# Amazon sword nutrient deficiency??



## Highseq (Jul 26, 2017)

ArtemisDame said:


> I'm fairly new to planted tanks and this is also my first post to the forum. Sorry... this is sort of long.
> 
> I've had a 29 gallon tank for about a year now but I redid it 2 months ago. When I redid it, I added 2 amazon swords (plus some other plants). I got a fairly large bleheri amazon sword and one smaller one that actually had two plants in it, so I planted them separately. The smaller ones didn't look too great when I got it but the big one was really healthy.
> 
> ...


The pinholes and yellowing at the tips/edges is classic sign of a potassium deficiency. It looks like there might also be an iron deficiency as well. The ferts you are adding, are they seachem phos and iron? - At least for the iron, you probably aren't adding near enough. Flourish tabs are good for the micros but do a poor job at delivering enough of the macros on their own.

I also don't think the eco bright is powerful enough for swords. I used the fluval aqua sky (one tier up from the one you have and one tier beneath the fluval fresh and plant 2.0) and I feel it was barely enough light. It stayed alive, it grew, just slowly. (This was before I had CO2 incase you were wondering.)

As for the algae... I can only speculate... but high phosphate levels can sometimes be attributed to this and I see the only macro nutrient you seem to be dosing is the phosphorus which in the seachem line is in the form of potassium phosphate. I doubt that light at 25% is what is driving the algae growth. API makes a cheap phosphate test kit if you are interested in checking. I think good levels of phosphate are between 1-3ppm. But these numbers are probably more targeted for a tank with higher lights and CO2 injection so you should probably be aiming more toward the low end of that, maybe even lower than 1ppm.

In conclusion I would suggest you get the algae under control. Maybe use excel (it can act as an algaecide), but be careful because it is known to sometimes cause plants to melt, although this has not happened to me. Maybe look into getting a brighter light, and most importantly get some potassium in there.

I hope this helped.


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## ArtemisDame (Aug 2, 2017)

Highseq said:


> The pinholes and yellowing at the tips/edges is classic sign of a potassium deficiency. It looks like there might also be an iron deficiency as well. The ferts you are adding, are they seachem phos and iron? - At least for the iron, you probably aren't adding near enough. Flourish tabs are good for the micros but do a poor job at delivering enough of the macros on their own.
> 
> I also don't think the eco bright is powerful enough for swords. I used the fluval aqua sky (one tier up from the one you have and one tier beneath the fluval fresh and plant 2.0) and I feel it was barely enough light. It stayed alive, it grew, just slowly. (This was before I had CO2 incase you were wondering.)
> 
> ...



This definitely helps. I'll get a phosphate test at my LFS, along with some potassium, and I'll look into other lights. Thank you so much!

Bump: The only one that is seachem is the phosphorus. I'm going to pick up a seachem Iron as well because the one I have is called API leaf zone.


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## goodbytes (Aug 18, 2014)

I've been giving my Amazon Swords a couple Osmocote root tabs each for years now and they do very well. I use no other fertilizers in these tanks aside from the root tabs. You can get Osmocote tabs from TPT marketplace for a fraction of what the Seachem tabs cost or you can get some gelcaps on Amazon and Osmocote from the hardware store and make them yourself.

However, more fertilizer is not the end-all-be-all solution to issues with plants so don't be surprised if your problem ends up lying elsewhere.


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## GrampsGrunge (Jun 18, 2012)

goodbytes said:


> I've been giving my Amazon Swords a couple Osmocote root tabs each for years now and they do very well. I use no other fertilizers in these tanks aside from the root tabs. You can get Osmocote tabs from TPT marketplace for a fraction of what the Seachem tabs cost or you can get some gelcaps on Amazon and Osmocote from the hardware store and make them yourself.
> 
> However, more fertilizer is not the end-all-be-all solution to issues with plants so don't be surprised if your problem ends up lying elsewhere.


Adding O+ pellets on 00 size caps is a lot of fertilizer, I've found that it's better to spot fertilize with just a couple pellets per plant instead.


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## gronk709 (May 14, 2017)

I concur with HighSeq and reinforce his advice. I noticed from your photos that you seem to be growing your swords in a gravel substrate of some sort (or is this just surface decoration)?? I think the actual type of substrate matters as well and if you are just using gravel, you might consider re-planting in a more suitable substrate for your swords. This will naturally benefit them in the long term.


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## Nlewis (Dec 1, 2015)

There's nothing wrong with them they're fine. The plant was grown immersed and the plant is transitioning. The original leaves(oval shaped) will eventually rot away as they can't make the transition. Trim them off at the base of the plant and it will promote new growth.


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