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Re: Aquatic Plants Digest V2 #811

> comes out of the gravel, about 1 inch in
> length). Within 1 or 2 weeks this part is
> completely gone and the plant is floating
> on the water surface. The strange thing is,
> that until it leaves the substrate, the
> upper part still looks good and the plant
> is still growing many, nice looking leafes.
>
> Karsten Klein.
>
Karsten--

    What is your lighting like?  I had the same problem (with similar water
chemistry) with similar plants (esp. Hygro) until I upgraded my lighting
system (to ~3 W/gal).  Seems the upper part of the plant gets light while the
bottom part wastes away due to lack therof.  Another good demonstration
that I have had of this is Rotala indica in a marginally lighted (1.5 W/gal)
tank.  Upper parts looked great, bottom parts got "leggy" and leaves fell off.
When tops are pruned, "leggy" parts rebound until they grow up, starting the
cycle anew.  Terrestrial plants do the exact same thing when they are light
deprived.

    Additionally, do you have smaller plants growing around the base of the
plants in question?  I have often found that such plants (e.g. Dwarf sag) can
cluster around the base of plants like Rotala and Hygro, effectively choking
them off due to lack of light.  Whenever I have a tall branching plant, I always
make sure its base is clear of other plants for a few inches around, and that
no other plants are shoving their leaves into its space.  Hope this helps.

                                                Regards

                                                Dave Gauthier >