Hello
So i recieved the Nesaea pedicellata `Golden` plant along with Hemianthus micranthemoides and tiger lotus from a seller in US... They arrived safely but their texture felt a bit wierd... (i wont be able to explain it in english lol) ... but they were so soft , you can easily bend the stems and kinda oily.... The tiger lotus leaves kinda melted so i had to take off the leaves... Anyways, when i planted the other two in my planted tanks ... My swordtails, cherry barbs, gouramis, and tetras started eating the leaves of the Nesaea pedicellata, some nibble on the Hemianthus micranthemoides ... thinking they would stop, i ignored it and went to work... now, i see 4 of the 10 stems with no leaves at all... I also see a couple of half a leave still on some stems with signs of bites !!
Note these fish never ate any of the plants in tank, they are only eating this specific plant !!
Like i said, i have a feeling its their soft texture ... can someone explain this please.
Almost sounds as if the plants were left too cold at one point during transit?
If they appeared limp but still looked alright that's what I suggest went wrong just
off the top of my head.
If this is the case then the plants' cells being broken down by chilling or freezing
have made them easier to eat and that's why the fish are having a meal.
thanks for the fast reply ... shoud i keep the plant by itself in one way or another, just until it regenerates the lost cells or is the plant just dead !!
Ya, most likely your plants is damaged by the cold temperature during transit. You can try let it flow at the water surface and see. But most likely you will lost the plant if the whole stem body is soft. Good luck! :(
thats sad .. i was excited about it... the fish ate all the leaves and left me the stems, i will leave it in the tank tho.
Thanks kin and sas.
I agree with the other 2 suggestions - the plants probably suffered from cold weatehr/frost bites. I would suggest that the leaves have melted in the water rather than fish feasting on them.
Definitely leave the stems in the tank; I would try to float half of them, and leave the other half in the substrate. You never know - I have plants that came back to life after a while from a bare stem. In the case of Tiger Lotus, which as far as I know grows from a bulb, leave that bulb in the substrate and it should regenerate itself eventually. Good luck!
Thanks Zima .. I let them float but its a good idea to plant half of the stems in substrate... I also buried the bulb. fingers crossed lol.