Holey Plants and Snails

[Christie_ZXR]

Couple of quick qs if you don't mind

I have a bit of a holey plant ;

Can anyone tell me what's likely to have caused that? I've got pest snails in the tank, which I wasn't worrying overly about since it would be useful for picking out and feeding to the puffers, but I wasn't sure if they could be causing this?
If not, is there any reason not to let the snails breed a bit in there? As long as I don't end up overrun! It would be handy, since I wouldn't then need a seperate tank for breeding snails for the puffers to eat.

Cheers

 

[Christie_ZXR]

anyone?

 

[ceg4048]

Hi,
Without more information about your tank, such as size, filtration, lighting, co2 and so forth, everyone has to guess. It appears that the holes and deterioration are due to poor CO2, but it could easily be predation. More information will yield a better analysis.

Cheers,

 

[dw1305]

Hi all,
The plants look a bit chlorotic (pale yellow/green), which doesn't appear to be confined to the inter-veinal areas (if it was inter-veinal chlorosis it could indicate potassium, iron or magnesium deficiency), so nitrogen would be the most likely limiting nutrient. I might trya a bit of KNO3 and see what happens.

The holes look very much like Bristle-nose "plec" (Ancistrus) damage? obviously only a possibility if you have a BN (or Chaetosoma?).

Red/Blue Ramshorns or Physa (Bladder Snails) should combine not eating plants with being fairly productive. Your more than welcome to some of my Red Ramshorns.

I couldn't find any Physa last time I looked (I think some varied juvenile Hypancistrus may have eaten them), but I'm sure they will re-appear.

cheers Darrel

 

[hinch]

The holes look very much like Bristle-nose "plec" (Ancistrus) damage? obviously only a possibility if you have a BN (or Chaetosoma?).

I was going to suggest plec as thats exactly how my munched on leafs look however after going through her introduction post she didn't mention any plecs in the tank so kinda kept my mouth shut

 

[Christie_ZXR]

Sorry, didn't realise! Here's the specs; The tank's 130L, I've got soil under the gravel. You'll have to excuse my ignorance on lighting, still new to all of this! They're normal flourescent tubes (not T5s) which said "for plants" on the pack! (I might still have the packet floating around, so if anyone can tell me what info I'm looking for, I can have a look) co2 is DIY yeast mixture and the only ferts I'm using are JBL ferropol 24. Filtration is a fluval 305, but I have a G6 coming soon to replace it

I have no plecs/bristlenoses in there, just a few cherry shrimp and amano shrimp, celestial pearl danios and guppies. The only other fish is one lonely cory, who's the last of his group and digs plants up all the time!! But I'm not sure he could be responisble.

The plant's getting holey seems to correlate with when the snails turned up, but it could just be a coincidence. I can scoop them all out and let the fig 8 have a field day though! Which would rule them out.

The co2, as far as I'm aware, is working as well as it always has. But I can ask my o/h to change the mix anyway just incase to rule that out. The other plants seem to be doing really well, it's just that one.

If it is nitrogen deficiency, my tapwater is very high in nitrate so I usually mix it with a bit of RO for my tanks to get it down a bit. Would doing a water change with straight tapwater be likely to help? Or would I be better of with a difference fertiliser from the one I've got?

Cheers guys

 

[hinch]

i'd be tempted to go with ceg's bad co2 and flow perhaps

 

[Christie_ZXR]

Cheers, I'll try changing the co2 first and see if it makes a difference then. I'll test nitrate when I get in anyway to see if that tells me anything. Do you think I'm best to chop off those bad leaves and see what the new growth's like? Or are they likely to heal?

 

[Christie_ZXR]

Ooh, forgot to mention. I have a powerhead one end, and the filter outlet the other. Is that likely to be the right amount of flow?

So much to learn!!

 

[hinch]

yes flow should be fine volume wise but don't have them at opposite ends pointing towards each other as that will create head to head flow and deadspots. move the powerhead to the same side as the outlet and perhaps have it pointing to the middle front of the glass to create a circular flow you'll have to experiment.

as for cutting off the leafs that looks like a stem plant similar to what I've got in my little tank it grows very fast a good 2 leafs a day once you get everything right. i'd be tempted to leave it until its got a good measure of new growth then split the stem removing all the old dead leafs and replant just the new top section with the new growth on. I believe there's a thread on trimming stems in the plants section of the forum

 

[dw1305]

Hi all,

If it is nitrogen deficiency, my tapwater is very high in nitrate so I usually mix it with a bit of RO for my tanks to get it down a bit. Would doing a water change with straight tapwater be likely to help? Or would I be better of with a difference fertiliser from the one I've got?

I think that might be the answer to the yellowing, the level of NO3 in your tap water will vary through-out the year, and in the winter it will be much lower than in the spring or summer. There are 2 reasons for this, farmers don't spread nitrogenous fertilisers until the plants are in active growth, this means that the nitrogen rich run-off doesn't get into the water supply. The usual formula for starting fertiliser application (to grass and cereals) is "T200", which just means that when the cumulative daytime temperature (since Jan 1st) reaches 200oC you start fertilising. This is "diffuse source" pollution.

The other way that nutrients get in the rivers is from sewage ("point source pollution"), the actual amount of sewage we produce remains fairly constant, but it is much more diluted in the winter because the rain isn't being taken up by plants, or evaporating from the soil, but it ending up in the rivers and replenishing the water table.

I'd just add some KNO3, you should get a pretty quick greening response. The holes still look like physical damage, but it could only be the snails.

cheers Darrel

 

[Christie_ZXR]

Hi guys, thanks for the help.

I've found the problem I think. I had phosphate and nitrate remover in the filter. Big Oops! I also tested the nitrate with my api test out of interest, and it came up 0, which was pretty much what I expected.

I've taken the stuff out and done a water change with my lovely nitratey london tap water, just got to give it a while and I'll test again to see what sort of difference I've got. Hopefully that should solve the problem! If not, then the snails will have to go next, (which I'm sure the puffs will approve of, seeing as they'll get a buffet!) and failing that, I'll have to get on with sorting out a better co2 system.

Cheers again! I'll let you all know if it works!