# S Repens Melting because of EI dosing?



## klibs (May 1, 2014)

What did you do prior to EI dosing? Not dosing at all?

Are you only dosing those values once per week?

What is "2mL of micros"? What micros are you using?

Has anything else changed? (light, CO2, etc...)

Are any other plants affected? Or just the Repens?

I am a believer that too much micro fert dosing (particularly CSM+B) is capable of 'burning' plants. Not sure if that could be the case here. Your plants may be going through a drastic change and need to get used to what's going on now. It should also be noted that it seems that only your older growth is affected here.


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## nicuz (Oct 11, 2014)

Yes, I was not dosing at all. Now every once a week.

For the micros I have followed the following recipe from How to Setup a Low-tech Planted Tank: A Guide for Planted Aquariums | Welcome to Sudeep Mandal's spot on the net

"For CSM+B, make a stock solution of 1 tbsp or 3 tsp in 250ml. This is roughly equivalent to a Seachem Flourish bottle. 2mls of CSM+B trace solution, 1x a week for a 10 gallon tank should be fine for a low-tech non excel setup"


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## lksdrinker (Feb 12, 2014)

First of all, EI dosing is not done once a week; so go read up on how to do that properly. Perhaps you misinterpreted the goals of how much ferts you should have by the end of the week? You also didnt explain the exact quantity of your dosing but just listed some fractions. I assume you are measuring in teaspoons? (if so how do you ever measure out 1/128th of a teaspoon?!?!?)

Second, I dont see any melting? What i see is new growth on the s. repens (likely due to the newly introduced ferts) and algae on the old leaves. 

Before you started dosing ferts were you seeing any new growth at all on the repens?


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## nicuz (Oct 11, 2014)

I am pretty sure I got the EI dosing correct. For a low tech tank is enough to dose once or twice a week.

I have no algae in my tank. The black that you see on the leafs is plant melting.


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## roadmaster (Nov 5, 2009)

Would try 1/8 teaspoon of both the KNO3 and KH2PO4 once a week, and 1/8 teaspoon of trace mineral once a week were it me.


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## johnpfaff (Oct 18, 2013)

Started S. repens with 20 small cuttings, melted 50% on and off until it grew into a thick mat with roots intertwined, then the melting stopped. Now I have a 2' x 4' Matt that could be pulled up like a roll of sod. I think it likes to be planted close together. Once it is rooted, take cuttings and crowd them in together. Worked for me, but took about a year.


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## nicuz (Oct 11, 2014)

Problem is my s repens were doing great before I started dosing and I am trying to figure out if it's the ferts causing the problem or something else.


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## micheljq (Oct 24, 2012)

New leaves look fine, older seem to catch some algae, maybe just an adaptation to new parameters (no dosing then dosing)?

Michel.


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## nicuz (Oct 11, 2014)

I know the image is not the best but there is no algae. The black stuff on the leafs is the just the plant melting.


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## Hoppy (Dec 24, 2005)

Plant "melting" is not black. It is transparent, or dull light brown, or near white. Black is usually BBA, but it could be another algae. I don't see anything abnormal in your pictures. Older leaves do tend to gradually stop growing and begin to look less attractive than new leaves.


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## johnpfaff (Oct 18, 2013)

Nicuz,

Full E.I. here, dose six days a week, excellent S. Repens.


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## Maverick2015 (Aug 8, 2015)

First off, how old is the tank?

I don't see the melt, but the dosing of ferts shouldn't cause it. Sometimes Excel will melt certain plants (but even then not always). It is possible that you need to dose more. Once a week can be fine for low tech, but you might try twice a week.


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## jcmv4792 (Jul 15, 2015)

johnpfaff said:


> Nicuz,
> 
> Full E.I. here, dose six days a week, excellent S. Repens.


You dose full EI for low tech tanks? How come?


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## ichy (Apr 6, 2015)

Well, no one has mentioned this but...S. repens is known for this. If you search you will see this is fairly common and as far as I can tell, no one knows why. I had it growing like gang busters for about 4 months, came home one day and noticed a hole in the carpet. Thought it was livestock damage. 
But the hole grew quickly by the day until there was basically nothing left but stems. After nearly every leaf was gone it stopped and the exposed stems and roots sat there for about week. Then it just started taking off again and now it is coming back super dense and better than ever.

