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Re: Aquatic Plants Digest V1 #261
I have a beautiful specimen of the "red mellon sword" echonidorus
osiris red (I think) and it had been growing beautifully until I moved
it to the other side of the tank. Since then, the new leaves still
look great, but the old leaves have become riddled with hundreds of
1mm holes--I'm not sure if its snail damage (I have almost exclusively
the malaysian snails but a few of the pond snails that hang out on the
floating leaves of the valeseneria) or if it's excess nitrate, old
water, or some other nutritional disturbance.
I've just realized how difficult it is to fairly describe any plant
ailments--pictures do a much better job, but oh well. Will a poor
substrate have this sort of effect? The pH and hardness of the tank
have remained constant, only the light level has been increased and
the location in the tank (possibly less laterite in this location). I
have increased the iron dosage and (Kent fertilizer) removed a whole
lot of excess duckweed from the tank (although this ailment happened
prior to that removal).
The rest of the "black amazon" echonidorus parviflorus are also
suffering from this "hole" problem. Their small green leaves are
riddled with 1mm holes and turning slightly brown around the edges of
these holes. It looks more or less like someone's been sticking pins
through the leaves.
By the way, no problem with the cryptocoryne wendtii, c. affinis, c.
wilissi, valeseneria asatica, rotala rotundafolia, hygrophila
polysperma or nymphaea (dwarf lillies). Only the echonidorus seem to
have been effected.
A friend suggested I add epsom salt once every few weeks because
swords are heavy magnesium feeders. I haven't done this for a few
weeks, but the last time I did it was right before I did the big
transplant when all the problems started. I have a feeling much of
these problems relate to the increased light level in the tank....must
have accelerated a dormant problem.
Is this a common ailment with sword plants that is indicative of a
particular nutritional disturbance?
What other details do you need to help solve this mystery?
Thanks in advance.
Dave.