Red Tiger Lotus (Nymphaea Lotus 'Red') Melting

I've recently noticed the red tiger lotus plants in one of the display tanks in Aqua Forest. Sufficed to say, it was love at first site. I immediately, bought a bulb and plant on the spot. Planted it on one side where it was getting probably low to medium light. I had read that it doesn't require a lot of light and the one I purchased from AFA was definitely shaded by the other fully grown lotus plants.


After about a week of having it, the lotus just straight up melted one stem at a time. All I'm left with is the bulb, but I remained persistent. I purchased another plant and bulb, but this time from aquariumplants.com. This specimen looked much better than the one I got from AFA. Unfortunately, same result. It didn't even last the weekend after I planted it last Friday.


I am now left with two bulbs in my tank. Will they sprout? Are they worth keeping? And what was I doing wrong that was causing the plant to melt?


My tank is a 60p knock-off from MrAqua. I run a Chihiros A-Series for 8 hours a day along with CO2 injection. I dose with Nilocg's Thrive all-in-one fertilizer three times a week. I also have AS Amazonia that's like 18 months old, so I use Flourish tabs to supplement the substrate nutrients. I do a 50% water change every Sunday and add GH booster.


All my other plants are doing great. I've got trident java, eleocharis belem, anubias nana, red flame sword, flame moss, and limnophila aromatic. I would really like to grow lotus plants, so any help would be greatly appreciated!

 

Thanks Pikez! Are there any specific water conditions I should be maintaining? I've just never had a plant melt on me like that.

 

Awesome! I read somewhere that it doesn't like too much flow. Is that true? I have some decent circulation in my take right now. The leaves of the other plants are slightly swaying.