Flourish Increased doses

[turk1509]

gday there, i have some anubias on some drift wood but recently its been going yellow at the tips working its way back to the stem almost causing the leaf to rot as you can only see the 'veins'.

i have been dosing the tank as recommended with flourish and flourish excel as well as the flourish tabs for the plants with the roots in the substrate.

i was told that this conditon was to a deficiency so im wondering if i can increase doses and if so will my shrimp be ok with the copper? can i use something to remove just copper? i have purigen but i dont know if i should run this

thanks in advance

[Tech Support EH]

Hi, Turk1509! The symptoms that you are describing actually sound like a deficiency in iron in my opinion. Chlorosis, or yellowing, is a classic sign of iron deficiency, as are short and slender stems. Mostly, newer leaves will be affected first. If you are interested, here is a chart that lists key elements, their roles within plant cells, as well as deficiency symptoms of each:

http://www.seachem.com/support/FlourishConstituents_Deficency.pdf

Therefore, I would not suggest necessarily increasing your dosages or frequency of dosing of either the Flourish or the Flourish Excel. Dosing Flourish too frequently can potentially lead to excess organics in the system because of some of its constituents. Flourish Excel is a reducing agent and should only be dosed as directed. My suggestion would be to actually start dosing with Flourish Iron. Flourish Iron is a ferrous gluconate form of iron that is readily available for your plants to uptake. I really think that adding this product to your dosing schedule will yield noticeable results in your anubias. You can leave your Purigen in the filter when dosing with any of the plant products, as it has very minimal impact on trace elements and supplements. Here is a link to Flourish Iron, if you would like to read about it:

http://www.seachem.com/Products/product_pages/FlourishIron.html

We hope this information helps, and let us know if you have any other questions. Have a nice day!

[turk1509]

firstly, thanks for the quick reply.alright il go buy some of flourish iron. but just a quick question, how come none of my other [;ants have started doing this?

thanks

[Tech Support EH]

You're very welcome! Some plants tend to be more susceptible to certain deficiencies than are other plants. In my experience, chlorosis seems to be quite common in anubias, so I really think that the addition of an iron supplement will be worth your while:)