View Full Version : Holes in leaves
Alot of my new growth has holes in the leaves. At first I thought it was someone nibbling but now I am starting to thing it is a deficiancy. Can someone help me out?
Here's a site, actually another part of the site I referred you to previously, that lists some symptoms of certain nutrient deficiencies. I don't see anything that sounds like what you described:
http://www.csd.net/~cgadd/aqua/art_plant_nutrient.htm#fauna
What kind of plant is it that has the problem?
Len
Thanks for the link. That is exactly what I was looking for. I new I had seen it somewhere but I couldn't find it last night.
Could it be potassium? I know the link says the holes are in old leaves but maybe it could also occur in new? It is in all of my swords, four green and one red (three of the green it is in the old leaves so I am pretty sure that is potassium because I never added it until last week). It also looks like it might be starting in the wysteria which is what really brought it to my attention because I thought that stuff was supposed to be the aquatic plant equivlent of a tank.
Snails are unlikely as my loach would make short work of them. The only fish I thought it might be is a gourami? Some of the holes start in the middle of the leaves though and not around the edge.
djlen
07-27-2003, 10:35 AM
Good possibility. Now you are at the tinkering stage with your dosing. You just have to find the balance.
I'm assuming that all else is going well or you would have mentioned other problems, so if you believe the K is the problem you can up your dosage and see how they respond.
Luckily K is the most forgiving of all the ferts. And you have your water change to protect you. How much K have you been dosing and how often?
Len
Edit: can't find anything in the old thread regarding your GH and KH. Do you know them and if so what are they? Thinking you might need to dose a little MgSO4(magnesium sulfate/epsom salts) if your water is very soft.
If your loach is a clown (not much experience with others, so can't say there), are you aware that they can and do bite holes in leaves at times? Their holes are quite distinctive - triangular to V-shaped to Y-shaped, not to be confused with puffers (multiple species) which bite round to half-moon holes. ;)
It is a clown loach. I was completely unaware of that RTR, thanks! I have already turned the lights out but I will check the shape tommorrow.
I am dosing quarter teaspoon of NoSalt on Wednesday's after fifty percent water change, in addition to quarter teaspoon of stump remover and directed dosage of Flourish and Excell. KH is two don't know the GH I have a kit and can test tommorrow. PH 7.5. I added some aragonite to the filter last week and I need to test the KH again.
Everything else is great, there isn't a spot of algae on the ornaments and driftwood (knock on wood, no pun intended) and my little bristlenose muches what little is on the side and rear glass. New growth is outstanding on the wisteria and all of my plants that are about three weeks old look the same as they did the day I brought them home which is an accomplishment, usually they would be wilting and dying by now.
wetmanNY
07-28-2003, 3:09 AM
I suspect my Botia striata are nipping holes in a Swordplant. I was saying "Botia" as soon as I saw the topic header of scott's thread. I wonder if I'm jumping to conclusions...
Swords do seem the most often nipped for me as well - that nice tender new growth I suppose, plus it shows so well the tank-keeper can't miss it.
But there are deficiencies which can result in holes in the leaves, I'm just not up on them. Loach-containg tanks could have either situation.
Yes the holes in the new red sword have a very definative V shape so it must be the loach. The older plants are circular and in the center, in addition it is becoming opaque. I think the new leaves are loach and the older green swords are potassium. If I increase the veg matter in the diet will this help curb him?
I have never found a solution to that problem.