Anubias Damage or Defficiency

[jameson_uk]

Just wondering whether this looks to be a deficiency or damage on my Anubias.
The hole appeared in what looked to me as a relatively healthy leaf and the plant itself seems happy enough (it has grown massive and flowered a few times now). There is obviously some algae on the leaf but nothing that looked too bad.

The tank does have
Otos
Nerite Snails
SAE
Amanos

I didn't particularly think any of these would either be capable or want to munch through Anubias which makes me think it is a deficiency but the hole looks more mechanical...

 

[mantozhke]

Someone took a bite on an unhealthy leaf 🙂 could have been any of the above mentioned. Tank citizens mostly do not attack healthy plans. My best guess was the shrimps 😉 but could have been SAE as well.


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[rebel]

Strange one. The only contenders could be oto or nerite. I am not sure how the mouth of the others will be able to make hold in the middle of the leaf; unless there was a small hole already there?

 

[roadmaster]

Would remove the damaged leaf for it will not get better.
Cut it from rhizome with sharp razor blade taking care not to cut ones finger in the process.
Could be nerite damage or small pinhole that the nerites discovered and made larger along with possibly amanos..
Would not want fertilizer wasted on this leaf that is not likely to recover.

 

[zozo]

I'm growing several Anubias for several years now.. And i also sometimes see necrotic spots aand holes appear mean while the plant is making healthy new leaves at the other end. And i know i have absolutely nothing of Anubias eating critters. At least not eating living plant tissue..

Now i have to guess and throw you a theory..

I think even tho they can get pretty old even an Anubias leaf has it's lifespan, maybe one shorter than the other. Also see leaves on the same anubias staying clean while others on the same plant get attacked by algae. So the plant obviously has leaves in different conditions. I've also experienced with other plants aquatic and non aquatic that the root structure and it's entire vascular or circulatory system is also devided into sections. That if you severely damage a part of the rootsystem the corresponding section of its stems and leaf structure can die. As leaves can have a certain lifespan, it might be same story for roots.. If part of the root structure damages or dies and results in the leaf or leaves fed by it get unhealthy and also just die. And this obviously could also easily be interpreted as a defficiency symptom but it isn't. It's part of the plants life cycle.. 🙂

 

[rebel]

@zozo you have a great point.

 

[zozo]

@zozo you have a great point.

That just my take on plant mystery i ponder about for as long is i'm growing plants.. 🙂 Also have houseplants and i see leaves on it which are actualy several years old and still very healthy and i see it also shed leaves which are actualy much younger. Why would it do that? A plant is a living thing, it has a vascular system as we have. If for us a certain vain cloges a leg might fall off while the rest doesn't have a problem.. It just might be a cloged vain for whatever reason, maybe the root section feeding this leave is touching and sucking up something unhealty and clogging a vain somewhere along the way or the root just dies because it's life span is over or damaged by bugs. Making the corresponding leaf die..

I don't realy know, but that's what i imagine what goes on in a plant. What goes on in the substrate is not always obvious for us als not for an epiphyte, can't always see it's etire rootsystem..

 

[jameson_uk]

Would remove the damaged leaf for it will not get better.

I have already removed quite a large chunk of the plant (I cut the rhizome and discarded the older half). The odd thing was that this leaf was looking pretty healthy other than the hole. There were other leaves in much worse condition that I might have expected someone to have a nibble on if they were going to pick one.

I did wonder whether the Amanos, Nerites, Otos or SAE had gone hungry after I have tidied up several plants recently (but then I thought they would have chosen something other than the anubias to munch on).

Just didn't quite add up.....

 

[roadmaster]

I have already removed quite a large chunk of the plant (I cut the rhizome and discarded the older half). The odd thing was that this leaf was looking pretty healthy other than the hole. There were other leaves in much worse condition that I might have expected someone to have a nibble on if they were going to pick one.

I did wonder whether the Amanos, Nerites, Otos or SAE had gone hungry after I have tidied up several plants recently (but then I thought they would have chosen something other than the anubias to munch on).

Just didn't quite add up.....

Well,if lot's of other leaves were in bad shape, then perhaps the Anubia leaf was / is, last to receive a visit from afore mentioned critter (s)
Something fundamentally wrong for many, many leaves to be performing poorly me thinks whether it be one plant or many plant's.??
If rhizome of only this anubia plant only is deteriorating along with many leaves being affected,I might remove the whole plant for a healthier specimen.
If all plants are doing poorly, then...

 

[jameson_uk]

Well,if lot's of other leaves were in bad shape, then perhaps the Anubia leaf was / is, last to receive a visit from afore mentioned critter (s)
Something fundamentally wrong for many, many leaves to be performing poorly me thinks whether it be one plant or many plant's.??
If rhizome of only this anubia plant only is deteriorating along with many leaves being affected,I might remove the whole plant for a healthier specimen.
If all plants are doing poorly, then...

It was the original leaves that were under far too high light and got really bad GSA and started to curl up (I was also finding my feet as to when to add ferts and how much).

Now the plant is under a layer of Frogbit and all the new leaves are looking good.

 

[roadmaster]

It was the original leaves that were under far too high light and got really bad GSA and started to curl up (I was also finding my feet as to when to add ferts and how much).

Now the plant is under a layer of Frogbit and all the new leaves are looking good.

Well new leaves are good news indeed.
All the more reason for me to remove damaged leafs for younger growth.