# Hornwort melting?!



## russdesnoyer (Oct 25, 2002)

Did this ever happen to anyone? I've had ceratophyllum demursum growing like a weed for over 2 years in a 5 gallon breeder tank.....low light (1 x 13watt 5000K) tank, dosed with Flourish Excel and Flourish every other day, nitrates around 15 and phosphate around 1, 50% weekly water change. I never have a speck of algae in this tank; I use it to raise guppy fry and there are currently about 8 small fish and 2 cories in there; the only other plant in the tank is java moss. The moss and hornwort grow like weeds in here--I normally have to thin both about every 2 weeks or so. Just yesterday I noticed that the hornwort had completely shed all its leaves and left an absolute mess with the needle-thin leaves scattered all over the tank. This has never happened before--I've been keeping plants for years--high-tech tanks, low-tech tanks, and lots of in-between tanks and this is one of the strangest things I've encountered. Anyone have any ideas? Thanks.......Russ


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## Buck (Oct 13, 2002)

Heya Russ , long time no see bro... :wink: 

Man there aint nothing I could tell you that you dont allready know so I will only ask this since you are breeding here... was there a temperature boost for any reason ?

That stuff hates warm water I learned a few years back...


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## russdesnoyer (Oct 25, 2002)

Hey Buck,


Thanks for replying and yeah, it has been a while! I've just been super busy lately, had to change jobs recently so I haven't had time to do much else except lurk around the plant boards once in a while.......I don't think it's a temperature issue--this tank is always a steady 72F and doesn't fluctuate much at all--I have central air set at 69F and the light over this tank doesn't get warm enough to increase the temp in this tank.....

Russ


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## Grubs (Jun 2, 2007)

Holy Thread Resurrection!!

This just happened to me. A nice big clump of hornwort (Ceratophyllum demursum) growing hapily in a 400l (120 gal) cold water, non CO2 tank and over night it just turned to mush and shed green goop over the entire tank.

So far my theories are: KH drop associated with 1/3 water change 2 days prior, or perhaps residual bleach in rejuvinated purigen that was added 2 days prior - however the purigen was rinsed a lot for days, many times as normal including using prime. No harm to any fish, shrimps, even baby shrimp...but something triggered the hornwort to spontaneously decompose overnight.

Also seeing melted patches in Giant Val as part of the same "event" so a water quality change associated with the water change two days prior seems the likely culprit - perhaps something in the new water...

photos and tank journal


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## frozenbarb (Dec 16, 2006)

Hmm i wonder what happened to buck he seemed like a cool guy


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## JenThePlantGeek (Mar 27, 2006)

Grubs - did you use Flourish Excel at all? I've had that melt my vals, and from what I've heard, it'll also melt hornwort in the same way that you said - just a big puddle of snot.


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## territhemayor (Aug 12, 2007)

Sorry to be off topic, but can you explain thesee small tanks? Do they have any airation? Thats REALLY interesting to me, having mini tanks for this purpose.


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## eyebeatbadgers (Aug 6, 2007)

JenThePlantGeek said:


> Grubs - did you use Flourish Excel at all? I've had that melt my vals, and from what I've heard, it'll also melt hornwort in the same way that you said - just a big puddle of snot.


Yeah. An OD intentional or not of Excel, especially if you have low flow in your tank and you added the product over the hornwort would cause melting. I melted a 55 gal tank full of hornwort one time. That was a fun day.:eek5:


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## Anupam (Nov 5, 2008)

To resurrect this thread yet again, my hornwort is melting in a tank where many other plants seem to be doing well. On the few branches that are growing, the distance between nodes seems to be way too long.

Tank details: 10 gallon with 26W of fluorescent spiral bulbs, DIY CO2, dry ferts dosing with 20% water changes twice weekly.


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