holey ulvaceous!

[mogurnda]

My Apon ulvaceous has been growing quite nicely, but has been developing holes all over the leaves for the past several months. Looks like lace. Has anybody seen anything like this? I fear it may be a snail issue.

http://www.aquaticphotos.com/data/media/2/holes_1497.jpg

The specs are listed below, but briefly:
CO2 injected
55W PC lights
NO3 ~ 15 (too many platies!)
PO4 ~ 1
Flourish 3X week.
Platies
2 clown loaches
2 clown pleco (added after problem first noticed)

[djlen]

Could be......could also be a K issue or a Ca issue. Are the leaves distorted as well?

Len

[Gomer]

I've never seen a nutrient deficiency give such "bite size" holes. look for the monster with a full belly ;)

[mogurnda]

Hmmm...

I am dosing KCl and K2SO4, but not measuring K. I am doing nothing about Ca, but can measure that. The water is very soft. I hope that's the problem. Otherwise, I figure I'll just live with it.

[Godslayer]

I agree. Looks like mouth induced trauma :)

The pleco would be my first guess.

[mogurnda]

The pleco would be my first guess. Not a bad guess, but they arrived after the holes started appearing.

[djlen]

I know Ulvaceous have rippled leaves, but that picture looks extreme. Do yours usually grow that rippled?
Lack of Ca can cause a distortion. Are they unusually distorted or is that their normal appearance in your tank?
On the other hand, some of the holes look like they could have been caused by snails. It'll be interesting to see how this turns out. Keep us informed as to your conclusions.

Len

[mogurnda]

Sorry, Len, I never answered the shape question. They look pretty normal, not too twisty. I think the leaf in the photo is not representative.

We'll see. If all else fails, try another species.