Plants seem to be dying but I haven’t really changed anything. Any ideas?

[Shmeck5226]

Can anyone give me any advice on what I could have going on here? This is hygrophila corymbosa that I got probably 9 months ago and it has been in this tank since then. It started at about half of what is there now, and at one point was much denser than it is now. It peaked probably 2 months ago and has been losing leaves since then. My parameters are 0 ammonia and nitrite. My nitrates are 30-40 however I dose ez green. pH is 7.8 but that’s what comes out of my tap and that’s what it has always been even when it was growing well. I also use seachem flourish root tabs. Any guesses would be helpful. I’m sure something is missing I just can’t figure out what. 

[DSH OUTDOORS]

Have you been dosing the same amount the entire time? It might be you have enough other growth along with the peak two months ago that you need to increase your fertilizers. Also consider adding iron and potassium to the mix.

[Cory]

How often are you changing water? Has it always only had the shrimp and the bristlenose?

[MartyO]

I second @DSH OUTDOORS nutrients might not be enough also it may need more light. What light are you using currently?

[Shmeck5226]

I forgot to put that the moss was added a bit before the peak, this was probably an important thing to mention lol. As far as the light I’m using a nicrew light. The 12-18 inch light and this is a 5 gallon with a completely clear lexan lid. I’ll include the specs it claims although I have no idea how accurate they are. Up to when it peaked I was changing ~30% water weekly and adding .5 ml of ez green every 2 weeks (every other water change) and it was home to a betta and the shrimp. The betta passed shortly after the plants had started looking worse and then shortly after that I got this pleco. The pleco will eventually go into a community tank but it was much smaller when I first got him. Anyways. The last couple times I’ve changed water I had been doing more like ~50% water changes a week and then dosing ez green each time I changed it, (I wanted to be sure that my nitrates were coming from the fertilizer, idk if this makes sense though so if that’s not how it works please let me know) this water change/dose schedule has been going on for about 3 weeks. I’m not really panicking yet, but it seems every day I look at it they have lost more leaves so Idk if I’m even moving in the right direction yet. 
 

also I have ez iron I could dose if needed but as far as potassium what would I add if I’m already dosing ez green?

[1moretank]

33 minutes ago, Shmeck5226 said:

I forgot to put that the moss was added a bit before the peak, this was probably an important thing to mention lol. As far as the light I’m using a nicrew light. The 12-18 inch light and this is a 5 gallon with a completely clear lexan lid. I’ll include the specs it claims although I have no idea how accurate they are. Up to when it peaked I was changing ~30% water weekly and adding .5 ml of ez green every 2 weeks (every other water change) and it was home to a betta and the shrimp. The betta passed shortly after the plants had started looking worse and then shortly after that I got this pleco. The pleco will eventually go into a community tank but it was much smaller when I first got him. Anyways. The last couple times I’ve changed water I had been doing more like ~50% water changes a week and then dosing ez green each time I changed it, (I wanted to be sure that my nitrates were coming from the fertilizer, idk if this makes sense though so if that’s not how it works please let me know) this water change/dose schedule has been going on for about 3 weeks. I’m not really panicking yet, but it seems every day I look at it they have lost more leaves so Idk if I’m even moving in the right direction yet. 
 

also I have ez iron I could dose if needed but as far as potassium what would I add if I’m already dosing ez green?

That's a nice piece of moss.   You said nothing has changed so I am understanding that you dosed the same fertilizer before and after you added the moss?   If that is the case, then I agree with @DSH OUTDOORS you most likely need to increase the amount of Easy Green since you increased how much is being consumed.  I like moving slow, so I would increase that return to 30% water changes & not add new fertilizers until I had watched for changes for a few weeks.  As a side note, everyone warns that plecos will chew on amazon swords but I see my small ones rasping on nearly any leaf big enough for them to put their mouth on - not suggesting the pleco caused this, just that it might make the damage worse now that it has holes in the leaves.  Good luck.

[gardenman]

Some plants don't like you adding new plants. My thirty high had a jungle of jungle val in it. Absolutely lush and thriving. I was having to trim it on a weekly basis and could have supplied a small pet shop with the runners it produced. Then I found a really big and beautiful Madagascar lace plant at a great price and brought it home and plopped it in the tank. Within days all of the val melted away to nothing. And I mean nothing. The water parameters were all the same. The lighting was the same. The only thing that changed was adding the lace plant and the val just disappeared. Why?  I have no idea. In the above water plant world some plants emit hormones to discourage nearby plants and my best guess is something like that happened here and the val was very susceptible to whatever the lace plant emitted, but it was amazing (in a bad way) to watch. Maybe your moss is doing something similar. If you have a spare tank you could move the moss to you might see the other plant rebound.

[Wes L.]

You need stronger light...I'm positive about this. I have this exact same situation here. One of my tanks is a 10 gallon and only has Hygrophila Corymbosa and Java Moss...just like your tank. Hygrophila is a med to high light plant. It's also a heavy root feeder. It takes practically nothing from the water column, so dosing anything is pointless...and I have never dosed anything in this tank. I only use flourish root tabs like you. The Hygrophila is growing thick, dense and healthy and at a rapid pace. I'm posting a couple pics below. The tall plant in the back is plastic. That was my algae garden for the shrimp and snails. Every month or so I had to remove some of the plastic plants because the hygrophila was growing so rapidly....and now they're completely gone.

The first photo was taken on Oct 24th, the day I planted the Hygrophila...and they look kind of pitiful. The second photo was taken on January 4th, so just a little more tan two months later, and look at the difference. You can see the plants are not only growing taller, but very thick and compact as well. That's because of the bright light. We have to think of our aquatic plants just like house plants. House plants will grow thin and gangly (and leaves will deteriorate) if they don't get enough light, and it's the same for aquatic plants.

The 3rd photo I just snapped today, 3/17/2021 about 10 minutes ago. The Java Moss is still in my tank but I have removed all the plastic plants and put the Java behind the Hygrophila to make more room. The plants couldn't be any more lush and healthy.

There's just about a 5 month difference between the first photo and the 3rd photo. But what's also worth noting is at the end of January I cut the tops off of all the Hygrophila, which is why they are all the same height in the 3rd photo. I took the tops and planted them in another tank which has low light. And those Hygrophila in my lower light tank look just like yours with holes in the leaves. I'm happy to snap photos of the struggling plants if you're interested, but they look exactly like yours. And the plants are not nearly as thick and robust as in this 10 gallon. The leaves are all shorter and farther apart......and the plants are clearly struggling.

Just for a point of reference I have the Fluval 3 light on both tanks. In my 10 gallon bright light tank I have all the light settings at 100%. In my other lower light tank I have  3 light settings completely off, and 2 the two remaining are only at 40%. So there is a huge difference in the amount of light the plants are receiving and a huge difference in the speed and quality of growth.

 

[Seattle_Aquarist]

21 hours ago, Shmeck5226 said:

Can anyone give me any advice on what I could have going on here? This is hygrophila corymbosa that I got probably 9 months ago and it has been in this tank since then. It started at about half of what is there now, and at one point was much denser than it is now. It peaked probably 2 months ago and has been losing leaves since then. My parameters are 0 ammonia and nitrite. My nitrates are 30-40 however I dose ez green. pH is 7.8 but that’s what comes out of my tap and that’s what it has always been even when it was growing well. I also use seachem flourish root tabs. Any guesses would be helpful. I’m sure something is missing I just can’t figure out what. 

 

Hi @Shmeck5226

Do you have a plecostomus in the tank?  If not then it is most likely nutrient related.  Because the the older leaves are most effected we can assume one of the mobile nutrients is either deficient or there is too much of another nutrient it the tank effecting the uptake of the one that is needed.  When chlorosis (yellowing) between the leaf veins is followed by spots of necrosis (dead tissue) on older leaves the most likely issue is insufficient available potassium caused by not enough being dosed or too much calcium effecting the uptake of the potassium. 

Also the newest leaves look a little yellow as well.  With a pH of 7.8 it is unlikely that the iron in the Easy Green is available to the plants causing the yellowing of new growth.  There are different types of iron available for dosing our plants.  Most are chelated with either ETDA, DTPA, EDDHA or in the form of ferrous gluconate.  EDTA is the most common we see in All-in-One fertilizers because it is the least expensive, unfortunately when the pH is above 7.0 over 90% of the iron is not available to the plants.

Here is what I suggest, pick up a bottle of Seachem Potassium and Seachem Iron.  Continue to dose the Easy-Green as you have been but also dose the potassium and iron as directed on the bottles.  Do this for one month and watch the new leaves as they emerge and mature.  DO NOT WATCH ANY EXISTING LEAVES, THEY WILL NOT IMPROVE AND MAY CONTINUE TO DECLINE.

Do the new leaves look greener, healthier, possibly a little larger.  You may also see the growth rate improve.  As these new leaves mature do the leaves start showing the chlorosis (yellowing) and necrosis (holes) that the picture shows.  If not you are on the correct path.

Keep us posted as things progress! -Roy

[Shmeck5226]

Thank you everyone for the replies. I have a general plan going forward. I will start dosing potassium and iron in addition to ez green and root tabs. Unfortunately my budget right now doesn’t allow for a different light so I’ll be continuing to use the nicrew for now. I’ll give this some time and remove the moss if things don’t improve. Thanks again.