Anubias Disease Problems: Root Rot, Melting Leaf, Soft Rhizome & Loosen Stem.

kiddjam

Junior Poster
Jan 24, 2012
31
6
8
Any help would be appreciated!!!

I never buried the rhizome, nor the root, most of them were growing on rock or driftwood, I never even had one single Anubias die in my hand too, until rencently.

I know a lot of people say Anubias is a hardy plant, and I admit it, it is hardy, but not that "java moss hardy".
I have a lot of Anubias, from big to small, the three Anubias Nana Petite I got from a friend around 2 years ago, they are growing underwater nice and steady.

But things change after I bought two driftwood tied Anubias Nana with moss covering the root and wood, from a LFS which I never bought plants from, and whom only has Anubias Nana available, it is the start of all the death of lots of Anubias in my tank.......... The newly bought tied Anubias has one or two leaves floated in my tank after 3 days I put them in, and then the following days, they have massive leaf fall off in just 5 days, then they died.

I pick the tied driftwood out, I cut off the black cotton thread, and I dissected the plant's leftover, the rhizome, leaf and stem. It is the most disgusting thing I ever smell and see from a Anubias plant....... white mushy rhizome, unimaginable rotting smell, white patch of slime on the tied area.

Also I need to mention I got 4 species pin head size(under 2cm diameter) wild Bucephalandra from a deader, and they all died too, first I notice they have loosen leaf, about to drop....

The three Anubias Nana Petite my friend gave me, one is dead, symptom is the same as rhizome become mushy, soaked, and melt, it has soft leave, soft stem, soft rhizome, die very soon later on, the other two sit very closely together, also they sort of become soft too....... I manage to save the other two by washing and putting them in a new tank with no contamination water, they are ok now.

Somehow the Anubias congensis, gracillis, afzellis which just got in from nursery, were not affected at all, well, they have some brown spots on the rhizome, and on root here and there, but they are OK.....? weird. And also there is one Anubias Nana left, it has darked green rhizome, but not dead either.

I dosed Seachem Prime, 2 times I guess after the first 90% water change, added Stability too.

The most authentic, authorial article regarding this anubias root rot disease Google can find:
http://anubias-engl.blogspot.com/2011/04/anubias-plants-rotting-facts-rumours.html

I Googled around got this video, the guy seem to have the same issue with his Anubias plant dying, he metaphor it as Anubias HIV, which makes a lot of sense.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G7vGIHlT-AI

Two Weeks Later!

Well...... I thought I changed enough water(90% change every 4 days), they problem should be gone, I started to buy more Anubias back in the planted tank, I bought 10 Anubias Nana Stardust, 10 Anubias Nana Petite, 5 Anubias Nana Roundleaf, and golden, and other new stuffs, and then.........the problem appears again!!! The smaller Anubias Nana namely Petite and Stardust, they look very OK the time I bought them, growing on rockwool, very green leaf and rhizome, but after about 3 days, they have leaf melted, and most notable, they all develop water-soak-cell-spot, on the back/dorsal of their leaves, some heavier symptom die early, some lighter manage to survive longer....at this stage they have some light brown spot on the root, and the stem area also getting slimy too.

So now about only 2 Anubias Nana Petite left, 2 stardust left, 1 golden survived because I cut the suspected rhizome off early....... and of course, roundleaf and Nana were gone!!!!........... I am officially speechless..... waste of money and time, mostly my confidence with Anubias is broken.


Disease Early Signs: Root Rot, Melting Leaf, Soft Rhizome & Loosen Stem.
I came up with some methods to detect the early sign of this cancer-like disease:
1> by visual inspections:
1A> relatively bigger white spot on stem base
1B> blowing-up-water-filled like stem and rhizome, specially stems
1C> brownish root tip, root spot, or soften new root
1D> brownish color on stem, even when the leaf is clean and looks ok or feel sturdy
1E> the back of the leaf, spotty/dotted leaf back/dorsal, losing lines
1F> transparent root
1G> no new bud or leaf growth in 10 days

2> by handling the plant:
2A> try to break the suspected rhizome, if it feels like non-fresh vegetable you bought from last week, your Anubias will soon to have problems
2B> pull the suspected leaf, if it's a non-firm leaf, it will not get back to its original position, and easy to pull away, this is a sign too
2C> touch/rub the rhizome with your fingers, if you feel it is sticky and can scrub off some green, clear or brownish crud, it is no good
 
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Biollante

Lifetime Charter Member
Lifetime Member
Jun 21, 2009
3,210
3
36
Surprise, AZ
Mycosis?

Hi,


Sounds like a mycosis (fungal infection).:(


Have you tried simply pulling the infected plants out and potting them?
Do the plants recover?


This may require removing all your plants to destroy the infection and it is possible the plants may need to be destroyed.:(


More later…

Biollante
 

1077

Guru Class Expert
Aug 19, 2010
189
2
18
If I had no trouble with plant's until the Anubia attached to wood was introduced , I would be suspect of what the newly introduced plant's on wood were subjected to.
Some places that offer plant's may or may not use mild insecticides to prevent insect damage if plant's are suceptible to their presence.(large facilities where plant's are emerged rather than submerged and damage by insects is problem)
Othe'rs keep plant's in tank's where perhaps copper based chemical's may or may not be used to control/kill snails, or they keep plant's submerged in tank's that may have been subjected to all manner of chemical's or medication's for treatment of fish illness and wood could soak up chemical's.
This is only speculation , but I have heard of other's who have lost all fish AND plant's after adding new plant's and maybe this is possibility?
 

kiddjam

Junior Poster
Jan 24, 2012
31
6
8
1077;78400 said:
Some places that offer plant's may or may not use mild insecticides to prevent insect damage if plant's are suceptible to their presence.(large facilities where plant's are emerged rather than submerged and damage by insects is problem)

Thanks I will keep an eye on that.

Hi,

1077;78400 said:
Sounds like a mycosis (fungal infection).

Have you tried simply pulling the infected plants out and potting them?
Do the plants recover?

This may require removing all your plants to destroy the infection and it is possible the plants may need to be destroyed.
More later…
Biollante

I think the method of transforming submerge to emerge may not work, there is a thread on APC, the guy doing exactly the same thing, and because he had the same disease in his anubias, but out of nowhere, unlike me.
 

Gerryd

Plant Guru Team
Lifetime Member
Sep 23, 2007
5,623
22
38
South Florida
Hi folks,

I hsd some major issues with this type of thing a couple months ago. Was especially bad on anubias coffefolia and petite. Plus, they were undersized as well.

Since then, I have increased EI dosing and now dose daily. That started to make a difference. Recently I added some more flow to the tank, and now my coffeefolia is doing quite well with no more melting issues. I had many of the same symptoms described in these threads. The petite is also much improved now as well with no more issues....

The coffee in the 220 was falling apart, but two small sections seemed to do a bit better. These grew some but not as robustly as expected. However, NOW after some time, I see many plants grow 1-2 leaves within the same week. Usually there was 1-2 weeks between leaves. I now count approx 30-40 new leaves at various sizes. So, they are filling in rapidly now.

Previously, these new leaves would melt the leaf or at the rhizome after 4-6 days but no longer. They do not melt or fall of and the rhizomes and root stuctures are very strong.

I do have 99% of them planted in ADA so this may assist as well..

I think MY issues were care related.

Interested if this disease is still an issue for you or others??