Spotted Leaf W/ Curling?

Any idea what's going on with this plant? Had a new leaf grow and looks the same. I just started Co2 yesterday , so it has not had Co2 for a couple of weeks now.

 

The yellowing looks rather like chlorosis. Unfortunately chlorosis can be attributed to several deficiencies.

What ferts (frequency, mg, CO2 ppm) do you dose? It might help to pin down what might be happening.

 

Not sure if that’s bad. Kind of looks like a ruffled Mellon sword.

 

Minnowette I'm unsure the current CO2 ppm, the drop checker is showing a nice green. I have a rate of about 3 bubbles per second, 29 gallon tank.

I use Flourish 2x a week, Flourish Excel daily 3mL.

I'm wondering if I need to pick up some Flourish Potassium, Nitrogen, Phosphorous? The tank is super heavy planted. Maybe 19 plants in it, I wonder if they're starving the tank and I'm not providing enough ferts. Tank is NOT cycled currently.

86 ssinit it was advertised as an Anubias from Liveaquaria that I purchased it from. Currently have it on a rock.

 

Sounds like it's close-ish to 30 ppm. If it gets towards a light lime green with a hint of yellow, then it's definitely 30 ppm.

You'll definitely want to shore up your fert dosing regime by utilising macros.

There's no special need to continue Excel now that you use CO2. Some people dose Excel purely for its algaecidal effects in order keep latent algae at bay. But you're better off just using it to spot dose algae on particular occasions when you feel it's necessary as it'll save money. Heck, an even bigger saving is to just ditch Excel and spot dose with hydrogen peroxide, which I've found to be more useful.

Flourish, by itself, isn't very effective. It has little (to the point of no) nitrogen, potassium or phosphate. It's purely a micronutrient fert. In addition, the iron in Flourish is in the form of iron gluconate which is highly available for plant uptake, but it's very unstable in the water column and precipitates out within 24 hours into a form that's generally unavailable for plant use. Because of this, iron gluconate needs to be dosed daily.

However, I wouldn't recommend that you dose Flourish daily: there's some vague anecdotal evidence of micronutrient toxicity from overdosing trace elements, and if anything it'll be a profound waste of money.

You can either:

(1) Continue using Flourish (sometimes called Flourish Comprehensive) 2-3 times a week and dose Flourish Iron daily; or
(2) Continue using Flourish 2-3 times a week and dose either EDTA or DTPA iron chelate 3 times a week; or
(3) Ditch Flourish Comprehensive and dose a comprehensive micronutrient fert like Plantex CSM-B(which contains an EDTA iron chelate) 3 times a week.

Most forms of iron in ferts are chelates: they're bound to another compound (e.g. EDTA, DTPA, EDDHA) in order to improve its solubility in water, its biological availability to plants, and to reduce iron's tendency to react with anything and everything in the water column (particularly phosphate) and precipitate out.

Which iron chelate you choose depends on your pH, as they're typically only stable up to a certain to a pH (past which they dissociate and become unavailable for plant uptake): if it's below 6.5, stick with EDTA iron chelate (i.e. Plantex CSM-B), if it's above 6.5, go with DTPA iron chelate (this generally needs to be dosed separately as I haven't come across many micronutrient ferts that use DTPA iron). EDDHA is stable up until 11 pH, but I've rarely come across planted tank hobbyists using it due to its high cost. Unlike iron gluconate, iron chelates needn't be dosed daily. Three times a week is usually sufficient.

For your macronutrients: don't buy Seachem's line-up. It'll prove extraordinarily expensive over the long run: here in Australia, an $8 packet of 250 gram monopotassium phosphate lasts me as much as $450 worth of Seachem's Phosphorus fert. Instead pick up some packets of potassium nitrate (KNO3) and monopotassium phosphate (KH2PO4). These two compounds supply your three macros (nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium). Dose according to the nutrient calculator available at rotalabutterfly.com.

For example, my 49 gallon planted tank usually has a pH of 7.6. My ferts are:

- Monopotassium phosphate
- Potassium nitrate
- DTPA (9%) iron chelate
- Flourish Comprehensive (I use this as Plantex CSM-B isn't available in Australia and the other local option, Rexolin APN, stains water a delightful pink)

My dosing schedule is:

- Monday, Wednesday, Friday: 335 miligrans monopotassium phosphate, 2.2 grams potassium nitrate
- Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday: 400 miligrams DTPA iron chelate, 6 ml Flourish Comprehensive
- Sunday: 50% water change

Any other questions, feel free to ask!

Edit: I should say, this is following Tom Barr's Estimative Index (EI) method of dosing ferts. There are other methods (e.g. PPS-Pro), but I find the EI dosing method is quite popular and effective.

 

Spots are completely normal in new leaves.

 

I’ve had that plant. Or I may still have it in my 90 but the leaves have turned red or green. Mine was a Mellon sword or other sword. Did it have roots or the larger roots of anubious (name escapes me now sorry).
Minnowette thank you great info.

 

Google "Ozelot Sword"

 

Google "Ozelot Sword"

So, I currently have this plant on a rock, thinking its an Anubias? Its growing ... new life sprouted and is growing rather large. Should I remove this from the rock and place it in substrate somewhere?

Minnowette thanks for your AWESOME detailed response!

 

So, I currently have this plant on a rock, thinking its an Anubias? Its growing ... new life sprouted and is growing rather large. Should I remove this from the rock and place it in substrate somewhere?

Minnowette thanks for your AWESOME detailed response!

Uhhhh it isn't to me.

 

Uhhhh it isn't to me.

Sorry I mis-wrote DoubleDutch . I'm in complete agreement with that it is a Ozelot Sword. I meant that my stupid self thought it was an Anubias the whole time so I currently have it in a rock. Should I replace it into the substrate somewhere in the Aquarium?

 

I would. Great plant.

Sorry I mis-wrote DoubleDutch . I'm in complete agreement with that it is a Ozelot Sword. I meant that my stupid self thought it was an Anubias the whole time so I currently have it in a rock. Should I replace it into the substrate somewhere in the Aquarium?

 

Thanks a ton for your eyes. I never would've known!!

 

Hahaha your.words and the great looking leaf starting to make me doubt in a way hahaha.

Can you place a.pic of the entire plant ?

 

DoubleDutch you have me pretty convinced, the new leaf that's growing is growing massively... bigger than I think an Anubias would be.

 

Yeah a sword. But growing awesome at his "anubias-spot" hahahaha