My Amazon swords are melting and have holes in them see photo. I have a new 40 gallon breeder tank 6 weeks old with a 1200 lumen planted tank 6500k led fixture now running 12 hours and everything is doing fine but my swords. Tank has 18 brilliant rasboras, 6 nerite snails and 2 clown plecos, java ferns, water sprites with no co2. I dose the tank with easy green 2x weekly and supplement the aquasoil with root tabs. Nitrates are below 5, ph 6.6, gh 6, kh 3. I do see new growth that looks fine so they may just be adjusting to being submerged. Thank you.
Amazon swords problems
- Thread starter Artemas
- Start date
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It could be a nutrient deficiency, but i would let the plant settle and see how the new growth fares for a while before looking to correct things.
Remove any dead and dying growth so the plants resources are focused on new growth rather than trying to sustain old dying leafs.
Your light is on the low side at about 7 lumens per litre, but it should be ok for amazon swords. 12 hours a day is a lot. There might not be enough nutrients in the water to sustain 12 hours a day photoperiod.
Changing lots of things at once wont help. If things improve or degrade you have no idea which thing you changed caused it. Change one thing, observe what happens over a couple of months before changing something else.
Remove any dead and dying growth so the plants resources are focused on new growth rather than trying to sustain old dying leafs.
Your light is on the low side at about 7 lumens per litre, but it should be ok for amazon swords. 12 hours a day is a lot. There might not be enough nutrients in the water to sustain 12 hours a day photoperiod.
Changing lots of things at once wont help. If things improve or degrade you have no idea which thing you changed caused it. Change one thing, observe what happens over a couple of months before changing something else.
Last edited:
Colin_T
Aquarium Advice Addict
Hi and welcome to the forum 
Most Echinodorus species (Amazon sword plants) are grown hydroponically (wet rots, dry leaves). When these plants are put underwater, the terrestrial leaves die off and new aquatic leaves grow. This is common in new plants from pet shops. Don't remove the leaves until they are completely brown and have dropped to the bottom, then you can cut them off with a pair of scissors. Plants draw the nutrients out of the terrestrial leaves and use them to grow new leaves. If you cut the green leaves off, you are taking away the nutrients that can be used for new growth.
The holes in the leaves are quite uniform and I would say the snails and or plecos are chewing on them. Make sure you have driftwood, algae and biofilm (slime on the glass and ornaments) in their tank. Offer them slices of pumpkin, cucumber, zucchini, etc, in addition to an algae wafer a couple of times a week.
Make sure any fruit/ veges you offer are free of chemicals and rinse well under the tap before adding to the tank.
Give the tan some time and the plants will shed their old leaves and hopefully have lots of nice new ones. If the new leaves get full of holes, post more pictures.
Most Echinodorus species (Amazon sword plants) are grown hydroponically (wet rots, dry leaves). When these plants are put underwater, the terrestrial leaves die off and new aquatic leaves grow. This is common in new plants from pet shops. Don't remove the leaves until they are completely brown and have dropped to the bottom, then you can cut them off with a pair of scissors. Plants draw the nutrients out of the terrestrial leaves and use them to grow new leaves. If you cut the green leaves off, you are taking away the nutrients that can be used for new growth.
The holes in the leaves are quite uniform and I would say the snails and or plecos are chewing on them. Make sure you have driftwood, algae and biofilm (slime on the glass and ornaments) in their tank. Offer them slices of pumpkin, cucumber, zucchini, etc, in addition to an algae wafer a couple of times a week.
Make sure any fruit/ veges you offer are free of chemicals and rinse well under the tap before adding to the tank.
Give the tan some time and the plants will shed their old leaves and hopefully have lots of nice new ones. If the new leaves get full of holes, post more pictures.
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