You bring home a beautiful bunch of cryptocorynes, plant them carefully, and a week later the leaves turn see-through and fall apart. Most beginners assume the plants are dying. In most cases they aren’t. They’re adjusting.
Many aquarium plants are grown emersed, with their leaves out of water, at farms. Once they go under water, they drop those air-grown leaves and grow new ones built for life underwater. That change is called melting, and it’s most common in crypts, Amazon swords and stem plants straight from the store.
What to do when it happens:
- Leave the roots and rhizome alone. As long as the base is firm and not mushy, new leaves will come.
- Trim melted leaves so they don’t rot and feed algae.
- Keep conditions steady. Moving the plant again or changing your lighting slows the recovery.
- Add root tabs for heavy root feeders like crypts and swords.
When it’s a real problem: if healthy, established plants suddenly melt, look at what changed. Common causes are a big jump in temperature, a new light that’s far stronger, a missing nutrient, or chemicals such as some algae treatments.
The good news is that a melted crypt often comes back thicker than before. A little patience saves a lot of money on replacement plants.
For the full troubleshooting guide, including which nutrient deficiencies cause which symptoms, read Aquarium Plants Melting: Causes and Fixes on Aqua Planet.