Brown leaves on bacopa and sword plants: what's the cause?

[Giggletons]

I've got a bit of a problem with my plants - the Bacopa Monniera and Zorchzon Sword are showing some brown discolouration on their leaves. I've attached a couple of photos, although the one of the sword isn't that clear.

My plants are in a 40 litre tank with pretty hard water - pH is around 8.0-8.2. I've been using EasyLife's liquid CO2 every morning for about a month now, which has definitely helped keep them alive. The lights are on for about 13 hours a day. My Bacopa has dropped a lot of leaves at the bottom, and the top ones don't look as healthy as they should. Still, it's growing and has gotten taller since I bought it last month. The brown colour isn't algae, it's more like the leaves have turned a brown/reddish colour.

I've not been dosing any fertiliser regularly, apart from root tabs for my Sword. But I've just bought EasyLife's ProFito fertiliser, so maybe that'll sort this out. Does anyone have any ideas what might be causing this brown discolouration? Is it a lack of nutrients or too much light?

Thanks

[starlord]

Iron is crucial for aquarium plants, especially for Swords which are notorious iron eaters. Bacopa Monniera can also be a fast grower and may benefit from iron supplements. I'm not too concerned about algae at the moment, but I've heard that some people use Peroxide on the leaves to combat it.

[belleora]

Iron is crucial for aquarium plants, especially for Swords which are notorious iron eaters. Bacopa Monniera can also be a fast grower and may benefit from iron supplements. I'm not too concerned about algae at the moment, but I've heard that some people use Peroxide on the leaves to combat it.

Hey, sorry to jump in here, but I'm hoping @starlord can help me figure out what's going on with my Hygrophilia siamensis 53b.

The leaves are developing holes, and I'm stumped. I'm using the same ferts - TNC root plugs and TetraMin liquid ferts - and the other plants are fine. The siamensis in both areas of the tank are getting holes, mainly on the older leaves, and they're dropping off. This started when my Trumpet Snail population exploded - could they be eating the plants, or is this a deficiency?

[starlord]

I'd say it's likely a potassium deficiency, those and iron are the nutrients that often get depleted quickly as they're not replenished by fish waste or tap water like the other major needs are. Hygros are particularly needy of potassium, so it's a good possibility. But, I've got to say, those holes don't seem to have the typical yellow ring around them, which makes me think it could be snail damage. Photos can be deceiving, though, so it's hard to say for sure.

[dungeon]

I think snails are just cleaning up dead plant matter, not eating healthy leaves. If you didn't have snails, those holes would probably be translucent. It's likely a deficiency, I'd try iron. I started dosing TNC iron once a week, on top of my daily TNC complete, and it's given my plants a big boost. Do you dose ferts daily or weekly?

[belleora]

Iron is crucial for aquarium plants, especially for Swords which are notorious iron eaters. Bacopa Monniera can also be a fast grower and may benefit from iron supplements. I'm not too concerned about algae at the moment, but I've heard that some people use Peroxide on the leaves to combat it.

Hey, sorry to jump in here, but I'm hoping @starlord can help me figure out what's going on with my Hygrophilia siamensis 53b.

The leaves are developing holes, and I'm stumped. I'm using the same ferts - TNC root plugs and TetraMin liquid ferts - and the other plants are fine. The siamensis in both areas of the tank are getting holes, mainly on the older leaves, and they're dropping off. This started when my Trumpet Snail population exploded - could they be eating the plants, or is this a deficiency?

I'm not exactly on a strict schedule with my fertiliser dosing, to be honest. It's more of a whenever I remember kind of thing, which isn't as frequently as I probably should be doing it.

[coltin]

It seems like something is eating the leaves of the Hygrophila. Snails, sucker mouth catfish, and even regular fish can pick at and chew on leaves.

[starlord]

I've got a thriving crew of young Clown Loaches and a majestic Queen Botia, nearly six inches long. But the moment the lights dim, my tank transforms into a snail metropolis. Billions of cone snails, tiny and uninvited, swarm my Java Moss like it's their personal buffet.

Ram's horns are a distant memory, and I occasionally spot a stray pond snail that somehow sneaked in. The truth is, these snails are here to stay - short of a full-blown snail apocalypse.

Despite their sheer numbers, they don't seem to wreak havoc on my plants. They're not algae connoisseurs either. I'm convinced they're detritus devotees, feasting on fish waste and decaying leaves.

[shakinStevens]

Iron is crucial for aquarium plants, especially for Swords which are notorious iron eaters. Bacopa Monniera can also be a fast grower and may benefit from iron supplements. I'm not too concerned about algae at the moment, but I've heard that some people use Peroxide on the leaves to combat it.

I've been doing some research and I highly doubt it's a potassium deficiency. According to a nutrient calculator I found, which has TNC as an option, TNC has way more potassium in it than nitrogen - about 6 times more. Plants need a lot of nitrogen, carbon, oxygen, and hydrogen, so it's unlikely that potassium is the issue, especially considering you're using TNC and getting potassium from fish food and tap water.

What I did find, though, is that TNC might be lacking in calcium, sulfur, and chloride. If your bottle doesn't have it, it's likely deficient. Calcium can cause issues with other ingredients, so most fertilizers leave it out. But your tap water should have it, so check your tap water and aquarium water GH. Sulfur and chloride are often ignored, but plants need them. TNC might have sulfur and chloride, but they're often not listed on the label. If someone can send me the ingredient list for TNC, I can take a closer look.

I used to have a lot of problems with plants in my RO water, and I ended up making my own fertilizer. It's customized to my needs and works really well. According to the nutrient calculator, TNC is a close match to my fertilizer. But I did have one issue that might explain the holes in your plants.

I think it could be a molybdenum deficiency. I used sodium molybdate in my fertilizer, but it reacted with other ingredients and became inert. This caused holes in my plants' leaves. I solved the problem by dosing Mo separately. This deficiency really affected my Anubias, but not my other plants.

Take a close look at your plant. The holes are all in the older leaves. Sometimes when a nutrient is scarce, plants will take nutrients from older leaves to support new growth. This is called a mobile nutrient deficiency. Fortunately, the only mobile nutrients are nitrogen, potassium, magnesium, phosphate, chloride, and molybdenum. From what I've seen, a phosphate deficiency doesn't look like what you have, and a nitrogen deficiency usually results in yellowish leaves, which isn't the case here. So, I'd recommend focusing on magnesium, calcium (GH), and then chloride and molybdenum.

[starlord]

Your lighting schedule might be the culprit. If everything else seems fine, try reducing the photoperiod - see if that helps.