Hello everyone,

I'm in the process of changing my aquarium. I'm going from a 40g to a 72g
one (about 48"x18"x20"). I don't have the new aquarium yet, nor the stand I
intend to use, but I've started preparing the old one for the transition. I
removed all the rocks I used to form a rocky backgroud (didn't realize I had
used so many) and rearranged the plants so that they can soak up as much
light as possible until the big day. Indeed, one of the problems with my old
setup was a severe lack of light (about 0.6 wpg), something that I will do
my best to improve with a much more powerful a DIY canopy.

Since I've already totally disturbed the landscape, the 40g now reduced to a
place to keep my fish and my plants without any aesthetics, I figured I
could use this opportunity to get rid of some of the algae that grow on some
of my plants. I used the diluted bleach method. I know some people feel it's
too radical, but according to others it's relatively safe as long as the
bleach is diluted enough and the exposure isn't too long. I've personally
tried it in the past, with very little damage. I use bleach at about 10%,
dip the leaves and stems (not the roots) for 2 to 3 minutes, depending on
the species, rince them and then place them in a full lukewarm bathtub for a
while before putting them back in the tank.

It worked pretty well, most plants recovering nicely. However, it appears my
Echinodorus (not sure what the exact species is) didn't like the treatment
at all. In fact, it looks like it almost killed them. This surprised me, as
I kind of assumed Echinodorus were fairly tough plants. Of course, bleach is
a special case of mistreatment, so maybe they really are tough plants but
just can't stand the bleach. Or maybe I exposed them too long by accident.

In any case, what happened is that the leaves lost almost all color. I can't
exactly see through them, but they're lost their pigmentation and seem
thinner and more delicate than before. However, the stems look as healthy as
ever, and the roots are just fine. Also, for a couple of weeks the leaves
didn't seem to be rotting. They were discolored and thinner than usual, but
otherwise basically alive.

At first I thought maybe the leaves would get over it and recover. But after
2-3 weeks they still haven't improved. Some leaves are finally showing signs
of dying away, though much more slowly than if they were really dead.

It occurs to me that, if they really lost most of their pigments, namely
chlorophyll, they might not be able to use light efficiently enough to
recover. And for all I know, even if they were able to use light as usual,
the damaged leaves might still not be able to regenerate.

So, I've finally decided that the current leaves are lost. But I don't want
to give up on the plants. I'd like to salvage them. After all, the leaves
don't seem to be dead per se, and the roots and stems are healthy. At first
I thought I'd simply cut off the leaves, leaving about 1" of stem, hoping
new leaves would grow from them, plus new ones of course. But then I started
wondering if stem stumps alone are indeed capable of using light well enough
to allow for new growth. It doesn't seem like much photosynthetic surface to
me. So I'd like to know if I should cut of the leaves or if I should keep
them. I don't expect them to ever recover, but since they're not really
rotting maybe they can help the plant grow back new leaves. Then, when a few
new leaves have appeared, I can cut the old ones and let the plants grow
back healthy again. On the other hand, it's entirely possible that the old
leaves are actually a nuisance, not being able to do much photosynthesis
(assuming the chlorophyll has indeed been destroyed) and using up the
plants' resources for no good reason.

So, can I save my Echinodorus? I know it would take a long time, since
they're almost reduced to their bases, and I think that Echninodorus aren't
especially fast growers. But with my new aquarium and better lighting, plus
CO2 injection and iron fertilizer, they might become beautiful again. So, if
it's possible, what is the best strategy: leaving the weakened leaves until
new ones grow, or cutting them off so the plants can start fresh from stem
stumps?

Any advice would be much appreciated. I feel really stupid for damaging my
plants like that (even though the others tolerated the bleach treatment just
fine), and I'd really like to nurse them back to full health. Thank you.

Francois