# Madagascar Lace with Brown Leaves?



## livingword26 (Oct 28, 2010)

http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/m...n=Madagascar_Lace_Aponogeton_madagascariensis

There is some information, and some peoples experiences here.


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## Fdsh5 (Jan 3, 2012)

As long as the bulb is happy, it will sprout new leaves. They always drop their leaves when transplanted. If it doesn't sprout new leaves, take it out put it in a bag and put it in the fridge for a month. This plant has a reverse dormancy. Meaning if the water is too warm, it will go dormant. My tank is about 72 degrees and my lace fern is very happy. You do have to trim the leaves off once in a while as they will start to get ugly.


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## GuppyGuppyGuppyGuppyGuppy (Feb 11, 2012)

Thanks guys! Didn't know it was difficult to keep. The guy at the LFS said it was very hardy... Haha. I have it under a 150w 10000K halide in a 29g, so that's like 5w per gallon of super light lol. Hopefully it will do well in that. I really love this plant, which is why I paid $15 for it.

I'll trim off some leaves when they start getting ugly. The bulb looks white, hopefully that is healthy. It has tons of roots around it.


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## Noahma (Oct 18, 2009)

GuppyGuppyGuppyGuppyGuppy said:


> Thanks guys! Didn't know it was difficult to keep. The guy at the LFS said it was very hardy... Haha. I have it under a 150w 10000K halide in a 29g, so that's like 5w per gallon of super light lol. Hopefully it will do well in that. I really love this plant, which is why I paid $15 for it.
> 
> I'll trim off some leaves when they start getting ugly. The bulb looks white, hopefully that is healthy. It has tons of roots around it.


Make sure you have plenty of flow over the leaves. the flow will help keep algae from clogging up the leaves.


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## GuppyGuppyGuppyGuppyGuppy (Feb 11, 2012)

Noahma said:


> Make sure you have plenty of flow over the leaves. the flow will help keep algae from clogging up the leaves.


I have 350gph in the 29g tank and the leaves are flapping around...

The reason I have such an overkill setup is because there was a saltwater setup in the tank before mah guppies came along. :icon_roll


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## Noahma (Oct 18, 2009)

GuppyGuppyGuppyGuppyGuppy said:


> I have 350gph in the 29g tank and the leaves are flapping around...
> 
> The reason I have such an overkill setup is because there was a saltwater setup in the tank before mah guppies came along. :icon_roll


that could be a good thing  the Madagascar lace comes from an area with high flow. I lost mine due to a BBA outbreak  was one of my favorite plants.


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## cprash (Apr 1, 2012)

Mine started a red-brown but turned green pretty soon after. One of the leaves exploded in growth maybe two weeks after I put it in. Give it a little time. Mine is in a shrimp tank and gets no direct light, so no algae issues.

I once paid $25 for a Criminum, happens to the best of us


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## JackFu (Jun 6, 2011)

I've got a narrow leaf Madagascar lace bulb that I've been growing for a little more than a year. In my tank, temps over 75f or so will cause the leaves to start browning on the edges. I've had good luck trimming damaged leaves immediately. It seems to stimulate new growth. 

They like iron-rich fertilizers, and high current, too. They're a little finicky, but I don't think they're as difficult to keep as people make out.


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## HybridHerp (May 24, 2012)

I get good leaf growth on mine, but that is about it
my root growth is poor and my bulbs tend to have small places of rot that I end up cleaning out, which means that I have to expose the white of the bulb to stop further rotting. However, I feel like once I get my dosing on par with my lights and invest in CO2 the plant will perk up and just become a monster, since it is growing just not very well


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## GuppyGuppyGuppyGuppyGuppy (Feb 11, 2012)

For the record, I'm like the biggest cheapo lazy-butt person. I just came from saltwater where I had a thriving SPS (hard coral) reef, but it got to be too expensive and I just didn't have the time to test and dose daily like I had before to keep it in pristine condition. To be honest, I'm not even going to test the tank. The guppies are all I care about and they're fine. I keep up with my water changes, which I LOVE to do now because I can just use tap water instead of having to go out and buy RO/DI then mix it in with salt. So I won't be testing and hopefully the plant likes my tap water lol. I do daily 5g water changes on the tank and I add some AmQuel afterwards. That's about it. I'll see how it goes with this plant. I really don't think it will be as difficult as keeping SPS in a reef, and that was easy for me, so IDK. Maybe since I'm not testing/dosing it won't like my tank, but hopefully it will. I'll post updates. So far, it hasn't decayed or anything. At least not more than it already was lol. A few of the leaves (maybe 1 or 2) look in good condition, the rest are brownish. So IDK lol.

