Is my mangrove dying?? What do I do??

[rr07]

I have been growing a red mangrove for a year now (6 sets of leaves but most have fallen off given time) and I recently repotted it into a 5 gallon, no salinity or water parameter changes but this new water is full of tannins. I fear I may have damaged the roots and salt is getting inside the plant and damaging it and the first signs are showing up on the newest set of leaves, after I repotted it they started curling and wrinkling and I’m afraid it might die. Any advice on what to do?

 

[mcarroll]

Do you know it's optimal water parameters? Including nutrient levels?

How close is your water to those optimums?

Repotting plants can be very hard on the plant – and some plants are VERY intolerant of root disturbances. It's not impossible that repotting it will lead to its death, but hopefully someone with direct experience with Mangroves will chime in.

(Personally I've never seen anyone successfully grow one past the point where yours is.....for what it's worth.)

 

[TangerineSpeedo]

From my understanding the roots are very sensitive. If they are damaged in any way, it cannot keep the saltwater out. You need to replant it in fresh water so the roots can heal.

 

[chip shop]

And don’t forget to spray leafs with fresh water to clear salt of them

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

You put the plant into a 5 gallon tank, was it new water, are there any fish in the water, how would the tree get nutrients?

@CHSUB is very experienced with mangroves maybe he can help, I've followed his suggestions with good results.

 

[rr07]

Do you know it's optimal water parameters? Including nutrient levels?

How close is your water to those optimums?

Repotting plants can be very hard on the plant – and some plants are VERY intolerant of root disturbances. It's not impossible that repotting it will lead to its death, but hopefully someone with direct experience with Mangroves will chime in.

(Personally I've never seen anyone successfully grow one past the point where yours is.....for what it's worth.)

I’m not sure it’s optimal water parameters, I was just told it could be happy in anything. My nitrates are around 5 ppm and my phosphates are around 0, and the salinity is 1.026. I don’t usually check anything else in this tank. Thank you I really hope it doesn’t die

 

[rr07]

From my understanding the roots are very sensitive. If they are damaged in any way, it cannot keep the saltwater out. You need to replant it in fresh water so the roots can heal.

I don’t want to damage its roots any further by removing it but I will listen to your advice if it gets worse. It looks better then yesterday today there might be a chance it could be healing but still looks bad

 

[rr07]

And don’t forget to spray leafs with fresh water to clear salt of them

That’s actually only on black mangroves, red mangroves filter out salt through their roots

 

[rr07]

You put the plant into a 5 gallon tank, was it new water, are there any fish in the water, how would the tree get nutrients?

@CHSUB is very experienced with mangroves maybe he can help, I've followed his suggestions with good results.

Set up the tank a week before repotting, I haven’t done a water change since setting the tank up. There are no fish, and for nutrients I used garden soil on the bottom and aragonite to top it off, I use the same method on my freshwater planted tanks which have great success so I wanted to try it out on saltwater

 

[mcarroll]

I doubt anything will grow properly without phosphates. Does it have a strong ability to access nutrients (especially P) via roots and dirt you added? If not (and maybe regardless) I would add dissolved PO4 to the water, but not sure what concentration to tell you to target.

 

[rr07]

I doubt anything will grow properly without phosphates. Does it have a strong ability to access nutrients (especially P) via roots and dirt you added? If not (and maybe regardless) I would add dissolved PO4 to the water, but not sure what concentration to tell you to target.

I’m not sure but I believe so. I’ll try dose some phosphates.

 

[CHSUB]

Set up the tank a week before repotting, I haven’t done a water change since setting the tank up. There are no fish, and for nutrients I used garden soil on the bottom and aragonite to top it off, I use the same method on my freshwater planted tanks which have great success so I wanted to try it out on saltwater

This, imo, is the best set up. Some percentage of saltwater is also important.

How is it going?

 

[Nate Chalk]

It'll bounce back