Ram-Ashwin@cs.yale.edu (Ashwin Ram) (08/06/88)
I have a problem with some of the plants in my aquarium that I have not been
able to figure out.
Set-up: pH 7.0, temperature 80-85 F, hardness 120 ppm (6.7 dH), peat filtration,
two 40W fluorescent bulbs (one daylight, one wide-spectrum, 14 hrs/day), one
airstone, one power filter, one UG filter driven by a power head.
Problem: For the last month or so, my corkscrew Vallisneria and Amazon
swordplants (Echinodorus) have started rotting at the base of the leaves. This
is the point at which the leaf emerges from the gravel for the Vallisneria, and
the base of the leaf stalk for the Echinodorus. This turns brown, then dark
brown, then the leaf falls off. The rest of the leaf looks perfectly healthy,
except for some (not all) Echinodorus leaves which are developing brown edges
and/or spots which eventually turn into holes.
The other plants are doing pretty well (there is new growth), but even the new
leaves on the plants I mentioned have started falling off in this way. One more
clue -- my Java fern leaves are developing some brown/black spots on their
surfaces. I don't know if this is related.
Any suggestions? I tried a few books but couldn't find anything useful. I'm
cross-posting this to sci.bio and sci.misc in the hope that someone will
recognize these symptoms.
Thanks a lot.
-- Ashwin.
ARPA: Ram-Ashwin@cs.yale.edu
UUCP: {decvax,ucbvax,harvard,cmcl2,...}!yale!Ram-Ashwin
BITNET: Ram@yalecs