You can kinda see it in this pic in the back. It has those long leaves protruding out. You can only see two of them I think... and both of them are the browner leaves, but they're also the two largest leaves...


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## GuppyGuppyGuppyGuppyGuppy (Feb 11, 2012)

I was messing around in the tank and felt the leaves... All are flimsy and decaying except for one. Will the plant come back from this condition? :help:


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## Noahma (Oct 18, 2009)

Just keep an eye on the bulb, you should be fine. If you have the right conditions in the tank it should bounce back.


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## saddletramp (May 19, 2012)

I kept them for years in 65 to 70F water, Amano shrimp, water column frets twice weekly and 4 watts / gal. Good rich substrate is important. Amano shrimp should keep the leaves immaculate.
Alas, for many they are heart breakers dying for a variety of reasons in the long run.
Good luck with this gorgeous specie.
Bill


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## cprash (Apr 1, 2012)

Maybe I'm an odd duck, but I have moderate growth in these parameters:

pH - 6.4
gH/kH - 12/1
75 - 82 degrees

No ferts, no noticeable flow, fluval shrimp stratum. Plant is under moss covered driftwood branch and riccia mat. The roots cling to the stratum pretty well.

Could just be I'm lucky with bulbs too ::shrug::


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## GuppyGuppyGuppyGuppyGuppy (Feb 11, 2012)

There are two leaves on it that are firm and green. The others, which are bigger and make the tank look nice, are decaying.

How long will it take to sprout new leaves? Like how many leaves does it sprout per month?


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## Noahma (Oct 18, 2009)

it will need some time to acclimate itself to your tank and grow some roots, once it does If I remember mine, it was a medium speed growing plant. It puts out one or so leaves at a time.


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## Robert H (Apr 3, 2003)

> How long will it take to sprout new leaves? Like how many leaves does it sprout per month?


It depends on how much light you have and if you are feeding it. If you have less than two watts of light per gallon of water, don't expect much growth.

First you need to cut off any decaying leaves. Do not bury the bulb. Give it 10 to 12 hours a day of light. High temperatures cause slow growth, but I have never heard of a "reverse dormancy" It is a river plant. It goes dormant when the river recedes.


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## jjp2 (May 24, 2008)

I've found these plants hate to be moved or changes in conditions. Cut all the brown leaves off, and let it be. Don't move it once you place it. It likely will come back in strong once it adapts.

$15 isn't bad at all from a LFS.


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## GuppyGuppyGuppyGuppyGuppy (Feb 11, 2012)

I buried the bulb... It was buried at the store. Is there a reason why that is wrong? Will that kill it? Wouldn't the bulb be buried in the wild?

It is under 150w 10000K halide... Over 5w per gallon.


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## Sethjohnson30 (Jan 16, 2012)

I have on that was pretty much dead when I got it, my Lfs was gonna throw it out so I gave them a dollar for it. The plant didn't do anything for the first 3 months with ei dosing and high light. Then one day it just shot up two big leaves( about 8in each in a week)my bristlenose destroyed them so now the leaves are all tattered I was going to cut them off but I didnt know if that would hurt it. I guess I will try that. 


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## GuppyGuppyGuppyGuppyGuppy (Feb 11, 2012)

Only the upper parts of two of the leaves were rotting, so I cut them off at that point so what is left is firm and green. If they rot, I'll just clip them at the base, but they look good right now.


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## GuppyGuppyGuppyGuppyGuppy (Feb 11, 2012)

Holy smokes!!!

Turned the light off for a few days because my noob guppies were getting pretty sick from the halide. All sitting on the bottom not moving at all. When I turned the lights off, all better. So I just hooked up some less bright lights and low and behold, there are three new leaves coming up on this guy! About 8" right now, all of them. Pretty cool how fast it grew. I wonder if the lack of light stimulated the growth. I just pulled off the old leaves, and now I notice this, so it may be that?


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## Fdsh5 (Jan 3, 2012)

Cool! Sounds like it's all adjusted to it's new tank. Now just wait until it flowers. That's really cool.


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## GuppyGuppyGuppyGuppyGuppy (Feb 11, 2012)

Fdsh5 said:


> Cool! Sounds like it's all adjusted to it's new tank. Now just wait until it flowers. That's really cool.


God, don't get me started. Right after I bought this guy, I headed down the road and stopped at another LFS that had one three times as big with a flower for even cheaper than I paid for this one. :thumbsdow:thumbsdow:thumbsdow:eek5::eek5::eek5:


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