# Help! Tissue culture plants melting



## tjatx (Nov 30, 2018)

This is my second try and I have no idea what I am doing wrong. My ludwigia repens and ludwigia arcuata tissue cultures are melting. I have other tissue cultures in my tank and so far they don't seem to have any issues. Please see pictures. 

















Water parameters are all normal. Nitrate seems a bit high (80 ppm) but I think it's probably from my dosing schedule. I change 50% of water every couple of days as well. I have pressurized CO2 that comes on at 5 AM and runs till 12 PM and my lights come on at 7 AM and runs till 1 PM. This is my second try with repens tissue culture. I have some repens stems that was bought about two months ago and they were growing pretty well. Now the tissue culture has melted, the stems are showing signs of melting as well. :crying:

Can anyone shed some light on what is going on and how I can save the plants that haven't melted yet.


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## iamaloner (Jul 10, 2017)

With such heavy water changes why are your nitrates still so high?
And why would they be high due to your dosing schedule? 
How high is your ammonia? Show us a pic of your full setup

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## tjatx (Nov 30, 2018)

I am not sure why my nitrates are still so high. Tap water has 0 nitrates so not sure. Going to do another water change this evening. Hopefully that would bring down the nitrates. I add KNO3 and KH2PO4 after water changes, could that be the reason why it stays high?

Ammonia and nitrates are low. See picture. 

Also, my myriophyllum mattogrossense on the right of the tank was growing pretty well and now since repens melt, it is showing a little bit of melting as well. Especially the plants that were touching the repens. 

I am dealing with some algae as well now.


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## kaytie.a.lee (Oct 2, 2019)

Hello! 

I always have issues introducing tissue cultured plants to tanks. 

It takes time for them to adjust in my experience. 

I normally plant and remove any decaying leaves and plant matter. The plants seem to adjust over time. 

I bought the encyclopedia of aquarium plants book that helped me choose plants that work with my water parameters. (I have naturally hard water)


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## iamaloner (Jul 10, 2017)

Do a 90% water change every 2 days
Bring the nitrate under control
Tc culture plants are delicate they may not be able to handle such a massive amount of nitrate 

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## DaveKS (Apr 2, 2019)

Your either totally overdosing your tank or your nitrate test reagent is ruined from not properly shaking #2 bottle. 

You should only have to change 50% water once a week to prevent excess nutrient accumulation.


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## iamaloner (Jul 10, 2017)

DaveKS said:


> Your either totally overdosing your tank or your nitrate test reagent is ruined from not properly shaking #2 bottle.
> 
> 
> 
> You should only have to change 50% water once a week to prevent excess nutrient accumulation.


Dave is correct that is the basic principle of EI dosing

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## tjatx (Nov 30, 2018)

DaveKS said:


> Your either totally overdosing your tank or your nitrate test reagent is ruined from not properly shaking #2 bottle.
> 
> You should only have to change 50% water once a week to prevent excess nutrient accumulation.


I think I may have been overdosing. I believe my measurement spoons are the wrong size so that could be the reason why nitrates were high. I have done 90% water change every two days to ensure plants are not melting but guess it's too late. My myriophyllum mattogrossense is almost done. The stem mid way is rotting so I have trimmed the top and planted in the substrate. Hopefully I can save it that way. My tc repens are completely melted and even the stem repens are done. The only plant that is growing pretty well is Pogostemon stellatus but I am dealing with brown algae covering most of the leaves and some substrate. 

May have to say goodbye to this hobby for good. :|


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## kaytie.a.lee (Oct 2, 2019)

tjatx said:


> I think I may have been overdosing. I believe my measurement spoons are the wrong size so that could be the reason why nitrates were high. I have done 90% water change every two days to ensure plants are not melting but guess it's too late. My myriophyllum mattogrossense is almost done. The stem mid way is rotting so I have trimmed the top and planted in the substrate. Hopefully I can save it that way. My tc repens are completely melted and even the stem repens are done. The only plant that is growing pretty well is Pogostemon stellatus but I am dealing with brown algae covering most of the leaves and some substrate.
> 
> 
> 
> May have to say goodbye to this hobby for good. :|




Look into disposable plastic Graduated pipettes they will help you with measuring the correct doses. Don’t give up it’s part of having a planted tank! 


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## iamaloner (Jul 10, 2017)

Dont give up. We have all crashed a tank or two that's part of the hobby 

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## raunakwakode81185 (11 mo ago)

iamaloner said:


> With such heavy water changes why are your nitrates still so high?
> And why would they be high due to your dosing schedule?
> How high is your ammonia? Show us a pic of your full setup
> 
> Sent from my SM-G955W using Tapatalk


First increase your plans mess. Cover soil complete ly with plants. Try some local stem plants for the time being. Afterwards u can remove them after 1 month or so. Use very lean ferts and lighting initially. Till next 2 months. As u are doing heavy water change the temperature difference between the two water must be the cause. Pls don't assume, buy or chk with the real thermometer iff possible before adding any huge quantities of water. Max to max 2 ° of temperature difference plants can sustain. Plus try hardy plants rather than advance ones.


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## LidijaPN (Jan 15, 2022)

Don’t give up!!! At least you’re not killing fish, like I did - twice!! 😓 the moments of blind panic are part of the hobby for sure. 

I’d ease off on the ferts until you’re sure you can dose them properly and add a bunch of surefire unkillable plants like water Wisteria, guppy grass etc. And go slowly. It takes time for things to balance out and for you to learn to read what’s happening.


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## Chucker (Apr 9, 2011)

Folks, the thread is over two years old. Might want to check dates before posting


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## LidijaPN (Jan 15, 2022)

Chucker said:


> Folks, the thread is over two years old. Might want to check dates before posting


D’oh!!! This happens weirdly often on this forum, haven’t had the issue elsewhere.... is it because the ‘you might also want to read...’ section throws up threads regardless of age?


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## Chucker (Apr 9, 2011)

No idea, but I often see it with new members, or those returning after a long absence.


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## Darkblade48 (Jan 4, 2008)

LidijaPN said:


> D’oh!!! This happens weirdly often on this forum, haven’t had the issue elsewhere.... is it because the ‘you might also want to read...’ section throws up threads regardless of age?


Yes, this is the case. For some reason, the algorithm digs up threads that can be quite old!


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