# New plants turning into skeletons



## westrock (Jun 19, 2012)

It's a 30 gallon tank, good substrate, with 2 (26 watt) cfl bulbs on for 7 hours, no fertilizer as yet, a fluval 404 filter with foam and biomax rings, plus a hanging filter , 25 % water change weekly, and the tank has been running for a year.

These plants have been in the tank one week and they are skeletonizing already. Any ideas?


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## AdobeOtoCat (Dec 10, 2011)

Those anubias have rhizomes which needs to be in the water column. Not the substrate. It will be taking its nutrients from the water. So get it on a drift or something.


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## Hollyhawk (Mar 28, 2011)

Right, I remember rotting my first one. Even if you can get them to sit on top of the substrate. I used rocks and such to weigh them down. After a while tiny hairy roots will dive down into the substrate and take "root". It takes several months, but it is possible. Mine are still going strong after 5 years or so. Most of them I did plant onto wood, but I wanted a few to be gnarly and rooty for the corys to love.


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## vdub (Apr 22, 2010)

If you bought those plants at the pet shop, then it's expected that they will die away. Those plants were grown out of water (emersed) at the nurseries and all the leaves including the rhizome will melt away when submerged back into water. For anubias, in my experience it'll take about a year before you see any decent growth from emersed form to submersed form.


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## Hollyhawk (Mar 28, 2011)

VDUB, or anyone......

Which "pet Shops" / aquarium stores are the best to buy properly grown fully submersable plants? That would save everyone the heartbreak of loosing expensive plants.


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## vdub (Apr 22, 2010)

None. All pet shops/ aquarium stores buy their plants from nurseries or wholesalers who get them from nurseries, and all nurseries grow their plants, aquatic or non-aquatic plants, emersed. They are grown emersed because they grow faster that way and are easier to transport.

Like I've been saying in all my previous posts about buying plants, I'm not sure why it isn't obvious but the best place to buy your plants and to ensure that they are 100% submersed grown is from BCA hobbyists. BCA freshwater plants classifieds.



Hollyhawk said:


> VDUB, or anyone......
> 
> Which "pet Shops" / aquarium stores are the best to buy properly grown fully submersable plants? That would save everyone the heartbreak of loosing expensive plants.


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## westrock (Jun 19, 2012)

I'll check with the retailer and find out their plant source, and ask if they know how the anubias were grown. If the retailers are selling plants not adapted to a submersed environment that's a problem.


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## vdub (Apr 22, 2010)

It's not the retailers fault. It's standard industry practice that all plant nurseries (worldwide) grow and sell their plants emersed. If you were going to take it up with someone, then you should talk with the plant nursuries. The retailers just buy whatever plants are available from their suppliers and all the plants just happen to be grown emersed.



westrock said:


> I'll check with the retailer and find out their plant source, and ask if they know how the anubias were grown. If the retailers are selling plants not adapted to a submersed environment that's a problem.


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## Hollyhawk (Mar 28, 2011)

I bought some small anubias from a shop in Abbotsford that were in sealed containers... (snail free) I'm thinking they were grown submersed. I know I never had problems with those or the giant anubias i bought there. I wonder who their source for plants is/was. It may be someone private who does a great job. I'll have to ask next time I'm in the area.


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## vdub (Apr 22, 2010)

If they were in sealed containers that were growing in a small layer of gel, then it's probably tissue cultured plants from Aquaflora. Aquaflora is based in Abbotsford. Tissue culture plants are still emersed grown plants. The reason why tissue culture plants transition better than the traditional nursery grown plants is because they are pumped full of hormones and are still living off that extra reserve of nutrients when they hit your tank. But still, after that initial reserve of nutrients/hormones from the tissue culture plants are used up, then there will still be some that will melt away but a few will transition to it's submersed form.



Hollyhawk said:


> I bought some small anubias from a shop in Abbotsford that were in sealed containers... (snail free) I'm thinking they were grown submersed. I know I never had problems with those or the giant anubias i bought there. I wonder who their source for plants is/was. It may be someone private who does a great job. I'll have to ask next time I'm in the area.


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## Hollyhawk (Mar 28, 2011)

Nope, no gel, just water and bare little roots. 

Not one leaf died from any plant form any of the containers I bought. They were very nice.

I bet it was a private hobbyist.


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## Hollyhawk (Mar 28, 2011)

Yup, even though I saw no gel, etc... they were from aquaflora alright! I checked at the store today.


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