Even experienced gardeners can struggle with plant care – we all make mistakes. Thankfully, it’s rare for aquarium plants to get sick, so don’t worry about them all perishing at once.
If your plants are growing well and sprouting new bits, they’re likely healthy.
To keep your plants well, you need to spot signs of illness early to solve issues quickly.
It’s also important to know about medicines that might harm your plants and different kinds of algae that can stop plant growth if not controlled.
Live Aquarium Plant Problems and Their Solutions
To keep your aquatic plants healthy, it’s important to look for potential issues.
If your plants have holes, it might be due to fish eating them or possibly plant rot, usually caused by too much nitrate in the water. Changing the water can help.
If the leaves are turning yellow, it could mean your plants need more iron, which can be provided with an aquatic plant fertilizer.
However, if leaves turn brown or black, this might mean there’s too much iron, which can be fixed with water changes.
If certain plants are dying while others thrive, it may be due to the hardness of your water. Hard-water plants can extract CO2 better than soft-water plants.
To maintain a variety of plants, you might need to add CO2 to your tank through water changes or store-bought CO2 equipment. This will lower the pH of the water, so you’ll need to test it afterward.
Remember that tap water CO2 levels can vary depending on your location.
Algae and Live Aquarium Plants
Algae are small plant-like organisms that can live in your aquarium. They can come from fish or live food.
If you have healthy plants, they can stop algae from growing too much. But if you let algae grow too much, it can be a problem.
There are different types of algae:
- Blue-green algae: This can happen if your aquarium’s water is not clean. It can cover everything in your aquarium. If your fish stop moving, they might look like they’re covered in mold.
- Red algae: This happens if there’s not enough CO2 in the water. It looks really bad and can hang all over your aquarium. To fight it, you can add more oxygen. But if it’s really bad, you might need to clean your aquarium and start over.
- Brown algae: This happens if there’s not enough light. It can form big brown layers in your aquarium.
- Green algae: This happens if there’s too much light. It can make your aquarium water look green.
One way to fight algae is to add fish that eat algae. These fish can help keep algae from growing too much. But don’t only rely on these fish. They can’t eat all the algae.
If you have a cycled tank, algae can grow quickly at first. But eventually, the plants will fight back and take away the nutrients that algae need to live.
Don’t change your water too much if you have a lot of algae. This can make things worse. If your plants are healthy, they can win the fight against algae.
With the help of algae-eating fish and clean water, your tank can look great.
Live Aquarium Plants and Medications
Some medicines used for fish, like aquarium salt, copper-based ones, and certain algae controllers, can damage your water plants.
It’s good to keep new fish separate at first. This can prevent the need for giving them medicine if they get sick once you bring them home.
If your fish do need medicine, it’s best to treat them in a hospital tank, away from your plants.
