Holes In Leaves

Hello all,

I have a new aquarium set up, now a month old, and seem to be encountering some plant health problems.

The plants seem to be growing new leaves well but soon the slightly older leaves look a bit dull then develop holes in them.

The tank base is ca 2 inches of plant soil with a layer of black sand over it. Plants are in the soil. Tank fully cycled with 0 ammonia, 0 nitrites and pH7.
For the first 2 weeks I was a bit patchy with adding the fertiliser and liquid CO2 (NT Labs plant boost and liquid CO2 boost) but after that it was the daily recommended dose.

The alternanthera rosaefolia is most badly affected then the lysimachia nummularia aurea and cryptocoryne petchii also have some older leaves with holes. They all looked great in the first couple of weeks 

So two topics to ask about really:
What is causing this and how do I stop it happening?
What do I do with the affected plants? Harsh prune? Remove affected leaves off the stem? I am a newbie to aquatic plants (and fish!) so I don’t really know much about their style of regrowth.

Any advice much appreciated!

Hi Matt,

Thanks for responding! That sounds reassuring. And good to know the kit is one to carry on with!

So should I snip the stems right back so hopefully all the new growth comes back nice and clean? Or simply snip off the bad leaves?
Hopefully these pictures have uploaded 🤞still getting used to this 😁

Is the emersed vs submersed leaf loss what I’ve seen referred to as “melt”?

Hi Joanna,

Welcome to the world of aquarium plants! Not always easy to keep but worth persisting. I have homed in on the following:

[1] What lighting are you using? And how long do you have the lighting on/off?

[2] Which aquarium soil do you have?

[3] The information on NT Labs' web site about Plant Boost is scant to say the least. It appears to only provide trace elements. No mention of the macro elements - nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium. So I have to assume that Plant Boost does indeed supply trace elements only - including iron. Returning to the macro elements, nitrogen is normally in adequate supply from the nitrate in your water. Phosphate is present in fish waste (from the food they eat) and does not need supplementing. Doing so can promote algae growth. Potassium is very important for plant growth. I find the following to be a very useful resource:

http://www.aqua-rebell.com/aquatic-plants.html

You will see that it includes a section on nutrient deficiency symptoms.

JPC

NT Labs Plant Boost contains potassium FYI 

Amano shrimp do apparently like to snack on this species... I think this might be a losing battle you are entering into unfortunately. You can of course try to keep the shrimp full up on algae wafers but as they are grazers you might not win the war on this one I'm afraid!

I've personally had most success with Ludwigia palustris