No one seems to know why or what causes it, but about everyone says, wait it out, it will come back thicker. Mine did!


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## nicuz (Oct 11, 2014)

I am now convinced this is not melting, but some type of an algae as some people pointed out. Today I've noticed it's also on my ludwigia. 

Anybody know what type of algae is it and how can I get rid of it?

Also, is the EI dosing to blame? Everything in my tank was doing great, until I started dosing.


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## plantetra (May 17, 2014)

ichy said:


> Well, no one has mentioned this but...S. repens is known for this. If you search you will see this is fairly common and as far as I can tell, no one knows why. I had it growing like gang busters for about 4 months, came home one day and noticed a hole in the carpet. Thought it was livestock damage.
> But the hole grew quickly by the day until there was basically nothing left but stems. After nearly every leaf was gone it stopped and the exposed stems and roots sat there for about week. Then it just started taking off again and now it is coming back super dense and better than ever.
> 
> No one seems to know why or what causes it, but about everyone says, wait it out, it will come back thicker. Mine did!


+1 this for the first part. I had S Repens carpet and it was getting thicker and thicker and then all of a sudden a few days ago one part of the carpet started melting. The leaves just detach and float. I keep picking them up every hour and then I have few more and only the stems are left at some part. others seems to be doing ok so far. But if you are right, ill lose them soon too. I will update this post what will be the result. Started EI dosing 2 weeks ago. never used excel before but i added 10ml of excel into the EI dosing solution I made. So it is like adding 0.1ml every day.


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## KFryman (Sep 4, 2012)

If that was the first time you dosed excel I think that might be twice the recommended dosage for 10 gallons. I don't even put half that amount in my 15. I don't have experience with s repens but I do know that melting could be caused by over dosing excel as some plants are prone to melting without getting used to excel. Correct me if I'm wrong. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-N910A using Tapatalk


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## burr740 (Feb 19, 2014)

S repens is not Excel sensitive in my experience, not at all.


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## rick dale (Feb 26, 2014)

*Melting*

First off , no your dosing is not causing melting. It might cause other problems , but not melting. Secondly , I see no melting. Melting is clear , not black. Looks like algae or maybe a fungus. You can have it on one type of plant and not at all on the others. I see new top growth , you will not see new growth on a plant that's melting. If it were mine , I would trim off the bad looking leaves. The more you trim it , the thicker it will get. Give it some more time. Anytime your tank is doing well , you change something and problems start. That's a red flag to look at what you changed. Also , I didn't see in your post , about what lighting you are using. My guess is , you started adding ferts and now you need to adjust your lighting.


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## ichy (Apr 6, 2015)

burr740 said:


> S repens is not Excel sensitive in my experience, not at all.


Ditto!


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## plantetra (May 17, 2014)

KFryman said:


> If that was the first time you dosed excel I think that might be twice the recommended dosage for 10 gallons. I don't even put half that amount in my 15. I don't have experience with s repens but I do know that melting could be caused by over dosing excel as some plants are prone to melting without getting used to excel. Correct me if I'm wrong.
> 
> Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-N910A using Tapatalk


I see that the dose of 0.1ml excel everyday is extremely low as per the dosing. Did you mention about my dosing or someone elses?


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## KFryman (Sep 4, 2012)

I just reread your other post, nevermind I thought you were adding 10ml into the tank everyday not your actual mixing solution. I just bought some s repens today so I'm interested in this melting phenomenon. 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-N910A using Tapatalk


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## plantetra (May 17, 2014)

KFryman said:


> I just reread your other post, nevermind I thought you were adding 10ml into the tank everyday not your actual mixing solution. I just bought some s repens today so I'm interested in this melting phenomenon.
> 
> Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-N910A using Tapatalk


My S Repens is exactly 8 weeks old and I saw a similar post with 8 weeks old melting. Before that I had a very thick carpet and they were the best growing plant in the tank


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