Why are my aquarium plants turning transparent?

Have you ever noticed that the leaves of certain aquarium plants get too mushy and eventually turn transparent?

Aquarium plants are in their best condition when they have healthy foliage with vibrant color. Until they look fresh and lively, there are chances that either the plants are infected or not getting enough nutrients to stay healthy.

One of the major reasons behind aquarium plants turning transparent is nutrient imbalance. Since each plant require certain level of different types of nutrients, when the water fall short of it, such condition may arise. Besides, drastic changes in the level of pH and carbon dioxide may also contribute to it.

While adding live aquarium plants is one of the best decisions aquarists make, maintaining them sometimes take a toll. Since your tank is a micro-ecosystem where water, fish and aquarium plants coexist, serving their needs specifically becomes necessary. Therefore, proper and detailed knowledge on each is essential. This article will delve into the conditions when aquarium plants turn transparent and how to prevent it.

Aquarium Plants Turning Transparent- Reasons Explained

It is indeed a disheartening condition to see your aquarium plants turning transparent. However, knowing the exact reasons behind it and taking steps to prevent it helps greatly. Below are some of the reasons why aquarium plants turn translucent and how to fix it.

NUTRIENT DEFICIENCY

Nutrients are essential for aquatic life whether it is for the fish or the aquarium plants. A well-fed plant will never show the signs of wilting or turning transparent. Therefore, the first step is to understand the nutrient requirements of the aquarium plants so that they can prepare their food and get nourished.

Aquatic plants require certain nutrients such as nitrogen, potassium and iron predominantly to perform photosynthesis, along with light and carbon dioxide. When the water lack these nutrients, there are high chances that they will lack nourishment and begin to die.

In such cases, the leaves start turning yellow, and the plants start wilting. In extreme cases, the leaves start getting mushy and transparent. Below is the table explaining visible signs and symptoms that you may experience when there is are nutrients deficiency-

Nutrient Deficiency	Symptom
Nitrogen	Old leaves start turning yellow, especially from the starting of the tips
Iron	New leaves look pale and dull and start turning yellow while the veins stay green. Old leaves will remain green.
Potassium	Leaves will develop tiny holes that are often rimmed with brown or yellow color
Phosphate	Older leaves start turning yellow and develop brown patches.
Magnesium	Similar symptoms as iron deficiency; however, it effects the older leaves.
Calcium	New leaves growing twisted

 

Once you start observing the leaves of your plant and understand which nutrients’ deficiency is causing the problem, you can make efforts to fix. In the lack of all these nutrients, the leaves turn yellow, develop brown spots, get soggy and translucent, and ultimately wilt and die.

Beside these, transparent leaves also indicate lack of chlorophyll which is one of the factors that determine the green of the leaf. When the water lacks iron, there are high chances that plant will not able to carry out photosynthesis and as a result will turn yellow and show stunted growth.

Prevention

A combination of regular monitoring and good practices will help to prevent iron deficiency and maintain healthy and vibrant plants. Get high quality fertilizers, especially that contain chelated iron as they are more likely to be absorbed by the plants. Investing on comprehensive liquid fertilizer solution is also a great choice as it contains iron.

In addition to liquid fertilizers, using nutrient-rich substrate that can deliver every essential nutrient to the substrate plants is also a good option. You can also use root tabs to help the substrate plants absorb essential minerals and nutrients through roots.

If there is high deficiency of iron, pairing iron-specific treatment with normal nutrient solutions will curb the problem fast. It will take at least 2 weeks for the plants to show the changes and determine how much your actions have helped. In the meantime, you can work on other factors that accelerates nutrients uptake by the aquarium plants such as balanced lighting, imbalance in pH and carbon dioxide.

INSUFFICIENT LIGHT  

Lack of light is another reason why aquarium plants turn transparent and die. As we know, for a plant to stay healthy, photosynthesis is crucial and light is an important requisite for it. Beside hampering the process of photosynthesis, insufficient light also disturbs adequate uptake of nutrients.

Light’s type, brightness and duration equally play role in ensuring that the plant is functioning properly. In the lack of it, the leaves start discoloring, lose their vigour and health.

Prevention

Before you introduce any new aquarium plant, it is essential to understand its light requirement and whether it meets the light requirements of other plants you already have. Since the lighting needs of each plant differ, make sure you have aquarium plants with almost the same requirements.

