Re: [APD] VALS MELTDOWN (Neil Frank)

[Dave Wilson <aqua_green at bigpond.com>]

Hello Neil

I knew what you meant.   There are vals here ( Australia) from some calcium
and nutrient poor situations.   The Vallisneria nana from Bullo River
escarpment area is a nice val but the water coming off the sandstone
escarpment had hardness and carbonate hardness levels so low that they can
not be measured with aquarium test kits.   The pH in those situations is
also very low, 5.5 to 6.0.   The other aquatic plants in the water with that
val were Eriocaulon setaceum, Blyxa aubertii, Staurogyne leptocaulis and
Nymphaea violacea.   There are also crocodiles estimated by the landowner
there to be over five meters in length.   Makes collecting water plants very
interesting.

http://www.bulloriver.com/gallery.html

There are some pictures taken by the land owner.   For the person who was
asking about keeping frogs, the pictures are the Magnificent Tree Frog a
species that I keep and I caught the adult brood stock on bullo River.
That was when we found the really nice val.

Cheers
Dave





On 12/2/06 11:19 PM, "Neil Frank" <aquarian_subjects at mindspring.com> wrote:

> see typo... i have not had enough recent posting experience :-)
> 
>>  I have only had Val losses under three conditions:
>> (1)Extremely low calcium levels which came from insufficient water changes
>> or Ca supplementation in an already soft water tank (GH & KH<1-2). I later
>> used val as an indicator plant to tell me when to add CaCO3. In my
>> experience, Val died when the available copper dropped below a critical
>                                          ^^^^
> Sorry.... i meant to say Calcium, above.
> 
> 
>> level. Other plants in the same tank were not affected. This was due to a
>> gradual change.
>> (2)Exposure to copper. Val is sensitive to even low copper concentrations
>> (but not trace levels which all plants need). Sometimes supply water
>> changes, so this is something to investigate.
>> (3)Exposure to the algicide Simazine, which I observed 2 decades ago when i
>> was experimenting with different BBA cures. Val may also be sensitive to
>> other chemicals.
>> YMMV.
>> Val doesnt have a lifetime.... but.... unless replenished, aquarium
>> nutrients do!
>> 
>> --Neil
> 
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