The leaves of my apongeton (spelling?) plant (started out as one of those little bulbs you buy) died off in my frog tank so I removed the dead ones. I have some little sprouts coming out of the plant, but they haven't grown at all for the last month or two -_-

The tank used to be covered in brown algae until it changed green. It has been sucking all of my Nitrates out of the tank, and I mean bad LoL. The Nitrates on my test have read 0 for the last two months now (The tank isn't recyling -_- There have been no Ammonia or Nitrite readings since it finished cycling in July).

Is there any way I can get some Nitrates going in there again for my plant to grow? I have been wiping down the tank sides each week to get rid of algae but it doesn't come off very easily and it leads me to believe it won't come off the rocks well either. No algae has came off while I syphon the bottom of the tank before.

Is there anything I could do to get the Nitrates going again? I liked having my plant in there. The frogs just loved to climb all over it too

I have another bulb getting ready to sprout. It wouldn't start growing if I placed it in that frog tank either, would it? -_-

Any suggestions would be great!!

*pokes siggy* It's an Eclipse 5 gallon hexagon tank so there isn't much room for a fish to help eat algae. PH 7.2 Temp 78F

Thanks!

Along with scraping algea, maybe you could supplement the plant with some aquarium fertilizer? Gently dig up the plant and check to make sure the roots aren't all brown and mushy.

Hmm, I don't know. I've never messed with the foods or fertilizers for plants before. I haven't even seen anything like that sold at Wallyworld or Petco out here -_- Perhaps one of the other two will carry it.

I'll check the roots tomorrow I can see them a little poking up from the rocks but they look okay, other than being coated in the green algae LoL I'll post back with the info! Thanks!

[edit: *pokes siggy* Where'd the "one year member" thing come from? o.0 Have I really been here a year? LoL]

Woohoo party for Jen!! Congrats on your one year. Mine's coming up soon too!

I don't know about wally world, but petco doesn't carry anything for plants except jungle products. I've heard their CO2 factory stuff is a waste, but I tried their root tabs. I'm also dosing with Seachem Flourish fertilizer (at petsmart) so I don't know which one or both are improving my plants. You don't have any petsmarts around? They've got a lot more plant stuff.

The closest Petsmart I know of is Olympia, Wa... over 2 hours drive on the freeway -_- (our vehicles don't do well at freeway speeds LoL) Just Petco, Wallyworld, and 2 local places I know of out here.

I checked the roots and they look nice and healthy still, just like when they first sprouted THey are not "mushy" and are a lightish brown color with strings of green algae on them LoL

I'm not sure when I can get uptown again to check for anything.. Any ideas on something I could do for now?

I know some types of aponogeton plants need about a month dormancy period after flowering. Here's a link to the different types of aponogeton.

http://www.plantgeek.net/plantguide_list.p...y=3&filter_by=3


Have yours produced flower stalks yet? You can stimulate the dormancy period by taking the bulbs out of the tank, remove any remaining leaves, and place them in a tupperware bowel with some of the gravel and water from your tank. Cover it and put it in the crisper of your refrigerator.

I don't know if this is the case in your situation, but a possibility.

Hi! Thanks for the reply

Yeah, I knew about the dormant period. Mine have been through that recently and started sprouting again already. It shouldn't be going through it again so soon, should it? It seems odd also, that the others wouldn't be dormant since they all sprouted the same day LoL. Since the others started sprouting again, the one in with my frogs hasn't started up again because the algae really took off and sucked all the Nitrates from the water.

I actually have never seen mine produce a "flower stalk" yet. I read about it, but I don't know what I'm supposed to be looking for. One did produce a lump at the end of a stalk which grew into a ball with new roots and leaves sprouting out of it (I replanted that. The roots grabbed onto the gravel and a few more leaves started up before it went dormant, and it hasn't sprouted anything new since (it has been a few months now).

I'm not sure which one of those plants mine is. It looks almost like the Aponogeton boivinianus perhaps, but the leaves may not be as broad as the ones in the picture. The bulbs came from a cheap little package at Wallyworld (my 2nd package came from Petco).

They look similar to: This Link, but the package looked different. It said "Hardy Aponogeton Bulbs" on it and that their only requirement was 8-12 hours of light a day. LoL

Ok then your ok on the dormancy period. I recently bought some of the same bulbs. Previously I used bulbs that were marked the same when I had a tropical tank about 10 years ago. It sounds like you have a different hybrid variety than what I used. On the ones I had the flower spike would grow straight up to the surface. The stem of this tends to be stiffer than the leaves. The flower itself is a cluster of tiny white flowers that is about an inch overall and they bloom from one end of the cluster to the other. After pollenation, I would get these small green balls or seeds that would drop off and start sprouting leaves.

That's weird o.0 I did have one of those little ball things that sprouted roots and leaves, but I never did see the plant flower... That little ball didn't come off on it's own either. The rest of the stalk started dying so I snipped it off and let it float a little until the roots were grown out enough so they could grab on to something.

The back of the container does say something about clipping them back after they flower, but I wasn't sure what to be looking for. LoL

Good news! I guess when I moved the plant a little to find the roots after somebody suggested that, it was enough to get that little thing going again! I seen new sprouts a couple days ago and they are about 1/3 of the way to the surface now Yay!! Maybe it was another dormant period? Wouldn't that happen only once a year though? That would have been twice since August! LoL

Just thought I'd make a small update about it!

Lol I didn't think just moving it would help! I'm glad its back on track though.

LoL I didn't think that was what got it going either LoL. I thought they only have one dormant period though a year... And it's odd, because it was only the plant in my frog tank that wouldn't sprout again for the longest time. My others have been growing just fine. The new bulbs even are half way to the surface LoL.