Red Stem Parrot Feather

[NOLANANO]

Anyone have any experience with this plant? Can't find a ton of info online so I figured I'd ask.

From what I do know, its typically sold as a pond plant because it grows out of the water nicely and provides a good bit of cover for bait fish.  I have had the plant for a couple of weeks and the leaves are converting from these really "Snowflake" looking pine tree-like leaves to more bushy needles. I believe this is just the difference in submersed growth and immersed growth (did I use those terms correctly?) and the plant is converting.

any tips would be greatly appreciated.

This is what the plant looked like when I got it:

 

Now it is converting into this but so far I still have a red stem:

[Odd Duck]

Immersed and submersed are the same thing.  I used to think to myself, “Immersed is In, Emmersed is Erupting.”  Submersed was always more obvious to me with Submarines going under the water.

No advice on parrot’s feather since I haven’t ever grown it.

[Crow]

I’ve got some parrot feather that I’ve had for a couple months! Despite what the guy at the lfs told me it’s probably the one of the easiest plants I have. I don’t really do anything with it except whack it in half or lower when it reaches the top of the water and replant the stems. I started with three stems and now I have bunches of it in two tanks! It gets light and easy green like everyone else, I don’t give it anything else. 

Edited November 12, 2022 by Crow
A word

[JoeQ]

Want it!

Edited November 12, 2022 by JoeQ

[Mitch_ScruffyCityAquatics]

Apparently Parrot Feathers are tasty. Our dog ate all of mine out of my mini pond. 

[Seattle_Aquarist]

On 11/11/2022 at 10:30 AM, NOLANANO said:

Anyone have any experience with this plant? Can't find a ton of info online so I figured I'd ask.

From what I do know, its typically sold as a pond plant because it grows out of the water nicely and provides a good bit of cover for bait fish.  I have had the plant for a couple of weeks and the leaves are converting from these really "Snowflake" looking pine tree-like leaves to more bushy needles. I believe this is just the difference in submersed growth and immersed growth (did I use those terms correctly?) and the plant is converting.

any tips would be greatly appreciated.

This is what the plant looked like when I got it:

 

Now it is converting into this but so far I still have a red stem:

Hi @NOLANANO

Just an FYI, if you live in the State of Washington Parrots Feather (Myriophyllum aquaticum / aka Milfoil) is listed as a Noxious Weed per WAC 16-752-505.  As such: "It is prohibited to transport, buy, sell, offer for sale, or to distribute plants or plant parts of these regulated plants, into or within the state of Washington. It is further prohibited to intentionally transplant wild plants and/or plant parts of these species within the state of Washington."  When grown emersed, and sometimes when grown submerged, it will exhibit the red stems it there is sufficient light intensity.  The first picture shows emersed grown stems.  -Roy

[NOLANANO]

On 11/15/2022 at 4:15 PM, Seattle_Aquarist said:

Hi @NOLANANO

Just an FYI, if you live in the State of Washington Parrots Feather (Myriophyllum aquaticum / aka Milfoil) is listed as a Noxious Weed per WAC 16-752-505.  As such: "It is prohibited to transport, buy, sell, offer for sale, or to distribute plants or plant parts of these regulated plants, into or within the state of Washington. It is further prohibited to intentionally transplant wild plants and/or plant parts of these species within the state of Washington."  When grown emersed, and sometimes when grown submerged, it will exhibit the red stems it there is sufficient light intensity.  The first picture shows emersed grown stems.  -Roy

good looking out but lucky for me I live in Louisiana and bought it at a LFS. I would hope the LFS would be compliant with local laws and regs. 

[NOLANANO]

Update: this is what my parrot feathers look like right now. 2 questions:

1) should I trim them so the majority of the stem has green leaves?

2) should I throw away the parts with brown leaves or leave them planted? Basically will the brown leaf part of the stem start to grow new green leaves?

[JoeQ]

Id top and plant, discarding the bottom portion.  IMO you should also try getting more light deeper into the water column. 

 

Edit: another thought is, is your nitrates adequate?  I keep Hornwort (similar leaf structure) which for me is a "cannery in the coal mine" plant.  Needle loss in that plant is usually a NPK issue with the culprit usually being Nitrate.

Edited November 22, 2022 by JoeQ
Added edit info

[NOLANANO]

So I actually have 2 lights and this picture was take when only my “show” light was on. I call it that because it clips on the front rim of the tank and shows off the reflective colors of my rams and  pearl gourami. The “plant” light is on a timer and isn’t on yet. 
 

I will upload a picture when the plant light turns on and see if you still think that lighting is an issue.

by “top” It do you mean trim them and only plant the healthy top portions?

