WTH is going on with my plant?

Something weird is going on with my crypt! It's repeatedly growing weird leaves! (See first picture)

Also, what type of Rotala do I have? (See second picture)

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Permalink Reply by Peter on May 7, 2012 at 1:14pm

How long have u had the crypt in the tank?

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Permalink Reply by Laura Cole on May 7, 2012 at 1:41pm

Well it went into my first tank six weeks ago and all was well and good until about two weeks ago when these weird-ass leaves started popping up. I pulled a few off, but then decided to see what would happen if I let it grow, which they did. They don't seem to be causing any problems to the normal leaves, they just look strange and unsightly.
I moved it to the new tank five days ago because it has higher light and I wanted to see if that would help the matter, but it just made the leaves (even the wonky ones) grow faster. Obviously they're very much alive despite their appearance and the plant does still have normal growth too. It's just odd.
Both the plants are strapped to that statue ornament because as you may be able to see, there's no substrate in the new tank yet. Doesn't seem to be bothering them. There's some liquid fertilizer in the water.

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Permalink Reply by Peter on May 7, 2012 at 3:19pm

Ok same thing happened to me but my crypts leaves arent as long but the they are the same color. Ok so what I found out is plants grow differently in different conditions. So let's say the LFS u got the plant from had like fluorite or w/e with high light this is jus an example but then u take it home put it in a tank with no fluorite and some low lights the new leaves the plant trows out are going to be different then then the leaves it had in the LFS tank. This is because plants adjust to their surroundings so u can have the same plant in 2 different tanks and they probably will look diff from each other once try start growing

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Permalink Reply by Laura Cole on May 7, 2012 at 5:32pm

That DEFINITELY could be the issue. My LFS uses flourite and medium light with cold water. I use fine glass gravel, low light and tropical water. The tank I moved it to now is barebottomed for the moment, but I'm going to dirt it with either a sand or glass gravel cap. It's cold water at the moment until I decide what I want to put in there. And it's medium light. I'm now thinking that that plant will probably only do well in the second tank (once it's all set up).

Thanks for making me see what was kind of obvious now :)

Any clue on the rotala species?

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Permalink Reply by Ronald Last on May 7, 2012 at 5:27pm

Nothing to add about the cryptocoryne... but are you sure that the plant in the 2'nd picture is a Rotala ?

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Permalink Reply by Laura Cole on May 7, 2012 at 5:49pm

They claimed that it was Rotala wallichii and from what I've seen online that's probable. They clearly weren't giving it enough iron seeing as the top half of the plant is supposed to be reddish-pink and when I got it the whole thing was pretty much green like any normal plant. If you look at the photo again, the short plants on the right were in my low light tank for two weeks and as you can see, there's no pink tips even though they get the same fertz and have the benefit of fish in the tank. The taller plants on the left however have been in the new tank for a week and a half with much higher lights and not only are they an inch taller, but the red has started coming out through the top of the stems. I think it probably is R. wallichi but it just hasn't had the specific care it needs to gain the red coloring.

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Permalink Reply by Ronald Last on May 7, 2012 at 6:21pm

A quick google... and what you say seems reasonable... I don't think I've seen them before (I'm a bit out of date)(in more ways than one...) I think I'll try and find some of those when I start my tank up...

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Permalink Reply by Laura Cole on May 7, 2012 at 6:32pm

It's doing surprisingly well without substrate IMO. Most sites say it's hard to grow and needs to root well. By the looks of it, mine were freshly cut when I got them so they didn't even really have any roots, but they do now and they have nothing to get established in. I hope you find some; I'd love to hear someone elses experience.