Plant Question / Pinholes

This should go into the Planted forum, just for your future reference. That's up in the Freshwater section.

arjosh said:

Guys, I need a little help here....in my tank all plants are doing Great but I see a tiny holes in all sunset hygro leafs in all the plants....what am I lacking? I might have some Ramshorns very tiny ones...I don't know what exactly you call them.
MOD plz move this to appropriate Forum.

Thanks

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Lack of Fe results in pinholes.

Hey arjosh.. I'll move the thread for you since this is a general plant question (the pinholes).

You may not be aware, though, that the plant you mentioned here (sunset hygro / hygro polysperma) is banned in the United States. You'll find it's listed on the Fed ban list as a noxious weed.

it's banned from sale and shipping, letting it out in the wild, if I'm not mistaken, not from having it in a tank... no?

regardless, the pinholes are most likely from the snails. sunset hygro is a very tender soft plant, and my snails go nuts on it, on all my hygros actually except the bold... but they leave the rest of my plants alone for the most part.

No... Anything on the Fed list is totally illegal for us to have at all.. even in fish tanks. That applies to possession, use, growing it.. aquatic or non... doesn't just prohibit selling or transport and doesn't matter whether it's only within a particular state.

Here's a link that talks more about this.
http://www.aquariacentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=189292

The more common aquatic plants we still come across most often that fall under this Federal ban are sunset hygro/miramar weed (Hygrophila polysperma), asian ambulia (Limnophila sessiliflora), mosquito fern/fairy fern (Azolla pinnata), and sessile joyweed (Alternanthera sessilis).

Here's a link to the USDA site for the Fed ban list.
http://plants.usda.gov/java/noxious?rptType=Federal

The USDA site lists the banned plants and such other related info. But they don't get into the legal status. For that, you have to go into the US CFRs.

FEDERAL NOXIOUS WEED LIST (FN)
Federal noxious weeds are listed in the Code of Federal Regulations, title 7, section 360.200. According to the Federal Noxious Weed Act, Title 7, Chapter 61, section 2803, federal noxious weeds may not be imported into or through the United States, unless in accordance with conditions allowed by the USDAAPHIS. The sale, purchase, exchange, or receipt of federal noxious weeds is illegal.

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It's the wording of that last line that applies to more than just sales and shipping. The words "exchange or receipt" means we can't trade it, give it away, or receive it from anyone either. That makes it hard to get around this... how can you have it if you didn't buy it, trade for it, get it for free, or receive it at any given point in time?

The ban went into effect back in 2000 but for several years, the USDA continued to issue permits for it to be sold under more controlled conditions. Certain growers/sellers/distributors could still sell it legally for a while. But that isn't the case anymore since the USDA stopped issuing and renewing permits years ago. And there's no provision as a "grandfather clause" that applies. So even if you had it legally before the ban.. etc.. that doesn't mean you can keep it or still have it now.

if it sprouted up out of some wild collected plants that someone threw in their tank, the provision above doesn't specifically rule out allowing it to live.

still, this thread is about snails. I don't get all the recent paranoia about the list. letting people know is one thing, but the question was about holes in plants. no need to hijack every thread that mentions it, to site a federal restriction.

mellowvision said:

still, this thread is about snails. I don't get all the recent paranoia about the list. letting people know is one thing, but the question was about holes in plants. no need to hijack every thread that mentions it, to site a federal restriction.

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You didn't see the orginal version of arjosh's post, Mellow. Nothing got hijacked and the ban isn't off topic.

The original post started out as a sales thread in the classifieds section with these plants listed as it's original title. Then the OP changed his mind and edited the content to focus on snails instead and asked it be moved... there's no harm in letting the guy know he won't be able to sell these plants here. That seems to have been his original intent.. so it's still relates to this thread.

I moved the thread for him, took off the for-sale prefix, and changed the title so it matches his revised version now. That's when I also added my post to let him know these plants are banned in case he wasn't aware of this.

You're the one who asked what the ban means after that so I pasted in links with more info. None of this is off topic and there's no reason people can't discuss this.

pinholes in plants are generally potassium deficiency.
here's a site that might help you out
http://www.csd.net/~cgadd/aqua/art_plant_nutrient.htm

every once in a while i start slacking with my dosing and get some pinholes in my plants. and it's always my hygros that are affected first

opcorn: