# What is causing the whole plant to melt



## Fish rookie (May 21, 2012)

If a plant (high light) just melts away (stem, and leaves) or with its leaves looking really transperent and soft, is that a sign of a lack of certain nutrient/mineral in general?
Will having too much fert do that?


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## 2wheelsx2 (Apr 21, 2010)

There is no specific reason. It all depends on which plants and what conditions it's under. Which plant are you talking about?


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## Fish rookie (May 21, 2012)

I have cut out some clipping from a ludwegia and placed them in the substrate, this morning, I noticed a few of those have melted. The ones that had roots were fine though.
I also had some bad experience in the past with Blyxa Japonica which just melted all the way to the center-- the root was intact, just that all the leaves melted and floated away.


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## 2wheelsx2 (Apr 21, 2010)

Fish rookie said:


> I have cut out some clipping from a ludwegia and placed them in the substrate, this morning, I noticed a few of those have melted. The ones that had roots were fine though.
> I also had some bad experience in the past with Blyxa Japonica which just melted all the way to the center-- the root was intact, just that all the leaves melted and floated away.


Ludwigia repens? I've not had that experience. I have found that it grows in low/high light, hard/soft water, low/high nitrate, CO2/no CO2.

As B. japonica, I have read that it requires soft water. Mine grew so out of control with CO2 and ADA AS that I had to remove it. I put it in a 20 gallon with Florabase and 3 watts of LED lights and it wasn't for the plecos chewing it all up, it'd still be growing.


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## Fish rookie (May 21, 2012)

2wheelsx2 said:


> Ludwigia repens? I've not had that experience. I have found that it grows in low/high light, hard/soft water, low/high nitrate, CO2/no CO2.
> 
> As B. japonica, I have read that it requires soft water. Mine grew so out of control with CO2 and ADA AS that I had to remove it. I put it in a 20 gallon with Florabase and 3 watts of LED lights and it wasn't for the plecos chewing it all up, it'd still be growing.


Yes, that is the one. 
The plant in general is fine but since I noticed a bit of melting I just was wondeing if it was perhaps a sign that something might be off.
B.Japonica is supposed to be very hardly according to the book and mine are now growing fine except one which has the tip of the leaves melted a bit as well.
In the past I had three and they all melted to the roots. Not sure why. they did nto die and are still alove though. 
I was suppose to change my water yesterday (EI dosing) but I had no time so I just wonder may be I have too much iron, potassium or something in the water column which might have caused that?


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## 2wheelsx2 (Apr 21, 2010)

I have read that sometimes too much potassium will do that to some plants, but not sure about B. japonica. I rarely dose iron in my tanks, once I figured out it was easier to just do more water changes (cheaper too) and the red plants stayed red, so I can't speak to that.

Based on this description http://www.aquaticplantcentral.com/forumapc/plantfinder/details.php?id=123 it thrives in nutrient rich, CO2 rich environment, so your dosing is not the problem I don't think. Did this happen before you got pressurized CO2? Fluctuating CO2 from DIY will mess up a lot of plants.


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## Fish rookie (May 21, 2012)

Yes, that is correct. I was using DIY back then.
I was also dosing potassum on top of Ei so that may be why.
I am not doing that anymore. Hopefully it is just an isloated incident. Thank you os much for your help.


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