# White strings off Ambulia



## flywithabel (Jan 7, 2015)

Can anyone enlighten me on these pictured white strings? I need to know if I should trim them or us that normal growth.











Just another hobby...


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## Maryland Guppy (Dec 6, 2014)

It is growing roots from one of the nodes.
I have been known to trim these.
Some stems will get very unsightly.


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## WaterLife (Jul 1, 2015)

They are just roots.

Not sure if some plants grow them for a reason (to better absorb more nutrients) or is just normal (with no deficiencies or toxicities) and not a sign of it struggling to obtain enough nutrients, or if it's for "balancing/uprighting" purposes.

I suppose you could trim them with no ill-effects, but since I don't know for sure (reasons mentioned above), I personally leave them. They are ugly though.


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## essabee (Oct 7, 2006)

Those aquatic plants which can grow emersed will grow roots from stem nodes as they become matured. Its part of their strategy of survival and proliferation. 

Aquatic niches are subject to sudden floodings and severe flow patterns. These sudden upheavals often cause breakage of stems and scoring of the substrate which tend to wash away aquatic plants, their broken stems, and other debris often spreading them across flooded areas including marshy wastelands;new areas to colonise and resettle.

New aquatic plants grow with supple stems and as they mature the lower end of the stem starts to become thicker and/or stiffer. The plants also start storing food in these stiffer/thicker parts of the stem. Soon we find roots emerging from the nodes in these thicker/stiffer stem parts. These plants are paying for these extra growth as an insurance policy against those severe flows and floodings little knowing that it nearly never happens in a tank. Then we must forgive these plants from their ignorance during their evolution years that they failed to realise that they may one day end up in a fish tank.


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## Straight shooter (Nov 26, 2015)

Trim the stem below the newly emerged root, then replant to make a new stem.


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