Plant death cause?

[blkgardner]

I purchased a plant for my 10 gallon fish tank yesterday. This morning, it shed all its leaves and dropped to the bottom.

It was a large floating plant, with needle-like leaves. I don't recall what is was called though. The salesman who sold said said it could also be anchored to the ground for floated, but recommended floating it. It was longer than my fish tank, an I assume it was probably way too bid for a 10 gallon tank. My tank is unheated and unfiltered at the moment. The other occupants of the tank are a male betta and a mystery snail. The betta is doing fine, but he seems to a quite hardy specimen.

Could the plant had died from lack of carbon dioxide, if it was too large? The tank is unheated, but the room generally stays above 68 degrees. I am aware that the temperature is below the recommended range for betta fish, or most tropical tanks, but the fish doesn't seem lethargic, and I don't want to introduce unneeded changes to the system rashly.

[RichardA]

Too many variables here. Could be from lack of water movement, lack of lighting, lack of correct temp.....too many things it could be. Sounds like you got hornwort. Some plants just do not do well with some water conditions.

[blkgardner]

Thanks, I think it was hornwort. I did some looking on the interent, and I think the issue is that the plant was too big for the tank, or it might not have had enough water when I transported it home from the petshop.

It appears hornwort can loose its leaves due to a change and water chemistry, but survive. So, that plant that I threw away might not have been dead. However, due to the size of the plant, I don't want to risk that much decaying organic plant matter being in a tank.

[inuudo]

I just cleared a bunch of hornwort out of my ten gallon and it was a real pain to get all of those leaves cleaned up. My plants did pretty much what yours did -- turned yellow and started shedding. I was at a great fish shop today and talked about plants and plant care with one of the owners; she thought that there might be a potassium deficiency in my water, especially given that my newer crypts are yellowing somewhat, too. I bought the Flourish Potassium liquid supplement and will try that for a while.

[blkgardner]

I talked to the people at the pet shot, and I think my issue might have been a lack of light. I was keeping the light on briefly because my betta likes to fight its reflection