Amazon sword leaves transparent

[evercl92]

Every other plant seems to be doing ok. I'm having issues with the amazon sword. Some of the (older) leaves are becoming transparent, starting at the tips. I think I read somewhere that this is likely K deficiency? I find this quite odd, since the ozelot, melon, and 2 other sword plants (I don't know the species) don't have these issues at all. I haven't dosed anything for a week, nitrate has been constant 40ppm for about 4 days. It was 80ppm before a 50% wc a week ago.

water parameters, checked 5 mins before this post:
pH 7.0
kh 4
nitrate 5ppm
iron 1.0 ppm

I added 1/2 tsp of KNO3 after testing. Potassium test kits look to be expensive, so unless necessary, I'd rather not purcahse one. Some of the leaves have holes in them, kinda like they've been chewed.

1) Could this be because of the yoyo loaches?
2) Is the sword leaf transparency due to K deficiency or something else?

[rich311k]

Do you use root tabs? Do you add traces?

[Jchillin]

I'm thinking not only K, but Fe as well.

[evercl92]

Yeh, I use root tabs. I've placed one under each sword plant. 1.0 mg/L is the highest my iron test reads. It turned the full purple color (indicating 1.0) in 14 mins, when I'm supposed to wait 30mins. I don't specifically add trace, but I was adding CSM+B, until I realized that my iron was so high.

Should I continue to add CSM+B anyway, even with the iron so high?

[7Enigma]

If you did not add any potassium in the last week (prior to your recent potassium nitrAte dosing), you definatley induced a K deficiency (if your CO2 leves were high enough to not be the limiting reagent). That 40ppm nitrAte level meant that you had quite a lot of nitrAte present (not to mention that it was being consumed since the level stayed consistent).

What are your phosphate levels?

I like to overdose potassium since there is no negative effect on having too much in the tank. Pinpoint holes in leaves are textbook potassium deficiency symptoms, as is an overall yellowing of the leaf.

What is your iron test?

I've heard the inexpensive iron tests are very inaccurate.

I would suggest a large PWC and redose all your ferts according to generally accepted levels (20ppm NitrAte, 20-30ppm potassium, .2ppm iron, 1-3ppm phosphate), so that you can be relatively sure your tank has not bottomed out on any 1 fert.

[evercl92]

Everytime I've checked, my phos has been at least 5ppm. That's the highest the kit goes to, and it was the darkest it could have been. The last time I checked was 2wks ago.

Here's the iron test I use.

The actual holes in the leaves are 1/4 -1/2 inch wide. Definately not pinholes.
The only ferts I've been dosing is Greg Watsons CSM+B and KNO3.

Do you guys recommend getting potassium sulfate through Greg or liquid K supplement?

[7Enigma]

Originally Posted by evercl92

Everytime I've checked, my phos has been at least 5ppm. That's the highest the kit goes to, and it was the darkest it could have been. The last time I checked was 2wks ago.

Here's the iron test I use.

The actual holes in the leaves are 1/4 -1/2 inch wide. Definately not pinholes.
The only ferts I've been dosing is Greg Watsons CSM+B and KNO3.

Do you guys recommend getting potassium sulfate through Greg or liquid K supplement?

I recommend getting Greg's dry ferts for potassium sulfate. And get at least 2lbs. I have gone through 3/4 of a pound in 3 months on my 20gallon. Anytime you are stuck doing large water changes due to algae issues, dead fish, Ich, ect. you will really start to use a bunch of it (and your other ferts). Liquid is probably easier to dose, but frankly I just dose a 1/4tsp dry into the tank near the filter.

Those size holes make me think you might have some pond snails or something eating at the leaves, I don't know if a severe deficiency (but only a week) can cause that much tissue damage, even on a sword.

Your phosphate levels are pretty high (find out exactly what they are by diluting with a phosphate free source).

What is your CO2 dosing? ie Excel, pressurized, and what approximate ppm level are you keeping?

I can't imagine you don't have a tank full of algae. Your quite lucky!

[evercl92]

Shhhhhh... I dont want to hear the algae word. I've been quite fortunate with that, the only real algae that grows is the green spot on the glass, that I clean off every other week. I can only assume that the 8 otocinclus are taking care of it. Other options would be: farlowella, florida flag fish, 4 SAE, 2 flying foxes, rubbernose pleco.

I've never seen a snail in this tank. I'm quite meticulous when checking new plants, so unlikely. Plus the yoyos should take care of them.

CO2 is from 2 2L bottles, t-pieced together then goes through a diffuser. I set the diffuser so that the bubbles rise into the stream of the powerhead, and get blown across the tank. I get almost 100% diffusion. I can't say I "keep" a level of it, just whatever it produces. Last week it was 1-2 bubbles per second, but this week it seems down to about 1 every 1.5 - 2 seconds.

[7Enigma]

Might want to change a bottle out. I'm in the process of going from 1 bottle to 2 hopefully this weekend to get more consistent levels, as my guess is 1 every 2 seconds is probably pretty low.

The one nice thing (if you can call it nice) is that if CO2 is deficient you just don't get plant growth, there really is no deficiency symptoms (ie holes in leaves, poor color, wilting). This will of course give algae a chance to take over, but it really won't kill your plant.

I'd get some potassium in there pronto (even in the short run if it means doing large water changes and dosing with potassium nitrAte).

[Argblarg]

My Amazon sword started to do the same thing, browning at the tips, when I stopped dosing my K. I now use the K2SO4 and it looks healthier than ever.