Who Gives A Fish Forums

Trying live plants for the first time and it's been a wild ride. Only experience I have is with a moss ball, which is basically the easiest thing to care for. Decided to try floating plants, specifically red root floaters, to help with nitrates. They've been in a quarantine tank for about 1.5 weeks, in a 2.5-gallon tank. Haven't tested the quarantine tank's parameters, but based on my main tank and tap water tests, I'm guessing it's 0 ammonia, 0 nitrite, 30 nitrate, and around 8.2 pH.

Half of the floaters aren't doing great - there's this weird spiderweb stuff on the surface that doesn't look green, so I'm not sure if it's string algae. The plants are turning brown, leaves are getting transparent and thin. I know too much flow can cause this, but the quarantine tank isn't filtered, so that's not it. I did a light hydrogen peroxide dip when I got them, and they seemed fine afterwards, but this started happening about a week in.

I did dose with Flourish for the first time about a week into the quarantine. I was waiting to see if they'd be okay with just the high nitrate levels in my tap water, but they weren't consuming them, so I figured I'd give Flourish a try. Maybe I just deprived them of nutrients for too long? I moved the few plants that still look okay to a tiny tank to finish their quarantine. Planning on adding them to a plant ring in my main tank in about three days - is that still a good idea?

I've had similar issues with my red root floaters in the past. I found they really thrive under bright lighting - I'm talking lots of direct sunlight or high-intensity aquarium lights. What's your lighting setup like? I've also noticed they love a good iron boost, so I've started using API Leaf Zone and it's made a huge difference. You might want to try placing them near a sunny window for a bit and see if that perks them up. Any chance you could share some pictures of your plants and the quarantine tank?

farmhand wrote: ↑Tue May 30, 2023 5:14 am I've had similar issues with my red root floaters in the past. I found they really thrive under bright lighting - I'm talking lots of direct sunlight or high-intensity aquarium lights. What's your lighting setup like? I've also noticed they love a good iron boost, so I've started using API Leaf Zone and it's made a huge difference. You might want to try placing them near a sunny window for a bit and see if that perks them up. Any chance you could share some pictures of your plants and the quarantine tank?

I've taken a photo of one of the more affected plants and the weird stringy stuff, I'll go ahead and post it. I did have them under indirect light from the windows since I read they shouldn't get too hot, but I'm going to try moving the remaining healthy ones to a spot with more direct light now.

I've had the same white stuff show up on my RRF when they're not getting enough light, especially in my algae tank where I breed ostracods. Try putting a few of the healthier ones in a small cup on a sunny windowsill and see how they do. I'm a bit concerned about the brown roots, but I think they can recover. For now, I'd hold off on the ferts and delay adding them to your main tank.