plants dying help!

[nycfatcow]

My tank was up and running for about a month now. Everything was doing great until yesterday. When i go home i saw that a lot of my plants got very light in green color some even turning yellow. and some are have holes in them. I recently added a royal pleco to my tank. Do you think he can be eating everything? What do you think is going on.

[black hills tj]

Do you have a test kit to check the water parameters? Holes in leaves indicate nutrient deficiencies i think

[Leaf]

The light green & yellow is often a sign of depleted trace elements such as Iron. Are you adding any fertilizers or supplements to the aquarium? What kind of substrate is in the aquarium? Did you use any additives with the substrate?

As for the small holes - do you have any snails in the tank?
Usually, as the plants start to whither (from lack of trace elements) portions of the leaves die and that is what the snails eat. The result is "swiss cheese leaves."

What kind of plants do you have?

Do you have any driftwood in the tank?
My royal plecos keeps the driftwood in one of my tanks nearly spotless and doesn't seem to bother any of the plants (various amazon swords, wysteria)

[nycfatcow]

hmm i removed all of the snails in my tank....so thats pretty much out of the question.... i do 2 water changes a week 30% at a time to replace the trace elements... and yes i do dose... i use flourish by seachem.... and yes i do have driftwood in the tank and yes he does clean the wood all the time.... I have different swords, vals, and some plant that looks like lily pads...

[Leaf]

How much Flourish are you using? (ex: ml per gallon)

Is Flourish the only supplement you are using?

It is possible to overdose with Flourish and give plants a "chemical burn"

[nycfatcow]

hmmm i think only 1 ml since i have a 12G tank....But when i get home i will do a 50% water change to see if it helps the situation.... Think its also possible to bleach the plants if the lights are on too much?

[rkilling1]

We are going to need some more info on your tank. I would like to know how much lighting you have and all that you are dosing.

Holes and yellowing is often from a lack of potassium.

Here is a nice little article about nutrient deficiencies and what to look for:

http://www.thekrib.com/Plants/Fertil...eficiency.html

[nycfatcow]

just dosing with flourish once a week 1ml... 12 g tank... 24watts... pretty simple.. im going to do a large water change when i get home

[Jchillin]

i do 2 water changes a week 30% at a time to replace the trace elements... and yes i do dose... i use flourish by seachem...

This method is basically tossing all of your nutrients down the drain. Unless you are using the Estimative Index, 30% per week is fine. You are currently changing 60% per week.

[Purrbox]

Sounds like your plant mass has exceeded the nutrient output of your fish bioload. You may need to look at dosing Macros in addition the Micro/Trace fertilization you're doing with the Flourish.

[nycfatcow]

hmmm i did a large water change... and the plants seems to green back up... i think i dosed too much of the flourish... and as a result burned all my plants... but they seem to be doing better