plant deficiency

**kurty** · 7th Jan 2015, 10:43

hello folks,

i'm back, how's everything ?
new year new start

after my away, i notice that some of plants actually melt or having holes in them.

wanna ask what is wrong.

Attachment 46279 Attachment 46280

pictures taken from my 2ft tank.
weekly Regime is:
Fert, trace, 6ml of Potassium and 3ml of Phosphorus.

am i dosing too little for the 'mini red'?
so far, the rest are doing well except the downoi .. i actually bought a number and none survive...

**kurty** · 7th Jan 2015, 10:46

while on my other tank 1.5ft

Attachment 46281

same problem but notice alot of green stuff on the leaves.
i suppose they are algae?
also manual remove a handful on hair like algae recently.
thinking of getting a bottle of algexit.

Regime is
5ml of potassium and 3ml of Phosphorus.

am i doing it right?

**kurty** · 7th Jan 2015, 13:38

anyone???????

**aquariumdude** · 7th Jan 2015, 16:23

It's hard to tell from the pics. Take a look at this and try to figure...

Freshwater-Plant-Nutrient-Deficiency.jpg

**kurty** · 7th Jan 2015, 16:34

Originally Posted by aquariumdude

It's hard to tell from the pics. Take a look at this and try to figure...

Freshwater-Plant-Nutrient-Deficiency.jpg

but for my case, it don't seem to fit in any description.

melting and holes in leaves.

**Urban Aquaria** · 7th Jan 2015, 17:05

Those plants look like they were just recently planted... maybe its just going through a transition period and as such the older leaves naturally melt? Perhaps the newer leaves will show healthier growth.

I'm just guessing since you mentioned that the other plants in the tank are okay, so the nutrient content in your tank may not be the issue.

**kurty** · 7th Jan 2015, 17:17

Originally Posted by Urban Aquaria

Those plants look like they were just recently planted... maybe its just going through a transition period and as such the older leaves naturally melt? Perhaps the newer leaves will show healthier growth.

I'm just guessing since you mentioned that the other plants in the tank are okay, so the nutrient content in your tank may not be the issue.

well, thank you plant fairy.

was waiting for your reply, the red plants were planted like a month ago.
transition period is usually that long?

i only dose 5ml weekly, so far the rest of the plants like mc etc, are doing fine.
i actually did some reading and EI dosing, and obtain the following reading:

2ft tank,
i would require 10ml of potassium
20ml of phosphorus

1.5ft tank,
8ml of potassium
17ml of phosphorus.

But i also read that phosphorus is a double edged sword, may trigger algae which i facing now.

for such red color plants, is it recommended to use Iron?

**aquariumdude** · 7th Jan 2015, 17:47

Originally Posted by kurty

well, thank you plant fairy.

was waiting for your reply, the red plants were planted like a month ago.
transition period is usually that long?

i only dose 5ml weekly, so far the rest of the plants like mc etc, are doing fine.
i actually did some reading and EI dosing, and obtain the following reading:

2ft tank,
i would require 10ml of potassium
20ml of phosphorus

1.5ft tank,
8ml of potassium
17ml of phosphorus.

But i also read that phosphorus is a double edged sword, may trigger algae which i facing now.

for such red color plants, is it recommended to use Iron?

Iron does bring out the red in plants. But I think in your case it looks like nitrogen deficiency. In one pic, the anubius nana has one yellow leaf sticking out...

Try cutting off the obviously dead leafs and see if new growths look healthy.

**kurty** · 7th Jan 2015, 18:05

Originally Posted by aquariumdude

Iron does bring out the red in plants. But I think in your case it looks like nitrogen deficiency. In one pic, the anubius nana has one yellow leaf sticking out...

Try cutting off the obviously dead leafs and see if new growths look healthy.

i thought anubius nana is golden for new leaf??

nitrogen deficiency, interesting.
Don't it come from the waste of fauna? my tanks are having lots of fishes in them..
or i am wrong??

pardon me, i'm still a rookie

**Shadow** · 7th Jan 2015, 18:37

Which soil brand are you using? if ADA Amazonia, it could not be nitrogen deficiency.

**kurty** · 7th Jan 2015, 18:45

Originally Posted by Shadow

Which soil brand are you using? if ADA Amazonia, it could not be nitrogen deficiency.

Yeah, ada..

While my other 1.5ft is using only ans yet slightly better off..

**Urban Aquaria** · 8th Jan 2015, 08:30

Originally Posted by kurty

well, thank you plant fairy.

was waiting for your reply, the red plants were planted like a month ago.
transition period is usually that long?

Yeah, one month is more than sufficient time for most plants to transition (especially for stem plants), so thats probably not the issue there.

Though abit puzzled that after a month the stems still look so short with few leaves? I'd assume they would have grown taller by now.

Anyways, if you've done the tests and confirmed that its not nitrogen shortage (and there is sufficient light and Co2 supply), then you'll have to increase the dosage of the other ferts to see which have a positive effect on that particular plant, it could be one or more nutrients that the plant might need more of. For such cases, you'll just have to test and see.

**kurty** · 8th Jan 2015, 09:06

Originally Posted by Urban Aquaria

Yeah, one month is more than sufficient time for most plants to transition (especially for stem plants), so thats probably not the issue there.

Though abit puzzled that after a month the stems still look so short with few leaves? I'd assume they would have grown taller by now.

Anyways, if you've done the tests and confirmed that its not nitrogen shortage (and there is sufficient light and Co2 supply), then you'll have to increase the dosage of the other ferts to see which have a positive effect on that particular plant, it could be one or more nutrients that the plant might need more of. For such cases, you'll just have to test and see.

the red plants, are under the mini type hence growth is relatively slow.

i started them on my 1.5ft, 2 months or so, growth is still minimum.

Attachment 46308

2ft:

i did a search, hopefully its only potassium. let me try dosing more during WC this week.

Thank you, plant fairy

**5stars** · 8th Jan 2015, 20:02

I noticed that you keep many horned nerite snails in both of your tanks, and the holes look alot like something has been eating the leaves.

I know that nerites are supposed to only eat dead plants, but you never know, right? Even rummy nose tetras and green neons have been caught snacking on plants before. And I have ever kept nerite snails (zebra nerites) that did eat a little of my plants. So if fertilization deficiency proves to not be the problem, you might want to try removing the 🐌 from one of the tanks and comparing.