# Bottom leafs melting



## Teemote (Aug 13, 2016)

So, my tank is about 10 months old.
Planted with CO2 - and doing ferts (based on Default's regiment)

What I started to notice is some of my stem plants have bottom leafs melting, but yet, have new stem growing out at the nodes... I don't quite get it.

Is this due to CO2 bad circulation? or not enough lights? (can't be light, or at least I don't think so because there are new growth all over the place at the bottom where light barely gets there).

As you can see in the picture, that one stem is pretty naked from mid to low, yet, there's alot of new stem growths coming out of them.

It seems like they just loose the leaves...

Can't figure out if it's CO2 circulation problem... thoughts?


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## default (May 28, 2011)

It's either a lack of light or co2. Personally I find lower lighting is usually the main reason for foliage droppings/meltings, especially if the plants have reached a good height/density, however, with that said, co2 circulation also gets greatly reduced once the plants get larger so they do go hand-in-hand.

Do keep in mind that these droppings don't represent the health of the particular plant, this is simply the plants absorbing nutrients from the foliage and removing it since it's no longer beneficial to the plant. Personally I have had stems reaching 16-20" long where the bottom half is completely bare, never would've noticed if I hadn't pulled them out, but the root system was massive and the plants were very healthy. The best way to keep stems is to constantly trim, don't let them get too tall and thin them out regularly, this would reduce the droppings, but eventually the main stem would get exhausted and start dropping leaves nonetheless.

The plant in your tank that is dropping the leaves is a Ludwigia Repens? If so, and if you don't like seeing bare stems, just top them and replant, they have almost no acclimation period and can start re-growing almost instantly. Or use a midground-bushy species to cover the bare portions ! You could also try to add more circulation, but I find enough circulation when plants get large usually results in diagonally growing plants..


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## Teemote (Aug 13, 2016)

Good point - maybe i need a trim just to make sure the light can spread enough to hit the bottom. Other than that, the plant is growing nicely mid to top, the top is nice and red.

I do have a AC50 + a Hydor power head for circulation in a 20 gallon tank, should be pretty good in terms of flow.


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## planter (Jun 9, 2008)

Sounds like light to me. Low co2 would be apparent throughout. you would start to see algae or stunted growth.

Replant the tops and keep trimming them if you dont want to see them this way. Like default said the plant is healthy otherwise.


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## infolific (Apr 10, 2016)

My Ludwigia Repens does the same thing if the bottom part gets shaded. I try to place such plants behind driftwood. Or I put shorter plants in front of it e.g. Lobelia Cardinalis "Dwarf" is one of my favourite for providing this kind of coverage.


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