Plant deficiency? Can anyone ID

Hey Fishlore!

Today I noticed that my plants (especially the newer leaves of the bacopa) are yellow and have tiny holes and tears rimmed in black. Does anyone know if this is a deficiency, disease or something else? And what can I do to treat it? This is a low tech setup (my first tank) and this is what I have going on:

12 gallon with 1 betta, 1 nerite snail (getting another soon) and a LOT of leopard spotted ramshorns.
Plants: bacopa caroliniana (red), java fern (windelov), italian vallisneria, and dwarf sagittaria.
I dose Seachem Flourish every Sunday (water change day) and I dose Seachem Excel every other day
EDIT: Forgot to mention that the vallisneria is doing perfectly fine, but the other plants aren't :
Here are some pictures:

 

Is this a potassium deficiency, maybe? Can anyone second this

 

Is this a potassium deficiency, maybe? Can anyone second this

Could be potassium or an iron deficiency. Flourish is relatively high in micronutrients, not so much the macros. I recommend you buy something like API Leaf Zone, which supplies iron and potassium.

 

Can I use Leaf Zone in addition to Flourish, or just one at a time?

 

Can I use Leaf Zone in addition to Flourish, or just one at a time?

You could dose them at the same time, once a week.

 

Also, make sure you're not overdosing the excel, that can hurt your plants, fish and invertebrates. Make sure you're dosing for the volume of water in the tank, NOT the size of the tank.

 

I agree you might be overdosing your tank.

 

I agree you might be overdosing your tank.

That's actually more probable. I also think that dosing every other day may be doing more harm than good, but I'm not too sure on that. I know that with co2, not dosing everyday on a consistent schedule can create a plethora of problems in a planted tank. But I'm not sure if the same applies to liquid co2, because quite frankly they are very different.

 

You must also remember that plants need time to settle to their new environment since they were probably underfed and had lack of most nutrients at the LFS since their only intention is to sell them ASAP. So going from that to a tank that has lots of nutrients and minerals will shock all plants. Our natural reaction is to overdose them with nutrients if there is any sign of trouble and it might be due to the plant being in shock and adjusting to its new environment.

 

Ok, thank you everyone! The reason for dosing every other day is because I was afraid of overdosing chemicals. Should I switch to everyday, or just stop excel altogether? Also, would switching ferts be a good idea? I have a light bioload, so just adding micro nutrients every week might not be providing the plants with enough macro nutrients. Are there any recommendations for fertilizers meant for light bioloads? Thanks

 

I know of a all in one fertilizer my plants love the guy mixed it himself I get it from (Marcus fish tanks)
I like it better than the big brands

 

Hey Fishlore!

Today I noticed that my plants (especially the newer leaves of the bacopa) are yellow and have tiny holes and tears rimmed in black. Does anyone know if this is a deficiency, disease or something else? And what can I do to treat it? This is a low tech setup (my first tank) and this is what I have going on:

12 gallon with 1 betta, 1 nerite snail (getting another soon) and a LOT of leopard spotted ramshorns.
Plants: bacopa caroliniana (red), java fern (windelov), italian vallisneria, and dwarf sagittaria.
I dose Seachem Flourish every Sunday (water change day) and I dose Seachem Excel every other day
EDIT: Forgot to mention that the vallisneria is doing perfectly fine, but the other plants aren't :
Here are some pictures:
View attachment 721016

Hi PaprikaFish,

You are certainly not overdosing nutrients, in fact the exact opposite appears to be true. The uniformly yellow new leaves indicate a lack of nitrogen (if it were iron the new leaves would be yellow but the leaf veins would be green / aka interveinal chlorosis). Seachem Flourish Comprehensive indicates dosing "once or twice a week" and although dosing once a week may have worked when the tank was first planted as the plants grow more nutrients need to be added. If this were a potassium deficiency the older leaves would turn yellow and develop holes and the older leaves in your tank are not showing that issue.

I suggest you start dosing Flourish twice a week and the Excel as you have been. Continue you water changes as you have been. Do this for two - three weeks and watch the new leaves as they emerge. Do they look greener and healthier? If so you are on the correct path. Do not watch your existing leaves, they will not improve and may continue to decline......just watch the new leaves. Twice a week may be sufficient or you may have to do more however I would start with twice and week and see if there is the improvement I predict. Hope this helps! -Roy

 

Hi PaprikaFish,

You are certainly not overdosing nutrients, in fact the exact opposite appears to be true. The uniformly yellow new leaves indicate a lack of nitrogen (if it were iron the new leaves would be yellow but the leaf veins would be green / aka interveinal chlorosis). Seachem Flourish Comprehensive indicates dosing "once or twice a week" and although dosing once a week may have worked when the tank was first planted as the plants grow more nutrients need to be added. If this were a potassium deficiency the older leaves would turn yellow and develop holes and the older leaves in your tank are not showing that issue.

I suggest you start dosing Flourish twice a week and the Excel as you have been. Continue you water changes as you have been. Do this for two - three weeks and watch the new leaves as they emerge. Do they look greener and healthier? If so you are on the correct path. Do not watch your existing leaves, they will not improve and may continue to decline......just watch the new leaves. Twice a week may be sufficient or you may have to do more however I would start with twice and week and see if there is the improvement I predict. Hope this helps! -Roy

Thank you so much! I will begin dosing twice a week, and continue to use Excel
If this doesn't work, I may try switching to a fert that contains macro nutrients in addition to micro nutrients.