# Planted Tanks > Plant Talk > Cryptocoryne Club >  What cause this crypto rots ?

## dc88

Everytime I dose KNO3 (0.5ppm) within next few days will see the crypto leaf liked this. And then they will gradually melted.

The other plants have no problem.

Any idea why ? Is it due to NO3 too high ?

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## GaspingGurami

And it takes soooooo long just to grow the leaves right?

I faced the same thing.

Crypts are sensitive to sudden changes. Mine rot even when it get splashed with plain water during waterchange. Also, changing the light intensity eg trimming away some overshadowing leaves will trigger them to rot.

I now pour in my ferts away from the crypts and there's no problem since.

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## |squee|

It looks to me like something's eating the leaves instead. Any potential culprits in your tank?

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## dc88

Hi Lawerence
Other than dosing KNO3 I also fed the fish a little more that day (NH4+?) so not really sure what is the main reason. Am not discipline enough to narrow down root cause.
I am going to contiune the KNO3 (0.5ppm twice a week) while not feeding the fish to see if it repeats.

Hi Terence,
I have 16 cardinal tetra, 10 R. espei, 3 yamato, 2 cherry shrimp, 4 octo, and 1 small puffer in the 100L tank.
Any prime suspect you think ?

Thanks
dc

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## |squee|

Any large snails or something? Because the leaves all look like they're eaten away  :Razz:  Also, do the leaves display melting "jelly" in the tank, as in the affected parts can be seen melted?

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## bclee

How long have you planted the crypt? How frequent do you replant them? How frequent do you change water?

BC

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## dc88

Hi Terence

No large snail. But do have some MTS and those small "ram horn" ? But a puffer was added for 2 weeks now had been keeping them at bay so far. The rot holes happend after a week adding puffer.

Hi BC

They were replanted 5 weeks ago. In the first week a few leaf did rot but than stablize. Only this week a few more and has this blow holes symthom.

Heres more tank data :

I do weekly water change of 20% + Duplagan for dechrolination and + 1/4 tsp NaHCO3 and 1/4 tsp Seachem Equalibrium (to keep KH and GH around 4~5). 

DIY CO2 (2 bottles in parrallel), about 1 to 1.5 bps. KH=5, PH=6.5~7. Co2 level probably fluctuate per the bottles' brewing cycle. I do make a point to renew each alternately every week.

Fert scheme is Dupla Plant Tab at water change, and daily Dupla D24 drop. Just started recently once a weekly KNO3 (about 0.5ppm) and PO4 (about 0.1ppm) -- thought of starting it slow.
Also feeding the fish once a day with 0.4ml scoop of Tetra dry flakes.

Lightling level is 72W (2x36W PL) over 100 Liter (26 g) so about 2.8 wpg.

Other than the KNO3 dosage, could it be too much fish food ? (Ammonia peak) or just simply PH swing (due to the DIY CO2 cycle) ? I use a JBL Co2 indicator in the tank and the color does change between green to yellow than to green over the weekly DIY CO2 bottle change cycle.
(I also checked the PH level occasionally with PH test kit) and the reading can be from 6.5 (when the CO2 indicator is yellow) and 7 (when the indicator is green).
Will 0.5 PH changes enough to shock the crypto into blow holes and rot ?

dc

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## dc88

Another interesting observation. This crypto I bought came in 2 colors (may be 2 different species but the LFS bundle them together?) The brown-green one (as in the pic) rots often. The light green one so far never.
The size of both these 2 types of leaf about the same but no 2 colors on a same plant. I planted them together in the same area intermix.
Could it be that the brown one is less adapted to the lighting level (or water condition, what ever) in my tank while the green one out compete ?
I decided to wait out to see if eventually the brown one all vanish or start growing green leaf.

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## soyadude

I'm pretty sure the puffer the culprit. They like to bite chunks out of everything. Fish, snails/shrimps, plants. Yamato missing a leg? Puffer. Fins gone from a fish? Puffer. Puffers are not for community tanks or for planteds.

The pictures of your crypts does not show them melting. The rest of the leaves still look solid. Melting crypts thin out and disintegrate. The holes are probably bite marks.

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## dc88

Really ? Puffer the culprit ? It is a mini type, the mouth so small compare to the hole size on the leaf ?
Well, for the safe side let me take it out for a while....

BTW is the crypto I shown here the "Cryptocoryne wendtii" ? I saw on Tropica site there are brown and green types. 

You can see the brown ones are getting lesser and lesser while the green one are mostly intact....

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## bclee

It's is quite normal for crypt to display those kind of symptoms. Leave the crypts untouched. Even change in shading from taller plants can trigger a melt. Do not dig them out every now and then.

Definitely not bitten by any of the critters in your tank.

BC

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## |squee|

dc88, I think the brown ones are submersed leaves while the bright green ones are emersed leaves. Just for your info.  :Smile:

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## dc88

> dc88, I think the brown ones are submersed leaves while the bright green ones are emersed leaves. Just for your info.


Thanks Terrance,

So you think they are of the same plant ? I did not really check if the gren leaf came out from the same rossette of the brown one. When I planted them that time the differentg color leaf were of different individual. Do you know the ID by the way ?

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## grey_fox

The crypts I got from michael lai also displayed this 'hole-ly' syndrome when first placed into my tank, if I am not wrong and after reading off the references from Tropica, like with all crypts, acclimatization is needed. 

_Cryptocoryne wendtii ''brown'' is a beautiful brown variety of_ _Cryptocoryne wendtii. It is a mistake to believe that Cryptocorynes require soft water. In large parts of Sri Lanka the water is hard, so Sri Lanka Cryptocorynes are almost all suitable for hard European water. If the plant is affected by the so-called ''cryptocoryne disease'', do not remove it from the aquarium because a few weeks later it will produce new shoots. See other Cryptocorynes for further information._

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## |squee|

dc88, ID-ing plants is my worst forte.  :Razz: 

I have the same situation in my tank the last time. I did not bother so much about it, and it eventually disappeared on its own. Crypts are strange things.

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## soyadude

My 2 mini puffers killed and eaten all the snails I have in my community tank (which it was supposed to do) then terrorized my yamatos, bit pieces of my glossos, bit holes in my amazon swords. They now live a solitary existence in a species tank..

Those leaves in the first picture.. the holes in the top 2 leaves look like a typical puffer nip to me. The lower leaf with a good portion of the leaves cut away... I dunno. I just saw my puffers nip at things, they don't exactly nibble.

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## grey_fox

I had a puffer too and it did nip on leaves, etc. However I don't think they're 'strong' enough to nip holes through the leaves, I might be wrong but this is just an assumption as different fishes have different strengths and habits.

For cryptos, its common to have holes when you first have them in the tank or for the leaves to melt or have 1/4 of the leaf missing/torn away, its the newer leaves that won't show these. This is from my observation for my tank.

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## Quixotic

Definitely crypt rot IMHO. Read here, courtesy of Xema and lorba, that tiny holes are symptoms as well, although I have never exprienced that for my crypts. They just rot and disintegrate.

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## dc88

Thanks everyone or the excellant infor !
I will hang in there and to update more as it goes. Hopefully is just a transition.

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