# Anubias Deficiency



## bamzam (Feb 1, 2016)

Can anyone please tell me what kind of deficiency this looks like? I have 2 anubias and 2 amazon swords in a 75 gallon tank. 6 Discus, a school of cardinals, and a pleco that poops like no other. I change about 40% water daily. I keep lights on 6 hours a day and dose Seachem Flourish once a week currently. Thanks in advance!


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## Seattle_Aquarist (Jun 15, 2008)

Hi bamzam10,

I see you are a newer member....welcome!

Ideally you would be dosing more that just Seachem Flourish once a week but I understand that with Discus a higher nitrate/nutrient level may cause issues with the fish although I would encourage you to increase the Flourish dosing to 2 times a week or more....especially with 40% water changes daily. That said, the problem appears to be an iron deficiency and what you are seeing is interveinal chlorosis with yellowing of the areas between the veins of the leaves. Dosing extra iron should help alleviate the problem. If the interveinal chlorosis becomes bad enough necrosis leaf areas may occur similar to the first picture - or that could be the Pleco doing some damage to the already weakened areas of the leaves.

Here is an example of interveinal leaf chlorosis - looks very similar to your second picture.


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## bamzam (Feb 1, 2016)

Thanks so much! I will definitely up the frequency on the flourish to 2x a week. I used to dose the flourish every other day, but I started to get that dark/brownish algae (I think it's algae?) on the leaves and on the glass near the substrate level. I might have advanced the holes on that leaf when I rubbed the leaf with my fingers to remove the algae.

I read on a post in a local forum that it's a good idea for everyone to dose potassium since it's the one macro element that fish food/waste does not supply. Is that true? And if so, with only 2 anubias and 2 amazon swords, is it necessary or will I do more harm than good by dosing Seachem Potassium once or twice a week?

Thanks again!


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## Seattle_Aquarist (Jun 15, 2008)

Hi bamzam,

Potassium is a macro nutrient that, if added, should not effect the water quality required by the discus - I would use the Seachem Potassium and dose the same days you dose the Flourish.


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## bamzam (Feb 1, 2016)

Ok I will do that. Thanks!


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## wantsome (Sep 3, 2006)

Are you using RO water? I've heard anubias don't like RO water and will melt because of it. In my experience anubias are the hardiest aquarium plant I've ever seen. I have some that have been sitting in a ziplock bag on my desk for the past 2 months with very little water and light and they are fine. 

You plants are definitely lacking some nutrients. Water changes daily is a bit extreme but I'm not a discus keeper. Your probably lacking macro's npk.


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## bamzam (Feb 1, 2016)

I use water straight from the tap. I increased my dosing so we'll see if this fixes it


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## ajrey (May 7, 2015)

I can tell you with certainty that you at least have magnesium deficiency (dark veins and light colored leafs) as well as potassium deficiency (holes eventually leading to tearing). Based on the image, it doesn't look like the anubias' roots have managed to crawl from the wood down into the substrate. They are heavy root feeders and can suffer these symptoms even when there might be sufficient nutrients in the water column. Root tabs are always a plus for these plants but that might be difficult in your situation. I would try dosing with trace elements as well as potassium to start. Flourish doesn't contain nearly enough of these nutrients to fix the problem (although maybe it might provide enough magnesium but definitely not potassium). I would try dosing with flourish trace if you are comfortable using the seachem line. I would also invest in seachem potassium if it were me.


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## bamzam (Feb 1, 2016)

Thanks for your reply! I honestly did not know anubias roots needed to be in the substrate. I've never given them a chance because I always lift the driftwood and move it to vacuum when I do my water changes. I did pick up some seachem potassium though and I'm starting at 2x a week to see how much it helps.


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## bamzam (Feb 1, 2016)

Sorry one more question. My routine is to do my water changes every night before bed. With each water change I have to add seachem prime. After my water change is when I dose my flourish/potassium. Is the prime killing off my flourish? Should I change that to add the flourish the next morning instead? Not sure if I've been wasting the flourish this whole time...


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## ajrey (May 7, 2015)

Prime won't "kill off" flourish. It's essentially just dechlorinating your water. What amount or percentage of water from your tank are you doing daily? I would recommend dosing your flourish/prime right after the water change. It's always best to dose ferts at night as this allows plants to have as much time active with the ferts once the lights go on. Most people with planted tanks don't do daily water changes and thus don't need to dose the same ferts daily but in your case if you are doing large daily water changes you may need to dose daily. However if you are only doing say 10% water changes daily, I would not dose the full dosage amount of any fert. Scale back your dosage according to how much you are water changing. If you change 50% per day then dose half the recommended amount daily etc. it's hard to overdose potassium as it's needed in extremely high amounts to overdose however it can be easy to end up overdosing flourish if you just continually put the per gallon recommended dose in everyday. 
Just curious, are you doing daily water changes because of excessive nitrate levels that constantly rise?

EDIT: Anubias don't necessarily have to be planted in the substrate, however when there is a lack of nutrients in the water column and they are not in substrate, anubias tend to not do so well. Since anubias are so slow growing these deficiency signs show up slowly, and as such also are fixed at a slow rate. So once you start with the potassium and flourish regimen don't be discouraged if there are no immediate changes in the look of your plants. They'll show up soon enough. 
As a side thought, you may want to switch to buy dry ferts even if you are not using the EI method of dosing. I used the seachem line for so long and after switching to dry ferts wanted to kick myself for having spent so much money on already diluted fertilizers. With a little bit of calculations it becomes so much cheaper and way easier to target deficiencies using dry ferts.


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## bamzam (Feb 1, 2016)

I bought my discus young when they were all 2-3". I'm on a discus forum where they've ensured me daily water changes are needed to grow my discus to full potential and keep them as healthy as possible. They're all up to about 5-6" now and I don't mind the water changes, so I figure if it's not broken, don't fix it lol. 

Also my pleco poops like no other. Even with daily water changes there's a ton of poop every night, so I don't like to leave my tank looking like that haha


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## ajrey (May 7, 2015)

As long as their healthy that's what matters! I would just adjust my ferts to keep up with the water changes. The leaves that show potassium deficiency (pinhole formation or wearing away) are too late to save however the leaves with magnesium deficiency (dark veins light leaves) will fix themselves when provided enough magnesium is supplied (Enough Flourish or Flourish Trace can help with that or a dry fert with magnesium).
HAHA I completely understand with the pleco problem. I always feel like they somehow manage to poop more than they consume somehow.


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## bamzam (Feb 1, 2016)

Thanks for the advice. I'm about to do some googling on dry ferts for my tank.


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## ajrey (May 7, 2015)

No problem. If you end up going that route I'd recommend going with green leaf aquariums. They have everything you could need at really good prices and cheap shipping. You'll see that they're even on the sponsors page. Best of Luck!


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