Sword melt

[zayackylepga]

Experiencing a little sword melt. Tank started in February 2021, this sword was one of the first plants in there. Been dosing with easy green once a week and CO2 for about a month for maybe 6 hours a day. Ammonia .25ppm and Nitrates 5ppm. Have just added root tabs but would the CO2 cause the sword roots to sap all the nutrients from the soil? Using Seachem Aquasolum. Thanks for any help!

[Jungle Fan]

@zayackylepgaif you started the tank in February 2021 what you now see isn't some kind of melt, which is usually a term used to define what happens when a plant is losing leaves in the process of changing from emersed, to submersed foliage but a nutrient deficiency. Crypts are a little different as they can be more finicky if they are moved around within the tank, or if water parameters change, all of which can trigger them to go through a melt similar to the described occurrence but they usually will recover, and if one wants to speed up their recovery it helps to cut off all leaves and just leave a tiny bit of the stems so the plant will use all of its resources for new growth. For Amazon swords I'd recommend to just cut off the damaged leaves since they will not recover. Swords are extremely resilient and with the right nutrients and light they will bounce back in no time.

You said yourself that you just now added the root tabs, which is good, but the leaf damage you are witnessing does not necessarily mean your substrate is depleted, just that with the growth your sword plant has experienced its demands for nutrients with a now established root system and bigger foliage are exceeding what is immediately available to your plant in the area where it is located.

I keep my swords and crypts happy with replacing root tabs throughout my tank with about 6" in between tabs every 4 - 6 months, depending on plant density. Swords and crypts are heavy root feeders and need extra potassium, and iron. In addition to the root tabs I dose an all in one fertilizer, liquid iron, and potassium, as well as Mironekuton, which is a powder that contains deep sea minerals providing trace elements every 3 to 4 weeks. Trace minerals are available from different suppliers in different forms it doesn't have to be Mironekuton, I just like them because I've achieved good results with it.

I hope this helps.

[zayackylepga]

@Jungle Fanis Mironekuton, a powder that is added to the substrate before starting the tank, or is that something that can be added post setup? Never heard of it and would definitely give it a try. Going to start dosing with some liquid iron and potassium as well, as some of the crypts do have tiny pin holes. Will see how this goes and hopefully it solves the problem!

[Jungle Fan]

@zayackylepga you are correct the Mironekuton is a powder that I used under my substrate to encourage colonization of the lava rock by beneficial bacteria and to create better initial root growth, however when I use it now I use the little scoop measure that comes with it and deliver several scoops of it into the flow from my canister filter outlet so it gets carried throughout the tank it contains all the trace elements. However you don't necessarily have to use the Mironekuton, Seachem Flourish also has Trace elements bottled for dosing, just like they offer the potassium for example.