If you were supplementing less light than what is required, maybe it’s time to change the bulbs and timers to match the needs. You can use different options, such as fluorescent bulbs, metal halide, LED, halogen, etc., to fulfill the requirement.

Below is the table giving a brief idea about the light requirements of different types of aquarium plants-

Types of plants	Light requirement
Carpet plants	They cover the base of the aquarium and usually require more light than usual to spread profusely, forming a carpet.
Mid ground plants	Usually, these plants are neither too long nor too short and often require medium lighting for growth and development.
Background plants	Such plants are grown at the back as they are more heighted than the others. Often, such plants require more light for adequate growth.

 

While this is a superficial idea about the basic light requirement of different types of aquarium plants, exceptions are always there. For instance, there are many carpet plants that grow well under low light conditions too and many background plants that require low light.

Therefore, a deep insight into each aquatic plant’s light requirement is essential to ensure it grows with no hassle.

IMBALANCE IN CARBON DIOXIDE

Carbon dioxide is one of the essential requisites for the plants to stay healthy and grow as it needed to perform photosynthesis. When there is an imbalance in the level of carbon dioxide, there are high chances that the plant will start getting transparent in the aquarium.

Due to low CO2, plants struggle to produce energy. As a result, the amount of chlorophyll in the leaves reduce and they start appearing translucent. Likewise, an imbalance of carbon dioxide can also hinder the uptake of nutrients which again leads to stunted growth and cause leaves to fade their color and get transparent.

An imbalance of carbon dioxide can also weaken the cellular structure of the plants, that results in weak, fragile, thinner and transparent leaves.

Prevention

One way to ensure that the carbon dioxide level is optimum in the tank is to have a well-functioning air pump and filter. Carbon dioxide levels may rise abruptly or get too low. To monitor this, you need to keep track of the levels. Usually, for planted tanks, this range lies between 20 to 30 mg/L.

Below are some of the preventive steps that you can take-

• Change water regularly to dilute excess carbon dioxide
• Increase aeration either with air stones or water movement
• Maintain aquarium plants regularly
• Use carbon dioxide injection and carbon dioxide reactor
• Keep an eye on the tank’s pH
• Do not overcrowd the tank either with fish or aquarium plants
• Maintain proper lighting

IMBALANCE IN pH

pH determines if the water is acidic, alkaline, or neutral. The ideal range of a freshwater-planted aquarium is between 6.5 to 7.5. While a slight fluctuation in pH can be tolerated by the fish and aquarium plants, too high or low pH affects them significantly.

With an imbalance in pH, aquarium plants struggle to take up nutrients and grow properly. For instance, when the pH is too high, plants fail to take and absorb iron, which is crucial for their growth.

Beside hindering the absorption of essential nutrients, imbalance in pH also contribute to weakening the cell structure. All this may lead to fragile growth with leaves turning yellow or transparent.

Prevention

To prevent the outcomes of pH imbalance in a planted tank, it is essential to maintain, monitor, and adjust certain factors. For instance, you would require a pH testing kit and run it now and then to ensure that the pH in the planted tank is within the range.

In addition, you would require to perform regular water changes, which is around 10 to 20% every week. It will remove most of the waste and other chemicals that usually accumulate and change water’s pH.  You can also use nature buffering agents like crushed charcoal or peat moss to ensure that pH is maintained in the tank.

It is essential to maintain stable environment in a planted aquarium as it ensures proper growth and development of aquarium plants and well-being of fish.

Words of caution: When it comes to carbon dioxide and pH levels, each tank has its own preferences. It depends upon the fish and aquarium plants you have. Therefore, understanding the individual requirement of each is the first step towards maintaining a properly functioning aquarium.

Conclusion

Adding plants to the tank improve the tank’s beauty, making it more pleasing to the eyes. At the same time, aquarium plants offer innumerable benefits to the fish and tank’s environment. However, under certain situations, the aquarium plants start to suffer which is visible with their leaves. They either start turning yellow, brown and transparent. It is the sign that the plant is not healthy and may eventually die.

It is when working on the requirements of the plants and correcting the irregularities will help. It is essential to maintain the essential parameters of the aquarium, such as light, carbon dioxide, and pH, which will, in turn, ensure that plants absorb nutrients adequately, won’t show signs of distress, and stay healthy.