[JoeQ]

On 11/22/2022 at 12:36 PM, NOLANANO said:

So I actually have 2 lights and this picture was take when only my “show” light was on. I call it that because it clips on the front rim of the tank and shows off the reflective colors of my rams and  pearl gourami. The “plant” light is on a timer and isn’t on yet. 
 

I will upload a picture when the plant light turns on and see if you still think that lighting is an issue.

by “top” It do you mean trim them and only plant the healthy top portions?

Yes, I'd replant the healthy top, while discarding the bottom bare stem. As for the picture,  im not sure if the picture will tell me if there's enough light since the light waves plants use are not visible to the human eye (or so I've read).. I myself am leaning towards mostly a nutrient issue, but hopefully a few more knowledgeable sources will chime in and either confirm or rebuke my thoughts. 

[NOLANANO]

The plants in the picture are in the process of converting so I don’t think it’s a nutrient issue but I will keep and eye on it once it’s trimmed.

[NOLANANO]

@JoeQ I just saw your Nitrate edit and my tank doesn't have much nitrate (if any) because of the amount of plants. I have actually begun doing water changes every other week to try and replenish the nutrients, CO2, and Nitrates in the water (my tap has 10 PPM nitrates).  I have been dosing Easy Green, Easy Iron, Potassium, and flourish Excel every other day as well.  I finally did a water change about a week ago and my plants all sprung back to life and started growing so I think the regular 10-20% water changes is the fix for my nutrient issues. 

[JoeQ]

On 11/22/2022 at 1:28 PM, NOLANANO said:

@JoeQ I just saw your Nitrate edit and my tank doesn't have much nitrate (if any) because of the amount of plants. I have actually begun doing water changes every other week to try and replenish the nutrients, CO2, and Nitrates in the water (my tap has 10 PPM nitrates).  I have been dosing Easy Green, Easy Iron, Potassium, and flourish Excel every other day as well.  I finally did a water change about a week ago and my plants all sprung back to life and started growing so I think the regular 10-20% water changes is the fix for my nutrient issues. 

My tank was growing like gangbusters then come the summer and plants stopped growing, then  algea started.....  Which I blamed on the warm weather. When I look back it was probably because the tank grew to the point of outgrowing the macro nutrient content that an all in one could provide.  Once I started supplementing nitrogen it started growing again.

Edited November 22, 2022 by JoeQ

[NOLANANO]

I am actually dealing with BBA as well which I am treating by spot dosing the Excel with a syringe. Can you explain in more detail what a nitrogen deficiency looks like and tell me what product you use to supplement the nitrogen.

My experience has been similar to what you describe as I have had this tank set up for about 6 months and t was growing wild for the first 4 months and its been a struggle the last 2.  At first I thought my red tiger lotus was emitting a chemical to stunt the growth of the other plants. I removed the Lotus and did a water change (to remove the chemical) and the plants started to grow so I thought I figured it out.  Then a couple of weeks later, the plants stopped growing again and my Willow Hygro started losing leaves. At this point I thought it was a Potassium issue. I started dosing Potassium and upping my Easy Green from twice a week to every other day.  This let me hold serve, so to speak. Plants weren't growing but they weren't dying either. This is also when the BBA started.  I treated with excel and it went away but now its back.  I researched it and found out that lack of CO2 could be the cause which makes sense since I only dose the Excel when I see BBA.  Finally decided to do another water change about 2 weeks ago and BOOM, lots of plant growth. It looks like the plants are stunted again so I did another water change today and assume the growth will be evident tomorrow.  I am still planning on Dosing every other day to try to lengthen the time between water changes.

[JoeQ]

On 11/22/2022 at 2:14 PM, NOLANANO said:

I am actually dealing with BBA as well which I am treating by spot dosing the Excel with a syringe. Can you explain in more detail what a nitrogen deficiency looks like and tell me what product you use to supplement the nitrogen.

My experience has been similar to what you describe as I have had this tank set up for about 6 months and t was growing wild for the first 4 months and its been a struggle the last 2.  At first I thought my red tiger lotus was emitting a chemical to stunt the growth of the other plants. I removed the Lotus and did a water change (to remove the chemical) and the plants started to grow so I thought I figured it out.  Then a couple of weeks later, the plants stopped growing again and my Willow Hygro started losing leaves. At this point I thought it was a Potassium issue. I started dosing Potassium and upping my Easy Green from twice a week to every other day.  This let me hold serve, so to speak. Plants weren't growing but they weren't dying either. This is also when the BBA started.  I treated with excel and it went away but now its back.  I researched it and found out that lack of CO2 could be the cause which makes sense since I only dose the Excel when I see BBA.  Finally decided to do another water change about 2 weeks ago and BOOM, lots of plant growth. It looks like the plants are stunted again so I did another water change today and assume the growth will be evident tomorrow.  I am still planning on Dosing every other day to try to lengthen the time between water changes.

