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Re: weed choked tank and black & curly leaves




Daniel, I saw your picture, and the plant doesn't look like I thought from
your description.  The newer leaves look a little wavy, and have some
purple on them, but they don't look that unhealthy.  Is it sunset Hygro?
The veins seem light colored.

Before I saw the picture, your description reminded me of the way that
members of the Genus Hygrophila grow leaves when they do get 24 hours of
light.  The leaves are much more narrow, much smaller and are distorted or
cupped.  They have no spongy mesophyll and no air spaces between the upper
and lower epidermis.  Thus, the affected leaves look much darker than
normal leaves which have the light reflecting air layer giving them their
bright green color.  Continuous light does this only to Hygrophila, as far
as I know.  Other aquarium plant genera seem unaffected.  Hygrophila shows
the symptoms so reliably that I can immediately tell if a fish store has
its lights on at night if they have any Hygrophila in their tanks.

The only other plant I know that is developmentally affected by 24 hour
light is an alga, Hydrodictyon (water net), that can't go through its
asexual reproduction cycle without a daily dark period.

Tom, your pictures became available later in the day.  The site must have
been doing its maintenance a lot later than 2-3 AM.  You are getting the
Amano look, except for that disrespectful piece of driftwood.

Paul Krombholz in summer-like central Mississippi, with a stagnant weather
pattern with almost no rain for two weeks.