# Holes in my Anubias Leaves --- Potassium Deficiency?



## chase127 (Jun 8, 2008)

ive heard of plecos sucking holes in plants.I have no plecos myself though but the pleco tank at my LFS has no plants without holes  so it could be that. also, anubias leaves start out yellow, thats normal. what type of ferts are you dosing?


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## wyeto (Mar 13, 2008)

I have the exact same thing happening right now! And I did just add plecos but I got rid of one and it kept going on but I added a diferent kind recently


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## captain_bu (Oct 20, 2007)

It definitely looks like the leaves are being eaten/damaged by whatever is trying to eat the algae off of them.


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## wyeto (Mar 13, 2008)

This is effecting all of my larger leaf plants hear are my pics and my story of it http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/plants/69801-some-sort-fungus-snails-pics-inside.html


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## Gatekeeper (Feb 20, 2007)

That is not a K deficiency at all. That looks like an apeitzer for one of you inhabitants for sure.


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## tl00plan (Nov 26, 2007)

Here's why I thought it was a potassium deficiency. I stopped dosing KNO3 a few weeks ago when my tank tested 40-80 ppm NO3 and my tap water tested ~20 ppm NO3. Shortly thereafter, I started to see this problem. When I started dosing Flourish Potassium, everything I my tank started to grow better again. I cut all the damaged leaves from the anubias and gave them a chance to grow in clean. Unfortunately, I'm still seeing this.

Any thoughts as to what could be eating these plants, if that's what it is? I haven't seen anything but my ottos on these plants, and they clearly prefer the glass or driftwood. Here's a list of the other inhabitants:

- Amano shrimp (prefer drfitwood, never seen them on the anubias)
- 1 4" galaxy pleco (that would be too big to sit on these leaves) 
- 3 blue rams (no interest in plants)
- 3 adolfi corys (no interest in plants)
- 1 bala shark (no interest in plants)
- 6 giant danios (no interest in plants)
- 6 neons (no interest in plants)

I've looked and looked and looked, but I've never once seen a snail in this tank. I guess I'll look closer, but do you have any other thoughts?


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## tl00plan (Nov 26, 2007)

Oh...and here are my tank stats:

- 55 gal
- 2 x 55W AHS retrofits into perfecto strips (6700/10k in each CF)
- EI dosing 3x/wk:
- No KNO3
- 1.5 mL Fleet Enema
- 20 mL Flourish Potassium
- 10 mL Flourish
- occasional Excel​ - EcoComplete substrate
- Eheim 2026​


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## ikuzo (Jul 11, 2006)

i think it's the pleco. marks are pretty much the same if you're feeding pleco with boiled potato.


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## chase127 (Jun 8, 2008)

yes its definitely the pleco. theyre notorious for munching on leaves. he'll start at one end then then chomp his way to the other.


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## wyeto (Mar 13, 2008)

I have the same thing happening and I thought that it was weird that I just added a pleco to the set up so I guess that that is what it is.


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## happy gilmore (Jan 5, 2009)

*anubias have holes*

hello i'm new to this forum and have a question.my anubias have many holes in them and look like they are being eaten and i have no plecos,who or what could the culprit be?In my tank i have:
red serpea tetras
spotted rapheal catfish
striped raphael catfish
1 bolivian ram
1 kribensis
2 gouramis
1 red tailed shark
1 red tailed botia
3 flying foxes
4 yoyo loaches
1 oto
there are no other plants in the tank and no snails-i'm baffled does anyone think it could be any of the fish listed or is it another issue?


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## Gatekeeper (Feb 20, 2007)

happy gilmore,

Are you dosing the tank? Start with plant needs first, then back into the fish being the problem.


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## happy gilmore (Jan 5, 2009)

thanks-maybe you're right.i don't put any doses in of flourish or anything-would that cause the problem?
i use 2 t5 lightings
no air pump
a co2 system
change water once a week
temperature is about 75 degrees
so i think i'm doing everything else right.


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## happy gilmore (Jan 5, 2009)

Thanks glenn it was mainly a case of not dosing the tank as i have been doing it regularly since and the plants are much better.
I bought some crypts and they got ravished in about a month just leaving stubs of roots.I thought they had been poorly maintained before i bought tham and were in the process of dieing when i put them in the tank-but alas i discovered one day my spotted raphael cat ripping chunks out of it like a dog tugging at a bone.I traded my cats in at the store and the guy said he'd never seen that before and it was unusual.They could also have been possible for the holes as well as me not dosing.
The crypts are now growing back from little stubs and are popping up in other places in the tank.


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