---
title: "What would make a thriving plant in pon all of a sudden get root rot?…"
description: "What would make a thriving plant in pon all of a sudden get root rot? My Dragon Scale Albo has been in pon since I've had it then one by one leaves started to…"
url: "https://getplanta.com/community/Bj97ko_SSEaaIq6YAweltQ/cZLeEbIgY9HI5TyTFSRUvD"
community: "Hydroponics & Semi-hydroponics"
author: "Plant Dad"
published: "2025-09-20T15:35:29.270559Z"
language: "en"
image: "https://images.getplanta.com/v2/cloudinary/global_data/communities/lgmqkipx5b7o9dzx6wzd.jpg"
---

[Community](https://getplanta.com/community.md) / [Hydroponics \& Semi-hydroponics](https://getplanta.com/community/Bj97ko_SSEaaIq6YAweltQ.md)

# What would make a thriving plant in pon all of a sudden get root rot?…

_Posted by Plant Dad on 2025-09-20_

What would make a thriving plant in pon all of a sudden get root rot? My Dragon Scale Albo has been in pon since I've had it then one by one leaves started to die. When I went to go lift it up to check roots, it was just mush.

## 5 comments

### Slytherin Around commented on 2025-09-20

Watch the leca queen’s videos on YouTube! You gotta transition them slowly and make sure the roots aren’t completed submerged.

#### Plant Dad replied on 2025-09-20

I've had this happened with a couple of other plants as well. It is happening to well established plants that have been in semi hydro (pon) for a while went from thriving to dead in a week

### Slytherin Around commented on 2025-09-20

Hmm did your water change? Or your nutrient solution?? I try to change out my leca every 6 months with fresh sterile stuff

### Mateja commented on 2025-10-02

Root rot bacteria thrives in an anaerobic environment. The main reason I see semi-hydro growers lose their plants to root rot is they are not oxygenating the water enough. You can have water cycling with a pump, you can have air stones running into your pot, or you can change over your water every 24-48 hrs, all ways to keep the water oxygenated and make it a less ideal environment for root rot. Because of the porous nature of leca or pon, I wouldn't reuse any substrate that has had a root rot infection.

#### Mateja replied on 2025-10-02

And to add to my own thought, the chlorine in tap water evaporates within 24 hours. Another reason hydroponic systems can get funky.

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