Plants Being Eaten. Can't See Who! :'(

Hello there!

Although I am not an aquarium beginner, I couldn't figure out which forum category to post this to (didn't think it's important enough to be posted in 'Aquarium Plants').

I've been noticing that over time, my Hornwort has been eaten. The plant itself isn't dead, and any dead plant doesn't get eaten but the live ones do.
Today I woke up and realized my Anacharis has been eaten as well.

Here are pictures:

Broad leafed plants like my Amazon Sword and my Java Fern don't get eaten but the Hornwort and the Anacharis have been clearly eaten.

MY STOCK
1 Cherry Barb
1 Upside Down Catfish
1 Ivory Mystery Snail
10 Neon Tetra
1 Black Lyretail Molly
2 Gold Dust Molly
4 Guppy
2 Red Platy
2 Amano Shrimp
MTS (Malaysian Trumpet Snails)
Pond Snails


Who could the culprit be? I don't see anyone eating the plants!


Thank you!

 

Well, in my experience with the fish you have, I would guess the Platy's and Guppies. Mine are constantly pecking and eating at my plants. Not sure about the Molly or catfish, but the others are most likely not the culprit.

 

Could it be that no one is eating the plants and your plants are just dying for a couple reasons:

a) lack of lighting
b) lack of nutrients
c) temperature requirements

I know anacharis love cooler water compared to other plants.

 

You have some stocking issues if you'd like to discuss them as well

Can you take pics of your plants that are being eaten? I agree with Amazon, it could be the plant dying.

 

Could it be that no one is eating the plants and your plants are just dying for a couple reasons:

a) lack of lighting
b) lack of nutrients
c) temperature requirements

I know anacharis love cooler water compared to other plants.

I actually really doubt it:
I added root tablets and the plants flourished, and my Banana plant, Anacharis, Java Fern, Amazon Sword, and Anubias are all flourishing and growing well (too well, I'd say. They're getting huge).

Edit: My Anacharis was actually one of the happiest and most flourishing plants before I woke up and discovered al the leaves totally gone (as you can see in the album).

You have some stocking issues if you'd like to discuss them as well

Can you take pics of your plants that are being eaten? I agree with Amazon, it could be the plant dying.

If the stocking issues are the Cherry Barb and the Upside Down Catfish, I'm aware of that and just had a Columnaris outbreak (I'm waiting to totally triple, quadruple check that everything is fine now) and one of my guppies birthed just now, so I quarantined the fry to let them grow, and in a week or two, I'll transfer them back and use the quarantine to get some new cherry barbs and upside down catfish (if I can get ahold of the Upside Down's. They're impossible to find).

The pictures are in the forum post, the original post. If you look it says "Here are the pictures: Imgur The Awesomest..." and I linked the album, but it renamed it to the generic 'Imgur' description.

Here it is again:

 

What size tank is this? Do you have a home for the fry? Your tank can quickly become overstocked with livebearers. To prevent this, the easiest thing to do is stock with all males.

They do look munched on, but they also look like they're not doing so well anyway (I'm particularly looking at the stem of the anacharis). It's possible the plants are dying and the snails are eating them as well. Dying plants seems to be particularly appealing to snails.

 

Maybe from any meds you used to treat ich, although I assume you used heat and salt.

 

Salt can kill plants too.

 

Salt can kill plants too.

I was thinking that, too, but wasn't sure. Thank you for that.

 

I'm still thinking Guppy's AND or Platy's! They used to tear up my Anacharis because the leaves are soft.

 

Thank you for all the advice everyone!
I apologize I didn't reply earlier.

I took out all the dead plants and will wait another week and see if they keep getting 'eaten' or 'dying'.

Thank you!

 

The mollies along with the other livebearers will actively eat both those plants. My mollies pick apart hornwort all day long.