# Amazon Swords dying?



## lescarpentier (Feb 2, 2008)

_ReApEr said:


> So my new Amazon Swords are kind of forming holes in the leaves and they're turning brown around the holes. Are they dying or do they just need to be trimmed? How do you properly trim them? All the way down to the substrate or just at the leaf? If they are dying, is there any saving them?
> 
> Thanks.


They are probably just adjusting to their new environment.
The leaves should be clipped as close to the substrate as you can.

I've kept Amazon swords for as long as I have had a planted aquarium,and throughout all of the trials and tribulations I have never lost one.


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## _ReApEr (Nov 14, 2008)

Okie dokey. So should I just let them be and allow them to adjust? Or trim the dying leaves down?


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## lescarpentier (Feb 2, 2008)

I would trim the leaves as soon as they look bad.


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## prjct92eh2 (Apr 8, 2008)

Also make sure the crown of the roots is a bit above the top of the substrate.


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## tazcrash69 (Sep 27, 2005)

lescarpentier said:


> I would trim the leaves as soon as they look bad.


X2, don't let the plant waste energy supporting a bad leaf. It'll help foster the plant to make new leaves.


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## _ReApEr (Nov 14, 2008)

But what exactly is "bad?" A picture's worth a thousand words, right? So here's 3000 words to explain what the various Amazons in my tank look like:

(EDIT: Pardon the browny-ness. Pesky tannins.)




























As you can see, a lot of the leaves have these small holey areas. Would trimming that much off leave them photosynthetically crippled? Or should I trim them all off at the first sight of browning?

Thanks again, guys.


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## Daniel*Swords (May 8, 2006)

Those I would trim off. They don't look like they will be much good to the plant(s). Some of them look submersed leaves, however. Do you have a pleco? They look a bit like they had been chewed on... The same effect can happen with newly installed plants, though, they take time to adjust to a new tank (even if they were grown submersed). Hope they are making new healthy leaves!


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## sewingalot (Oct 12, 2008)

I had this with my amazon sword in the beginning. I trimmed off all the bad leaves and within a week the plant flourished! It is actually has a runner now with to babies. I found that tazcrash69 is correct. After trimming off the bad leaves, the plant was able to start pearling and sending of new shoots.


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## _ReApEr (Nov 14, 2008)

Excellent, I'm about to go in there and suck out all the fungus on my mopani wood and I'll trim all the leaves with any brown on them.

Thanks, guys, you rock.


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