# Anubias - old leaves turning yellow/new growth yellow



## bcarrot (May 12, 2014)

Hey everyone, I was hoping someone out there might have an idea what's going on with my anubias plants. I have a coffeefolia anubias in both of my 10g tanks. Both are attached to driftwood and I'm dosing Flourish (2x week), Excel (daily), Potassium (2x week), Iron (daily), and just today I dosed Nitrogen. Both tank are fitted with a Current Satellite+ which is on for 7 hours a day. The problem I'm having is that 1 or 2 of the old leaves are starting to yellowing at the tips and it's has spread about half way down the leaves. Yellowing has occured slowly over the past two weeks. I'm getting new growth but it's also yellowish/tan. All other plants in the tank are thriving. I have java ferns, cabomba, ludwigia, and a few other plants. I have no idea what's going on. They seemed to be doing a lot better when I was randomly dosing them with ferts. The anubias in my 29g is doing just fine.


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## jmsaltfish797 (Oct 27, 2012)

what is your nitrate level in the tank? cant say for sure without pics but it sound like nitrogen deficiency. theres an app floating around that would be some help to you. i believe its called deficiency calculator.com. some of the more experienced members will be able to point you to it if thats not the right site.


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## bcarrot (May 12, 2014)

I was also thinking nitogen deficiency!  I rescued a few Betta and did not have time to cycle their tanks so I'm not seeing any nitrates in the tank, unfortuntely.  (I'm very diligent about checking the ammonia levels and chaning their water when needed) I just got some Seachem Nitrogen last night and dosed some this morning. Will this "do the same thing" as having nitrates in the tank, from a plant standpoint. As in, will the plants use the Seachem nitrogen in the same way that they would use nitrates in a properly cycled tank. (I know having nitrates in the tank is essential to keeping ammonia levels in check, but that's a different matter that I'm looking into correcting)


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## bcarrot (May 12, 2014)

I tried to get a good picture of one of the yellowing leaves.


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## Dzrtman (Mar 4, 2014)

Have a look at the Plant Deficiencies diagram on the following site: http://infographics.myaquacalc.com/

I believe this is the site the other poster was referring to.


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## Lab_Man (Dec 7, 2012)

I have had a Anubias Coffefolia for 5 months now. One of the leaves turned yellow. It fell off a week or two later. The rest of leaves are green. The new leaves are a beige for a day or so as they unroll.


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## Raymond S. (Dec 29, 2012)

Just to clarify: that statement you made..."I know having nitrates in the tank is essential to keeping ammonia levels in check"...I will just state that nitrates are the result of, not any connection to being required for, the ammnia to be removed.
Plant people typically allow more nitrates than purely fish people might allow in their tanks and 10-20 PPM is normal(for plants) but getting into the harmfull level for fish.
I notice I start seeing fish bouncing themselves off of plant leaves when it gets in the 20 range though. A sign that they are not all right/w it and that it is begining to irritate their skin. Water changes of a bit larger amounts is usually done to stop it from getting this high. That Sea Chem is used by the plants in the same way, but can also contribute to excess levels of nitrates in there. If the Anubias is just loosing an old leaf
and not suffering from low nitrogen, it can hurt your over all nitrate level.
But if you just test what the level is without adding any you can see if you have enough without adding it. A simple "rule of thumb" is if there is any red or redishness to the test results, it's already too high and just yellow is lower than it can stand to be.


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