# Water Wisteria plant taking turn for the worse...



## ktownhero (Mar 21, 2011)

Question: Did you start dosing Excel before or after you experienced this issue?


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## Yamaha (Apr 26, 2011)

After the base stalks started turning black and some broke away. I thought maybe they were unhappy the nutrition in the gravel was depleted so I went and purchased fluid this time instead of gravel-tablet

Then I snipped the rotted areas and replanted, but they havn't rooted. Just wilting away and breaking off at the stalks


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## tuffgong (Apr 13, 2010)

It sounds like the bottom of the plant is not receiving enough light so it's dying.


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## Crispino L Ramos (Mar 29, 2008)

are you doing routine maintenance - 50% partial water change weekly, NPK ferts, micronutrients, what's your lighting, other info about your tank.


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## Kathyy (Feb 22, 2010)

Excel is a carbon source, not the same thing as those tablets. Tablets are usually potassium and micros like iron. Do the plants have any holes in the old leaves? That can mean they are potassium starved.

How often do you do water changes? How heavy is the fish load in the tank? The plant fertilizers you see commonly assume lots of fish in the tank and contain only a little potassium and micronutrients when a brightly lighted tank with a low fish load may need more nitrogen and phosphorus then fish poop and pee provides. The plants could have been happily soaking up the good nitrate and phosphate in the tank and now it is all gone and they are starving.

Watch the plant leaves. When they are done for the day the top leaves fold up. Lighting periods longer than that aren't helping the plants.

Get the plant tabs if the leaves have holes in them.

Make water changes to replenish magnesium and calcium.

Keep up the Excel just at the recommended dose, good stuff.

If your tank is lightly stocked and there are no nitrates or phosphates in the water then adding them is a good idea, see the Fertilizer and Water Paramenter forum above this one for ways to get those into the tank.


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## ktownhero (Mar 21, 2011)

Yamaha said:


> After the base stalks started turning black and some broke away. I thought maybe they were unhappy the nutrition in the gravel was depleted so I went and purchased fluid this time instead of gravel-tablet
> 
> Then I snipped the rotted areas and replanted, but they havn't rooted. Just wilting away and breaking off at the stalks


Ok, you had the right idea going with liquid ferts the only problem is that, as somebody else pointed out, Excel is a carbon source not actually a fertilizer. So, keep up with the Excel, but you might want to go back and pick up the regularly Flourish Comprehensive which will fertilize the water column, which is where Wisteria feeds from mainly anyway. That might help, but it also might be an issue with the stems not getting enough light. Do you have a lot of stems densely packed together? Maybe give them some room?


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## accordztech (Dec 6, 2004)

IMO that plant is hard to kill and grows quick.


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## Yamaha (Apr 26, 2011)

Wow thanks for all the responses.

It is a stocked tank; two adult angel fish, a decent size redtail shark, a betta and a couple small fish.

I change 30% every week to keep the nitrates ~20.

The lighting was 2x standard output T5 18" bulb. Nothing special. They were $30.

I did not know "stems" need lighting. I notice the lower half of the plant wasn't doing as well as the top, but thought that was okay. The lower leaves were larger, leafier. The top leaves were thinner and more needle-like.

Then the stems started turning black, where they meet the gravel. Is that to escape the depleted gravel? Is that a reproduction tactic? Is that because it... was dying? I dont know =S






accordztech said:


> IMO that plant is hard to kill and grows quick.


inorite? Like what gives


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## psalm18.2 (Oct 16, 2010)

I am also having wisteria problems in both my tanks. One tank is high light, other low. My wisteria is turning yellow w/ brown edges in both tanks. I have 1 piece that was floating stay green.
What would cause yellowing and browning?


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## redmary51 (Mar 17, 2011)

Yamaha said:


> After the base stalks started turning black and some broke away. I thought maybe they were unhappy the nutrition in the gravel was depleted so I went and purchased fluid this time instead of gravel-tablet
> 
> Then I snipped the rotted areas and replanted, but they havn't rooted. Just wilting away and breaking off at the stalks


I'm kind of new to plants myself, but what if you cut 6 or 8 inches off the top and just replanted that part. Maybe a really tall stalk is harder to re-root.


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