# Holes on leaves



## lee250 (Oct 18, 2015)

I seem to have a few plants with wholes in the leaves. What is the cause of this?

theres a few like this

Theres a few like this


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## patfat (Oct 23, 2015)

Looks like you and I are having the same problems with our plants.


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## dukydaf (Dec 27, 2004)

To me it looks like phosphate (PO4) deficiency. This is also hinted at by the presence of Green Spot Algae. If the plants were exposed to air for a longer time it could be that they dried out or suffered some mechanical damage. Hower for a more accurate evaluation please provide more information.

When was the aquarium set up ? when were the plants put in ? What light ? How many fish? Do you fertilize ? etc.


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## patfat (Oct 23, 2015)

http://www.plantedtank.net/#/forumsite/20495/topics/962681?page=1 

Is a link to mine that has most of that information. Also the light is a funnel stingray 30inch


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## lee250 (Oct 18, 2015)

The tank has been setup for at least 2 years but was just setup as a planted tank for about 1 and 1/2 months. Lighting was 100 watts worth of led floodlights but I recently lowered the lighting a little. Fish are 7 angelfish, 3 buenos aires tetras, 2 small turquoise rainbows, 1 pictus catfish, 2 small plecos, and some snails. The wholes started before I lowered the lighting. I did start ferts last week, just got them, I'm using Nilocg EI ferts that come dry and I mixed in the bottles. I'm running co2 but only just getting the drop checker to turn almost all the way green. I lowered the lights because I thought I was burning up the plants. I'm having issues with other plants as well. It was recommended that I start ferts so thats when I got them.



I bought a big bunch of these plants from a member on here.


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## dukydaf (Dec 27, 2004)

lee250 said:


> I lowered the lights because I thought I was burning up the plants. I'm having issues with other plants as well. It was recommended that I start ferts so thats when I got them..


Yes, it sounds like you did the right things already. Plants should recover. 

When you have high light and co2 your plants will want to grow faster. They will consume nutrients faster than they become available from fish's metabolism. Once mobile nutrients are scarce, the plant will self-consume old leaves to get nutrients for new leaves. And you see that sort of browning. 

Now that you began to provide additional fertiliser your plants should stop dropping old leaves(if enough light reaches them). Are you dosing according to EI now? 



Sent from my HTC One using Tapatalk


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## lee250 (Oct 18, 2015)

yes I started dosing twice a week for each micros and macros. I'm doing 25% water changes weekly so I'm only dosing twice each instead of 3.


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## GadgetGirl (Oct 11, 2013)

Buenos Aires tetras are voracious plant eaters!


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## Immortal1 (Feb 18, 2015)

I am finding out my bushy nose plecos are also pretty good at chewing up certain plants. To the OP, the first pic looks like a fertilizer deficiency as DukyDaf mentioned. The second pic looks very much like several leaves in my tank after the pleco gets done chewing (rasping) on them.


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## lee250 (Oct 18, 2015)

I've never seen the tetras or plecos touch the plants. What fert is it lacking? Will the EI cover what it needs or do I need to add something else


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## Immortal1 (Feb 18, 2015)

The EI macros should cover your fert issue. As for the plecos, unless you are a real nite owl, you will probably not see it happen. In my case, the bigger pleco hides and sleeps during the day then comes out after the lights turns off. The next morning I am asking myself, where did all the damn leaves go???
stupid fish


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## GadgetGirl (Oct 11, 2013)

Trust me, the plant damage is the Buenos Aires tetras ! Google it!


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