My poor plants...?

Question

Well, my problem is that my plants are dying.
Yesterday I pulled all of the ones that looked like they were dying out. I have a Bacopa, two small grassy types (maybe chain swords?), a fluffy light green plant that resembles a Cabomba but I forgot the name of it. I also have some weird plants that have a long, ridged stem and has long, thin bright green leaves at the top. It kind of looks like a palm tree. I also have some sort of crypt, I think. It has ridged leaves that stem from the base of the plant.
Some weird growths appeared, including blackish fuzz around the edges of the (swords?), wispy pale stuff that I could suck the ends off with my gravel cleaner, and greenish looking "hairy" stuff on the (crypt?)
The leaves on the Bacopa and the "palm tree" were literally dissolving- losing color and falling off.
My temp. is between 78 and 80, I have med. gravel as a substrate, and I think I have decent lighting- it's a flourescent bulb I believe that's on for about 10 hours. Help!

Oh, and also, on the grassy type plants there were one or two holes and the leaves with the holes lost color too. The crypt with wispy pale stuff and dark green "hair" growing on it also spread the funky wispy pale stuff to the grassy ones and there's a bit on my piece of slate rock in the tank.

I'm currently cycling my tank- my nitrites should be peaking or dropping right about now. The ammonia is already at zero.
I've had my tank for two weeks, or maaaybe three?

How can I take the weird looking things off of my plants and how can I make them grow and stay alive? The grassy ones and the crypty one were growing the first week I had them. Pretty fast, actually.

Oh, tonight I turned on my light to see a very pale Black Neon so I became scared and put two plants back in. The Bacopa and Cabomba-look alike are back in there.
My others are in a bowl filled with water on the floor. The water's kind of cold- is that bad?
What should I do?

Thank you for any help!

Oh, oops- I have a ten gallon. There are three Glowlight Tetras and a Black Neon cycling my tank right now. I think I stated it before, but just in case, my gravel's not the standard small gravel, but it's not huge turtle tank gravel either. Well.. they look to be about a half inch in diameter on average. (irregular shapes)
I don't have the money to buy test kits- I test my water once a week for free at my local pet store. On Wednesday my ammonia was zero, nitrites were high, and pH was like.. 7.4 or 7.6 I don't remember. I have a whisper power filter suited for up to 15 gallons.

I don't put in fertilizers or co2 or anything.

Answer 1

Many of the fine leaved plants you describe are actually fairly sensitive to ammonia and it can easily cause just the reaction you mention. The appearance of dissolving. That would most likely be the cause of that portion of the problem.

All three of the growths you see on your plants are forms of algae. The pale colored and greenish algae are common in a fairly newly planted tank and are reasonably easy to control once the tank is fully cycled and the plants are established and competing with the algae for nutrients from the water.

The blackish colored fuzz is another story. That is commonly called beard algae or black beard algae and is very difficult to control in a tank. The first step in controlling this stuff is to remove as much of it as possible, even f it means cutting or removing leaves from the plants. Here's a link to help you identify and control the various algae in your tank.

http://www.csd.net/~cgadd/aqua/art_plant_algae.htm

Hope that helps

MM

Answer 2

don't panic, I think what has happened is your water is on the acidic side, plants do not do very well in acidic water , try to see if you can keep the PH around the ideal level of 7. if your plants still have roots on them throw them in a bucketof water outside in the light they will re grow again. take the yukky ones out and see if you can wipe the leves till the yuk is gone use clean chux, get some dacron and a stone a rubber band put the dacron around the root of the plant put in a tiny stone wrap them uptogether ,use the elastic band to keep it together and drop your plants into the tank. if you tank is near a window it will grow algae spores very quickly, too much light. c hange 1/3 of your water once a week, use a high quality water ager and plant food, try wiping your glass done with a brand new chux never used on anything before to clear up some of the algae, talk to your pet supplier about algae killer for your tank hope this helps

Answer 3

The wispy things sound like underwater mold. I too have it in my tank from time to time, but the weirdo snails I have in there find it tasty so I never really have to worry.

If this is what the problem is, I don't have any definitive answer of how to get rid of it. Try researching a little on google, and you may find something.

Answer 4

Just a few quick questions for you before I offer solutions that have worked for me.

How big is your tank?

What is your substrate, gravel or sand?

How many fish are in the tank already?