[Error]

The plant is Hygrophila sp. 'Amazon'.

It was growing well for a few weeks and then this happened. I did curtail my ferts a little, and the CO2 was off for a while since it takes the fire extinguisher place about three days to refill my tank. :groan:

 

[doug737]

are those holes in the leaves? do you have any snails? fish?
looks weird i dont know what it is... sorry

 

[Error]

Yeah, those are holes in the leaves. I have snails, but they're burrowing Malaysians and those tiny ramshorms. I can't imagine them doing that.

I have three L-numbers, some barbs, Montezumae swords, and siamensis, but they are all well-fed.

 

[Edward]

My guess is (K or Mg) too low in ratio to (Ca or Na).

 

[Roger Miller]

My guess is that it isn't a deficiency at all. It looks to me like mechanical damage. My guess is that the leaves were rasped by one of more of your L-numbers. If they are mostly shy and/or nocturnal then you may never see it happen.


Roger MIller

 

[Error]

My guess is that it isn't a deficiency at all. It looks to me like mechanical damage. My guess is that the leaves were rasped by one of more of your L-numbers. If they are mostly shy and/or nocturnal then you may never see it happen.

Roger MIller

I was thinking the same thing. Perhaps throwing a few algae discs in when the lights go out wasn't such a bad idea after all.

 

[HeyPK]

Just a hunch: Try growing it with fewer fish and much less N and P. I have some H. polysperma in a guppy tank that is jammed with guppies (my guppy slum), and the plants look similar. Older leaves get full of holes and fall off. I know there is plenty of potassium and magnesium---the two nutrients whose deficiency might cause holes or die-back in older leaves. I think the injury is somehow related to too many fish and too 'rich' an environment.

 

[Error]

I would agree with that except for this: the plant grew well before the holes developed, for several weeks in fact. I sat down and watched it yesterday for about an hour and the only fish that took even a remote interest in it was an oto that rested on it.

Since it is a newer plant (about a month) in my tank, I think it might be that the plecos just hadn't tried it yet, and when they did they found it to be delicious. We'll see...all of the growth that has developed since I noticed this looks undisturbed. I'll drop a few algae wafers in from time to time to see if I notice an improvement, but just in case I'm adding a negligible amount of Mg with my KNO3 and PO4.

 

[Roger Miller]

I've tried using algae wafers to keep plecos off plants and had only moderate success. I have much better success using blanched zucchini.


Roger Miller

 

[clay]

what type of plecos are we talking about? the fancy dwarfs or the large common variety? which brings about a good question, do you guys/gals keep plecos in your tanks? any benefit as opposed to saes, ottos, and amanos?

i had something similar, and it was a potassium deficiency, but it was on more plants than just one.

 

[Corigan]

I keep rubbernose pleco's in my tank. They do a number on green spot algae.

Matt

 

[anonapersona]

maybe Mg

I say that becuase I had a sword that looked like that, but the leaves twised first, then an occasional hole, then they looked like they had been rasped. New leaves had this as soon as they unfurled. I showed it to Gazinfar and Luis and some of the other guys that went to the Houston Plant fest and they suggested Mg or traces.

Adding Mg solved the problem.

I just got my water report and find that the water has about 5ppm Mg and 55ppm calcium.

 

[Error]

what type of plecos are we talking about? the fancy dwarfs or the large common variety? which brings about a good question, do you guys/gals keep plecos in your tanks? any benefit as opposed to saes, ottos, and amanos?

i had something similar, and it was a potassium deficiency, but it was on more plants than just one.

Panaque sp. L-02
Peckoltia sp. L-38
Glyptoperichthys joselimaianus

 

[clay]

is there a reason for the plecos? i mean to say, do they serve a purpose like the ottos, which are supposed to voracious with algae, or are they more like the tetras? i have heard that plecos are not good at eating all the algae like ottos or saes.

 

[Error]

is there a reason for the plecos? i mean to say, do they serve a purpose like the ottos, which are supposed to voracious with algae, or are they more like the tetras? i have heard that plecos are not good at eating all the algae like ottos or saes.

I guess I just like them. Loricariids are among my favorite fishes.

I could perhaps move them, but they have not been a problem until now if they are indeed the culprits. I have had all three for more than a year.