[edman2012]

Well my struggle with plants continue. I've talked about my plants & tank in general here http://www.tropicalfishkeeping.com/freshwater-journals/50-gal-tank-380730/ in case anyone needs more of a background. Feel free to give me any suggestions! I'd really appreciate it.
Anyways, in the past two weeks I've had random outbreaks of plants developing sizable holes, and new leaves are forming with odd shapes (calcium defficiency). I've tried to deal with both issues but failed.
HOLES:




Most websites generally say that holes in plants are due to potassium problems. In the past I have had potassium deficiencies, so I've been dosing it in the past month, with a capful of leaf zone roughly 3 times a week, with larger doses after water changes. However, prior to dosing leaf zone the holes were smaller and had yellowing around the holes while the recent hole outbreaks usually don't have yellowing so I'm not even sure if its due to potassium. I've also wondered if my bristlenose pleco could be the cause, but I'm in doubt. The holes usually start near the top and spread to the entire plant except for the new growth, and the holes never occur on the outer edges of the plants. I would expect a plant eating fish to make random holes, not such distinct patterns.

ODD SHAPES




I'm quite sure this is a calcium issue. However, I don't know how to deal with it. When it first came up a month or so ago, I increased water changes. I began doing 20% changes twice a week. At first I did see improvement for about a week but not anymore. I live in Chicago, and the water certainly is abundant in calcium. I've seen it in the city's water quality data, although I don't have the source the right now to give a number. The water from my tap has a KH of 7 and a GH of 11. My tank water is 5 KH and 10 GH. Unfortunately these numbers don't tell me exactly how much calcium I have, but I wouldn't think I have a calcium deficiency with the numbers alone if it wasn't for the visible symptoms. I've never had this issue before, so I hope someone can recommend me to dose calcium or not. If I dose I'd likely use Aquavitro's Mineralize.

Here's additional info. My pH is 8, nitrates ~10, I dose a capful of flourish after water changes, dose a capful of excel and leaf zone every other day, and use root tabs made from osmocote.
Please give me suggestions, my plants are driving me crazy!

 

[DKRST]

Oh yeah, the "lace" in the first photo is your bristlenose grazing on the leaves.
I have a bunch of swords with the same thing at the moment, happened when I forgot to keep food for my BN's in my 125 (at one time I had 14 adult BNs in the heavily planted 125). As new foliage comes in post-herbivory, the new leaves seem to be less palatable to BN plecos. You also need to make certain you keep some food for the pleco in the tank at all times. I'd recommend fresh or blanched zucchini. Pull all uneaten zucchini every two days and replace. Can't guarantee your broad-leaf plants wont get grazed a little, but it will reduce the grazing a ton.

Despite anyone who says "but BNs don't eat plants", I've sat and watched them strip sword and crypt leaves to a thin lace structure on many occasions.

I don't think you need Flourish and Leaf Zone...redundant fertilization.
You could be looking at a nutrient (iron?) loading issue, not a deficit.

Regarding your nutrient deficiency, don't sweat the tiny details of fertilization. Keep using Excel, if you like, and dose a good quality fertilizer like Flourish Comprehensive 2-3 times a week. Use root tabs for the heavy root feeders like swords and make sure you do regular water changes [I recommend a single, 50% weekly change to really get the nutrient level down] to keep nutrient buildups from becoming an issue. Be patient, stop worrying about the calcium issue and I'll bet you'll see improvement. I don't quite trust the individual dry ferts to have every single required micronutrient found in quality liquid ferrtilizers.

I have planted tanks with:
-125 gallon w/Pressurized CO2, dry ferts, and root tabs
-55g dosed daily w/10ml of 1.5% glutaraldehyde (I make my own Excel), Flourish Comp, and root tabs
-A couple that are low-tech that just get Flourish Comp 1x/week.
All do well and my water from the tap is virtually distilled, horrible for plants. I don't use any fancy substrate, just play sand.

Good luck with it!

 

[edman2012]

Thanks for the advice. I use leaf zone because flourish does not contain any potassium. I'll need to watch out for the pleco. I'll see what I can do.
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[DKRST]

Thanks for the advice. I use leaf zone because flourish does not contain any potassium. I'll need to watch out for the pleco. I'll see what I can do.
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Flourish Comprehensive -> 0.37% soluble Potassium (K2O on the label).

You may want to try and move the pH down just a bit using some driftwood. Not critical.

 

[edman2012]

Oops, you're exactly right. I'll still dose leaf zone after water changes because I did have deficiencies before even while using excel. I actually do have driftwood, 4 pieces to be exact. I'd love to lower the pH but it's not simple to get done. Anyways, I will be giving the pleco a new home. My cousin has a tank without live plants and he said he'd take care of it. Tomorrow I'll start off with a water change, and go from there.
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[Flear]

for potassium i used GH booster

includes other nutrients, as well, but near 25% potassium
there was another potassium supplement at the LFS about the same potassium, similar price
-but it was liquid and didn't have much else

i am partial to powders as paying for water seems a little (or a lot) daft to me
-but many seem to prefer liquids, so i dono i've seen many fertilizers, similar price, powder vs. liquid you get so much more fertilizer getting the powder, ... since then that has stuck with me.

 

[corina savin]

Seachem GH booster (Equilibrium) has potassium and iron, but also Ca, Mg and Mn. It cannot be used to dose potassium because it will increase GH.

Equilibrium is only suitable to add to RO water to maintain GH. Potassium is a "bonus", not the main reason.

 

[Flear]

it's a temp GH booster i am finding as the plants are sucking up nutrients

over time GH levels in my tank have dropped rather low, a bunch of equilibrium later & most deficiencies dissapeared, ... slowly they're coming back and GH is down low again.

everything is temporary in a tank that has no means of releasing locked up nutrients (plants, snails, etc.)

 

[corina savin]

I boost the GH by doing a water change as my tap water is moderately hard. Everything I do in my tank is aimed at softening the water, for the sake of both fish and plants. Everything short of chemicals. I use wood, soil substrate, RO water, even manually remove snails (so the shell does not release back the calcium). I dose Potassium also and Equilibrium seemed like a good option. I don't have a test for Potassium but I checked the GH and is too high for my liking.
I have Potassium sulfate now. I use Equilibrium for RO water only.