does) have similar parameters.  It never occurred to me that that the plants would have to adjust moving from one tank to the other.  

I think like @Guppysnail said if you're having issues with plants floating is a great option if need be, you can keep an eye on roots and plant them later if you want. 

Personally I think your plants just need time to recover from the move. I see you are using gravel which is fine I have that too but I also put some plant substrate (I've used Caribsea Eco Complete) under the gravel so the plants can take better root and get some nutrition from a plant substrate. If you wanted to try that you can also get some floral pots, fill those with substrate and put the plants there- this is a cool way to do it because you can move the plants or take them out if need be without too much disruption in the tank or for the plant- so if you plan on redecorating again this is a good solution. 

As far as wondershell- I've never used it but I've thought about it. They are great for your shelled pets however it will raise GH so be aware of that. 

I think your tanks look nice and little girls HAVE to have a cute tank- that's just required. 🙂 

Edited July 17, 2021 by xXInkedPhoenixX
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