Please help! Scarlet temples leaves are melting!

[FishPlanet]

Hi guys. I am so new to live aquarium plants that are harder to take care of lol. So, my scarlet temples leaves are melting. (I can't get any pictures right now). Please help! Thanx 

[Rory Waliser]

I'm sure you know this if you have kept any plants at all, but from a personal experience, there can be issues with new plants depending on how they were grown. A lot of growers don't have the plants fully submerged ever before they get to you. Sometimes the change from the hydroponics setup (or whatever they use) to an aquarium causes them to melt. I've had plants melt down for a while and then come back just as nice as they were when I got them, and I've had plants that never come out of it. About 6 months ago, I added two ozelot swords from two different fish stores to my display tank. Both melted, one came back, and the other is a decomposing root ball.

[Bjorn]

In my experience with out co2 they curl up, turn brownish green, and stay dormant. Had some in a low tech tank for several months then transferred to one with co2. It wasn't long before it started growing new leaves.

Like Rory mentioned above me, even in ideal conditions you'd still probably see melting first few weeks. If your situation is like mine, they won't die but without co2 they won't thrive again. I know the online description says its not a requirement but in my experience it makes a huge difference.

[FishPlanet]

On 12/14/2021 at 5:15 PM, Bjorn said:

If your situation is like mine, they won't die but without co2 they won't thrive again. I

But I don't have co2. What can I do to make it thrive again. T_T

[Rory Waliser]

I don’t know if Bjorn was talking about your specific plant species or not, but I have setups both with and without co2 and they only difference I’ve observed is the rate of growth. There is a natural amount of co2 that will diffuse into the water via surface agitation. This is completely sufficient for keeping plants alive and healthy. I’m not a chemist or biologist so I’m sure there’s someone with more knowledge that will correct me, but I view supplementing co2 like giving an engine more air. If you give an engine more air(co2) and give it the proper amount of fuel(fertilizers) to go along with it, you can achieve a higher horsepower(rate of plant growth). This is obviously a very surface level way of looking at it. My co2 setup definitely grows fast, but my tanks without co2 have beautiful, slow growing plants. It’s really hard to tell what’s making them melt, but my guess is there is something about your water parameters that the scarlet temples just don’t like. It could be kH or GH??

[FishPlanet]

On 12/14/2021 at 9:26 PM, Rory Waliser said:

 It could be kH or GH??

Could you please remind me what kH and Gh is again plz?

[Rory Waliser]

https://www.aquariumcoop.com/blogs/aquarium/ph-gh-kh
 

Read through this. I think GH is what you should look at. If you have a steady pH, your kH is most likely fine. There is probably a recommended GH for your particular plant.