Pretty much my signs were what you explained lethargic growth (if any), plant leaves melting or dropping off, then came the algea..... basically it was a slow motion snowball effect while I tinkered with light settings and rigid water changes/water quality attention.  Looking back my attention should of been on low nitrogen on account of my ppms constantly reading between 5 to 10 even after fertilization.... As of now I'm using Brightwells Nitrogen suppliment, but I have also used Seachems nitrogen suppliment. These are basically the same, the only difference is the concentration IMO. With that said in the next few weeks I plan on changing yet again to NilockGs macro & micro regimen just because I feel like I have outgrown the benefits of using an all in one fertilizer 

[NOLANANO]

On 11/22/2022 at 1:39 PM, JoeQ said:

Pretty much my signs were what you explained lethargic growth (if any), plant leaves melting or dropping off, then came the algea..... basically it was a slow motion snowball effect while I tinkered with light settings and rigid water changes/water quality attention.  Looking back my attention should of been on low nitrogen on account of my ppms constantly reading between 5 to 10 even after fertilization.... As of now I'm using Brightwells Nitrogen suppliment, but I have also used Seachems nitrogen suppliment. These are basically the same, the only difference is the concentration IMO. With that said in the next few weeks I plan on changing yet again to NilockGs macro & micro regimen just because I feel like I have outgrown the benefits of using an all in one fertilizer 

I hope you don't feel like I am badgering you but I have questions lol.

1) How often do you do water changes?

2) How often do you dose?

3) do you dose anything else or was the Nitrogen the issue and everything else turned out to be fine?

[JoeQ]

On 11/22/2022 at 2:45 PM, NOLANANO said:

I hope you don't feel like I am badgering you but I have questions lol.

1) How often do you do water changes?

2) How often do you dose?

3) do you dose anything else or was the Nitrogen the issue and everything else turned out to be fine?

No bother, I got the time

I water change 30%~40% every other week. I dose an all in one (a competitors brand I wont mention) everyother day.

I will suppliment either the same day I dose an all in one, or next day  depending on the test. Todays results were this:

No3 10 +/-

N02 0

GH 150 +/-

KH 80 -

PH 6.8+

CHL 0

TDS 222

TEMP 75

I did not suppliment today,  tomorrow I will. Here is also an updated pic of my tank, which I'll also post in my journal since I recently started using Co2. See the yellow leaves on the left? Thats nitrogen deficiency. 

 

[NOLANANO]

This hobby is so funny. Everything you read about FISH keeping says to try and get the nitrates as low as you can and plants help with this. I haven't read anything until this thread that said I needed Nitrates for my PLANTS. But it makes sense.

I watch guys like MD on Youtube and he sets up no filter eco tanks that don't need water changes and makes it look easy. Its not until I really think about it do I realize that he only leaves his tanks up for 6 months or so before tearing them down and rescaping. He hasn't addressed any nutrient issues with those tanks because they aren't up long enough to run into it.

[JoeQ]

On 11/23/2022 at 10:14 AM, NOLANANO said:

This hobby is so funny. Everything you read about FISH keeping says to try and get the nitrates as low as you can and plants help with this. I haven't read anything until this thread that said I needed Nitrates for my PLANTS. But it makes sense.

I watch guys like MD on Youtube and he sets up no filter eco tanks that don't need water changes and makes it look easy. Its not until I really think about it do I realize that he only leaves his tanks up for 6 months or so before tearing them down and rescaping. He hasn't addressed any nutrient issues with those tanks because they aren't up long enough to run into it.

IMO a lot of conventional fish keeping knowledge bleeds over from plant-LESS tanks into plantED tanks. And as good as youtube is for quick answers to questions,  one needs to take the information in with a skeptical mind set. The magic of Tellevision also applies to the magic of youtube.

[NOLANANO]

So how much Nitrates should I aim for? I have German Blue Rams that don't like Nitrates so it'll have to be a delicate balance.  I may just go ahead and do the weekly or biweekly water changes to fix my Nitrate issue because I am sure that it doesn't harm my Rams and I am afraid I'll accidentally kill them.

[JoeQ]

I aim to keep my nitrates above 10ppm for reasons similar to you, but Corey recommends 20ppm