Plant melt

[morillonj]

Hello everyone. Well my issue is i had a leak in my aquarium in which i had to drain my aquarium and take everything out. Well the leak is fixed and everything is put back in the tank but the sword plants started to melt. all the leaves are starting to have little trasparnet spots in them. Each sword plant has at least 30 leaves, so i dont want to lose my sword plants beacause i grew them out when they had but a few leaves. Are they just going through a "phase" or is the plants dying? Thanks.

[Chad Hughes]

Some plant tend to "die back" when they experience a little move. Roots have been disturbed and they will have to re-establish. I typically prune back all the dead/dying material and allow the plant to come around. Make sure your nutrient levels are all good!

Hope that helps!

[morillonj]

id hate to trim back almost all the leaves. theyre such nice big sword plants..

[Disgirl]

Sorry about the plant leaves, but if you do trim them back or off, it will put lots of new energy into the roots and they will grow new leaves rather fast. Works that way with most plants, aquatic or land.
Barb

[morillonj]

well what i did was trim the roots back and planted them in gravel with root tabs. So its gonna take a little time for the substrate to have some sort of nutrition. then the next day they starting having transperant patches. Did trimming the roots have anything to do with the melting?

[Disgirl]

It is better to trim off the leaves and leave the roots alone. The roots will reestablish quick and grow new leaves. The clear patches on the leaves are a bad sign.
Barb

[dielectric]

trimming the roots was good. it stimulates new growth. you should trim roots everytime you uproot and replant, if you dont most likely they will become damaged from planting and rot anyways.. also trim the damaged leaves. they will grow back.

[dielectric]

It is better to trim off the leaves and leave the roots alone. The roots will reestablish quick and grow new leaves. The clear patches on the leaves are a bad sign.
Barb


i think this is bad advice. the roots will re-establish faster if they are trimmed along with the damaged leaves.

[Johny_Dough]

I had the same problem...

The plant is probably in a little shock. As soon as you trim back the leaves it will re establish and start growing healthier leaves again. The bad leaves wont regenerate.

Take this with a grain of salt as I am just learning and mostly from my own mistakes.

[lee1]

i think this is bad advice. the roots will re-establish faster if they are trimmed along with the damaged leaves.

This is an old wives tale! Leave the plant alone, it will make its own decisions what to keep to best survive and adapt! It's kind of like picking a scab to make it heal faster... The more you trim the longer it will take to come back!

[dielectric]

old wives tale? i think not. That being said I am totally for breaking the mumbo jumbo that some goof thought up 60 years ago... but i have seen root damage from planting first hand.

roots damage easy. when they are damaged, they rot.

[zamboniMan]

I also trim the roots before planting. They've been damaged durring uprooting anyway. It may take longer to grow but the plants ultimately come back stronger.

Also, I do take off any leaves that look like they're "melting". They grow back quickly enough.