# pin holes in plants



## amcoffeegirl (May 26, 2009)

What causes this? I have pond snails, ramshorns and mts along with cherries and cories. there is plenty of food in the tank daily. my cories actually need to go on a diet. I am slowing down the food now. mostly in the crypts there are pin holes in the leaves. is this from the snails or am i missing a nutrient. i dose excel and liquid trace, i use iron tabs and brighty k also. my lights are not on a timer i need to get one. i would say they are on 8 hrs a day average. i never really got diatoms in this tank but now getting some hair algae.


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## xxUnRaTeDxxRkOxx (Jul 12, 2011)

Pin holes in aquarium plants is a sign of potassium deficiency, you could correct this problem by using SeaChem Potassium fertilizer, or you can get some muriate of potash which is made from potassium chloride.

Also what size is the tank in question, if it's 10 gallons or larger you can add a True Siamese Algae Eater, they love all kinds of hair algae.


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## aweeby (Oct 1, 2011)

You can't really pin it on one thing. It's possible that your lights are not bright enough... i get pin holes on hygros if they get too shaded. K deficiency may be a possibility though. I'm not particularly familiar with the ADA line, but i would calculate the ppm you're adding every day, see how you stack up. there's a link to a good calculator in a sticky at the top of the water param section. 

If you do need to buy fertilizers, a lot of people here simply buy the raw chemicals in 1lb increments. It's much cheaper than seachem or premixed stuff. Also, I don't recommend you use muriate of potash for a source of K. It's better to go with kh3po4 or k2so4, as they are better suited for daily dosing. these can be bought at aquariumfertilizer.com or the gla site.


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## Julia Adkins (Aug 19, 2010)

*nutrient and light balance*

It is all balance of light, water and nutrients. Light is the engine that runs the plants use of light and nutrients. If there is not enough light the plants don't have enough energy to take up and use the nutrients. If there are too many nutrients and the plants that you want are not using it all, then other things like algae will take up the slack. If you have too much light in relation to the nutrient then the plants will grow and use all the macros up and will then be deficient in materials to grow with. Also you might look at buying dry fertilizers so that you can adjust for what your plants need. They are less expensive as you are not paying to have the fertilizers diluted and for the shipping of water which is heavy. 
Your plants are deficient in the macros: nitrates, potassium and magnesium. They also need regular doses of micro nutrients.


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## randym (Sep 20, 2015)

Julia...you've replied to a thread that's three years old.

If you want to advertised your business, do it in the For Sale forum.


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