New to plants, need help!

[frazzlerock5]

Hey everyone... I'm new to live plants and am afraid that I maybe killing my XL Amazon Sword that I bought several weeks ago. It's currently in a 125 gal with 1 7" Jack Dempsey, 1 6" Jaguar Cichlid, 1 5" Tiger Oscar, 1 5" Red Terror, 1 6" Sailfin Pleco, 1 3" Clown Pleco, and 2 4" Clown Loaches.

The tops of the leaves are forming brown spots and some of the leaves appear to be dying (Turning brown and withering away). I have a fertilizer in tablet form that I put near the roots once a week. My pH is 6.8 and other water parameters (nitrite, ammonia, nitrate) are all fine. Is this plant dying? Am I killing it? Are any of my fish killing it?

I love the look of real plants so much better than fake plants and want to add more to my tank, but don't want to just throw money away if they are just going to die. I don't know hardly anything about live plants and the more I try to research the more lost I feel. Any help whatsoever would be greatly appreciated.

 

[fishorama]

Well, you've got some fish that may bother the plants. But I think the older leaves were probably grown emersed, out of the water. These older leaves will die & be replaced with submersed growth, usually a slightly different shape & size. Just remove the old leaves as they turn brown.

 

[frazzlerock5]

ok thanks Fishorama. I was worried with my fish selection before I bought the plant, as I've heard the cichlids I have aren't the best to keep with live plants. But so far they haven't done anything to it. The oscar and jaguar will occasionally nap in the leaves of the plant but that's about it.

I figured the very large size of the plant would work in not letting them destroy it and so far it has worked... I just hope that continues. Should I be concerned about my plecos? Do they actually eat plants, or just the algae that grow on them?

 

[fishorama]

My clown plec & many others enjoy veggies. Try feeding some romaine or zucchini for the omnivores. My loaches like them too. (more than 2 loaches would be better) Some big fish plow over plants by their size more than anything.