Eel grass color change (hornwort also)

[Criscar]

Hello all, I planted eel grass (vallisneria, I presume Americana) in my pond close to a year ago when it was first constructed (300 gal, above ground, 2 small planted bogs of appropriate size plus marginals, not currently overstocked but will be eventually). It was initially a fairly grass green color, but now it is more a reddish tan color, with genuinely green leaves in only a few spots. It continues to grow and send out suckers despite the color change. I had thought this might be due to the lower winter water temps (around 50-55 degrees for about 8 weeks), but the pond has warmed up quite a bit and it’s still kind of the same weird color, as is the hornwort from last year, which does not seem to be growing as much as expected. Is this a normal thing related to alkalinity and such, or is it a possible sign I need to add some micronutrients to the water a la Leaf Zone or a similar product? There is a bit of string algae but not too bad. Water parameters are 0s across the board for everything, and Ph is very stable around 8.1, with usual minor daily fluctuations. Pond temps are now in mid 60’s to low 70’s. While it’s hard to normalize color of underwater plants, the two photos should give the general idea of the color now vs last year (the one with fish). It’s not just a water tint issue because green plants still look genuinely green in the water at the same depth, and the eel grass looks the same color out of the water

 

[bagsmom]

That is really interesting. I wonder if it needs fertilizer? The second picture is just beautiful - it makes me want to plant some!

 

[TheFishGuy]

Usually when plant growth slows down and the color get lighter it is due to a lack of nutrients. Some fertilizer may help with this.

 

[rubyduby]

I am in the same boat Criscar...My frogbit, hornwort, duckweed, all lost their beautiful green color and look like the chlorophyll has drained out of them. Most of the people here on the forum have said that it is probably lack of nutrients...Heck, I have 7 six inch shubunkins, at least 25 fry of all sizes, a zillion tadpoles...all this in a 900 gallon pond and I still lack nutrients? I don't get it....my water parameters are all good and even the nitrate is finally above zero. Pond gets sun from 7am to noon and then it is shaded from a huge live oak over top...If you find an answer PLEASE let me know

 

[Criscar]

I am in the same boat Criscar...My frogbit, hornwort, duckweed, all lost their beautiful green color and look like the chlorophyll has drained out of them. Most of the people here on the forum have said that it is probably lack of nutrients...Heck, I have 7 six inch shubunkins, at least 25 fry of all sizes, a zillion tadpoles...all this in a 900 gallon pond and I still lack nutrients? I don't get it....my water parameters are all good and even the nitrate is finally above zero. Pond gets sun from 7am to noon and then it is shaded from a huge live oak over top...If you find an answer PLEASE let me know

I am trying using both Flourish and Flourish Trace to see if it helps, I’ll keep you posted! Honestly, 7 6 inch shubunkin plus some fry doesn’t sound like much, I have 5 4-8 inch shubunkin plus 9 minnows, a dozen danios, and about 10 goldfish fry from last year in a heavily planted 300 gallon pond with a planter bog and that’s not even enough for my setup, apparently!

maybe the tadpoles will help as they get bigger?

 

[rubyduby]

I am trying using both Flourish and Flourish Trace to see if it helps, I’ll keep you posted! Honestly, 7 6 inch shubunkin plus some fry doesn’t sound like much, I have 5 4-8 inch shubunkin plus 9 minnows, a dozen danios, and about 10 goldfish fry from last year in a heavily planted 300 gallon pond with a planter bog and that’s not even enough for my setup, apparently!

maybe the tadpoles will help as they get bigger?

Yes, please keep us posted...

 

[Mgessert]

My situation is probably different than yours, but as the water temp increased and my nitrate levels rose over the past two weeks, my plants really greened up.

 

[Criscar]

Okay, so I started adding some liquid fertilizer, and flourish trace, plus feeding the fish more, and this did not help after 3 weeks. The small new plants I had gotten (mainly ludwigia repens starts) started looking nutrient stressed as well, with new growth entirely red and older leaves speckling and fading to red and yellow. The vallisneria may have perked up a bit but it’s subtle, and the hornwort all looks absolutely terrible, it’s all red, yellow and brown. While the marginals seem less effected the creeping Jenny is not coming back hardly at all. I bought an iron test and there was 0 iron in the pond. After adding some liquid iron for planted tanks I finally got a detectable level but it was still at the extreme bottom end of the spectrum.

I think it’s a combo of iron deficiency, nitrogen deficiency, and possibly also phosphorus deficiency. So basically it seems like my pond and bog are significantly overplanted for the maturity of the pond (established for 1 year now)? Any thoughts would be appreciated.

I have problems with iron deficiency throughout my soil garden as well, so I assume our tap water must be unusually deficient in it or something. So, I’m guessing I’ll need to keep adding more for quite a while until it reaches a more self-sustaining level in the pond, as levels are 10x lower than recommended right now after first supplementation, and no doubt the plants will take that up immediately.

 

[mrsclem]

It may be a silly question but are you using salt in your pond? Any other chemicals?

 

[Criscar]

It may be a silly question but are you using salt in your pond? Any other chemicals?

No, nothing other than pond fertilizer tabs for the stuff in pots

 

[Criscar]

I just wanted to update this post, it appears the culprit was mostly low iron. Since I’ve dosed the pond several times the hornwort is finally growing again and the vallisneria is slowly greening up. The ludwigia still looks worse for the wear but hopefully it too will start to recover. Thanks all, and hope this is helpful to someone else in the future.

 

[rubyduby]

Okay, so I started adding some liquid fertilizer, and flourish trace, plus feeding the fish more, and this did not help after 3 weeks. The small new plants I had gotten (mainly ludwigia repens starts) started looking nutrient stressed as well, with new growth entirely red and older leaves speckling and fading to red and yellow. The vallisneria may have perked up a bit but it’s subtle, and the hornwort all looks absolutely terrible, it’s all red, yellow and brown. While the marginals seem less effected the creeping Jenny is not coming back hardly at all. I bought an iron test and there was 0 iron in the pond. After adding some liquid iron for planted tanks I finally got a detectable level but it was still at the extreme bottom end of the spectrum.

I think it’s a combo of iron deficiency, nitrogen deficiency, and possibly also phosphorus deficiency. So basically it seems like my pond and bog are significantly overplanted for the maturity of the pond (established for 1 year now)? Any thoughts would be appreciated.

I have problems with iron deficiency throughout my soil garden as well, so I assume our tap water must be unusually deficient in it or something. So, I’m guessing I’ll need to keep adding more for quite a while until it reaches a more self-sustaining level in the pond, as levels are 10x lower than recommended right now after first supplementation, and no doubt the plants will take that up immediately.

I just wanted to update this post, it appears the culprit was mostly low iron. Since I’ve dosed the pond several times the hornwort is finally growing again and the vallisneria is slowly greening up. The ludwigia still looks worse for the wear but hopefully it too will start to recover. Thanks all, and hope this is helpful to someone else in the future.

That is great news criscar...thanks for sharing this info

 

[Criscar]

Check out the color on the eel grass now!