Re:snails and holes in leaves

To: Aquatic-Plants at actwin_com
Subject: Re:snails and holes in leaves
From: krombhol at felix_TECLink.Net (Paul Krombholz)
Date: Wed, 9 Aug 1995 13:42:14 -0500


>------------------------------
>
>From: Stephen.Pushak at hcsd_hac.com
>Date: Tue, 8 Aug 95 14:12:27 PDT
>Subject: Snails
>
>I notice that there are small holes in some leaves which I think are
>created by the snails. Mostly these leaves are the detached floaters
>from the H poly so I'm not panicing. Hard to tell if the holes got there
>after they floated or if that's why the leaves came off (snail attack)
---remainder deleted----

Those small holes in H. polysperma leaves sound like the classic signs of
potassium deficiency, especially if they appear in the older leaves and the
older leaves are falling off.  Don't blame the snails just yet.  In my
experience, pond snails never chew holes in plants, and ranshorns only
sometimes do so when they are crowded.  Usually the ramshorns chew the
newest growth, rather than old leaves.  You should seriously consider
adding some potassium.  While feeding the fish can add N, P, and S, very
little K gets into your tank from fish food.

Paul Krombholz