# Anubias melt in brackish help!



## Master wilkins (Dec 10, 2012)

So im a little choked these days because my expensive and huge anubias barteri plant that i bought recently for my brackish tank has been slowly melting away with no signs of slowing down. Everything ive read told me that anubias is fine in brackish water up to around 1.010 specific gravity. The store i bought it from said that no acclimization was necissary so i just plopped it right in my tank which sits around 1.008. The rot starts at the stem and spreads outwards to the leaves and the rhizome (as far as i can tell). I dose the tank with flourish excel and flourish comprehensive supplement. The lights are on in the tank from when i wake up to when i go to bed which varies from day to day as i dont have a timer yet. Im hoping there is a plant guru out there to help me out as im completely new to the whole plant aspect of aquariums.


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## Master wilkins (Dec 10, 2012)

Please help.


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## CRS Fan (Apr 21, 2010)

Is the rhizome buried in the substrate? If so.... this may be the source of your problem.

Respectfully, 

Stuart


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk 2


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## Master wilkins (Dec 10, 2012)

Yeah i read about that too. Nope, i have it under an elastic band on top of a rock, only some of the roots are under the sand. It didnt come with too many roots, i think most were cut off before i bought it.


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## jbyoung00008 (May 16, 2011)

Mine did the same in my African tank and my salinity is close to yours. I havnt seen much new growth on them. I ended up tossing 2 out. They've been in there for almost a year. Other anubias species are doing great minus the odd bite mark here and there. Im thinking the cutting of the roots might be the problem. That was one of thing I noticed and now you have mentioned it aswell. It cant be good for the plant to have that done. They looked so nice when I bought them and they arn't cheap. They must of been freshly cut when I bought them. They slowly melted away over time


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## Nicole (Nov 21, 2011)

It may just be adjusting since there was no acclimation process. Is there water flow going through the rhizome? It should be fine with your current dosing and lighting so the only thing I can think of is the sudden change in salinity. If there is a sign of new growth I wouldn't worry.


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## Master wilkins (Dec 10, 2012)

Nicole said:


> It may just be adjusting since there was no acclimation process. Is there water flow going through the rhizome? It should be fine with your current dosing and lighting so the only thing I can think of is the sudden change in salinity. If there is a sign of new growth I wouldn't worry.


The guy at Noah's Pet Ark told me that acclimatization didn't matter for these plants so I could just drop it in, and so thats exactly what I did, though I'm having second thoughts to that as you're the third person to tell me that. The rhizome is completely exposed to the water, it is tied to the top of a rock by an elastic band. I may be jumping to conclusions here, but, the melting "may" have stopped as I haven't noticed any more in the last 3 days, but it also might be way too soon to tell as I've lost 8 big leaves in the last month. Also, again it may be too soon to tell as I haven't been keeping a close eye on them, but 3 of the roots that I can see have from 1/8" to 1/16" of white rather than green tips, which suggests to me that it "may" be new growth. Fingers crossed.


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## ngp (Feb 24, 2013)

If you are worried about losing it then why not take it out of the tank and growing it emerged. I split my nana petite rhizomes into two or three pieces 6 weeks ago. Some are in a high tech tank, some in a low, one is in a mason jar emerged, one is in another glass jar emerged, two are in a seedling tray under a propagation lid being misted and emerged. All are doing fine.

If it's dying anyhow, maybe a couple of months of emergent growth to allow the roots to re-establish.

However i'm absolutely a newbie...;o)


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## Master wilkins (Dec 10, 2012)

ngp said:


> If you are worried about losing it then why not take it out of the tank and growing it emerged. I split my nana petite rhizomes into two or three pieces 6 weeks ago. Some are in a high tech tank, some in a low, one is in a mason jar emerged, one is in another glass jar emerged, two are in a seedling tray under a propagation lid being misted and emerged. All are doing fine.
> 
> If it's dying anyhow, maybe a couple of months of emergent growth to allow the roots to re-establish.
> 
> However i'm absolutely a newbie...;o)


That may be an idea... Hmmm... Anybody else out there have experience with growing Anubias outside of aquariums? Just until it can reestablish itself for a second try.


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## jbyoung00008 (May 16, 2011)

Master wilkins said:


> The guy at Noah's Pet Ark told me that acclimatization didn't matter for these plants so I could just drop it in, and so thats exactly what I did, though I'm having second thoughts to that as you're the third person to tell me that. The rhizome is completely exposed to the water, it is tied to the top of a rock by an elastic band. I may be jumping to conclusions here, but, the melting "may" have stopped as I haven't noticed any more in the last 3 days, but it also might be way too soon to tell as I've lost 8 big leaves in the last month. Also, again it may be too soon to tell as I haven't been keeping a close eye on them, but 3 of the roots that I can see have from 1/8" to 1/16" of white rather than green tips, which suggests to me that it "may" be new growth. Fingers crossed.


I worked at a LFS and spoke with one of the suppliers about this large Anubias species. He told me it would grow in anything. He never mentioned anything about acclimatizing it. I didn't acclimatize it the way I do all my plants now so I cant comment if that is the issue. I did get new small white roots growing but no new leaves. My fish nibble on the plants. The anubias species they are supposed to leave alone. Ive read that so many times but it seems to be one of their favorites. So I thought that might be a factor as well. IMO it has something to do with the roots and the acclimatizing. Ive seen this plant at a few other LFS and none seemed to be doing all that great. Especially if they have been there for awhile. LFS tanks are mostly regular water so that's why I still think it has something to do with the cutting of it. It might be hardy as heck at the suppliers but as soon as they cut it and bag it. It slowly starts to die. The supplier never sees it again so how do they know how well it does in a tank like mine and yours. This is what I thought up when I was at your point with it. Just my opinion. I hope it grows back for you. Its such a nice looking plant with huge leaves.


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## Master wilkins (Dec 10, 2012)

Thanks for the input. They really are a gorgeous plant. There are two flawless leaves left and two half rotten leaves. It might have just slowed to a crawl but the melt seems to have stopped as far as i can tell. I hope i didnt just jinx it like my girl did for the game the other night. 

I think its the root cutting as well even though there are countless videos online saying that it doesnt matter if you cut them off and leave the roots. From what i can gather this is a very slow growing plant so it wont just bounce back right away if its structure has been messed with. Plants need roots to power up the stem and leaves. Plants need leaves to grow roots and stem, and it has to be a good balance or the plant will get rid of parts that it cant support anymore. I really hope my assumption is correct and its just died back to as much as what little roots there are can support.


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