# Anubias Barteri Deficiency?



## Cichlids&Baseball (Jan 12, 2008)

As you can see in these pictures, there is a noticeable deficiency and lack of color in the leaves of my anubias. Does anyone know why this is happening? or what I can do to help?

I have a 125g african cichlid tank. 
It has anubias barteri, java fern, jungle vals and corkscrew vals in it. 
I use floral gro+ as a fertilizer/dechlorinator 
I have 4 48" fluorescent bulbs they are 6500K


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## FishandTurtleJunkie (Apr 14, 2007)

Are you dosing any micros- Iron?


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## Cichlids&Baseball (Jan 12, 2008)

no i dont dose anything. I fertilize when i do water changes since my fertilizer is a conditioner.


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## Zapins (Jul 28, 2004)

**Edit**
This is not potassium deficiency, it is a phosphorus deficiency. This is because while both P and K deficiencies occur in old leaves due to them being mobile nutrients, P deficiency causes lesions that destroy the leaf veins in an irregular pattern. Potassium deficiency does not. In most aquatic plants it shows up as holes between leaf veins that enlarge over time, but are essentially pin-hole like to start with.

*Please disregard the following posts discussing potassium as the cause of this issue.*

**Edit**

This is a potassium deficiency.

Potassium deficiencies are characterized by old leaves staying green and developing pinholes surrounded by yellow tissue. Older leaves may also develop yellowing from the tips or edges of older leaves. The pinholes and yellow margines expand and eventually consume the leaf. This happens because potassium is mobile within the leaf and if not supplied the plant will pull potassium out of its older leaves and shuttle it to new growth. In addition to this the new leaves may be a little smaller than the old growth.

This is not iron deficiency because iron deficiencies are characterized by yellowing of the entire leaf in _new growth_.

Dose a teaspoon or two full of some K2SO4, or KCl. KNO3 may also be used, but don't dose too much since it will also add nitrogen.


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## Cichlids&Baseball (Jan 12, 2008)

"Dose a teaspoon or two full of some K2SO4, or KCl. KNO3 may also be used, but don't dose too much since it will also add nitrogen."

where would I purchase these? also how would I disperse the nutrients/chemicals into the tank?


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## Cichlids&Baseball (Jan 12, 2008)

also should i remove the leaves with yellow on them?


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## Zapins (Jul 28, 2004)

On ebay
http://cgi.ebay.com/K2SO4-Potassium...mQQptZBI_Lab_Supplies?_trksid=p3286.m20.l1116

or...
Copied from the fertilizing sticky:



Laith said:


> AquariumFertilizers.com can provide you with the necessary chemicals for dry and liquid dosing of the above. For micro - trace elements, Plantex CSM+B, Seachem Flourish, and Tropica AquaCare are equivalent to each other. Drsfostersmith and bigalsonline for the Seachem and Tropica brands.
> 
> One Pound of each of Aquarium Fertilizer/Greg Watson's Chemicals will last at least 1 year:
> 
> ...


You want to get Potassium sulfate for 3$ from them. I have a 1 or 2 pound bag and I've had it for the last 3 years, and probably won't need another for the next 20. You can go with liquid fertilizers, but they won't last as long since they aren't as concentrated. So it is far cheaper to get dry chemicals and mix them in a cup before adding them to the tank than buy premixed liquid ferts.

I wouldn't remove the lower anubias leaves until you have dosed potassium. The plant is ransacking the old leaves for food so if you break them off now without adding potassium it will just start the process on newer leaves that aren't damaged now.


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## jaidexl (Jan 20, 2007)

Cool, I've never run across the actual process that's taking place during a potassium deficiency. Thanks for the details, Zapins. :thumbsup:


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## Zapins (Jul 28, 2004)

no problem. There are a lot of interesting things that happen with plants. 

If a deficiency occurs and it shows up in the new leaves and not the old, then you know the nutrient is not mobile within the plant. This narrows down what the deficiency can be.

The really tricky part is if you aren't sure if the problem is a toxicity effect from dosing too much. Thankfully overdosing usually isn't the problem


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## Zapins (Jul 28, 2004)

Ugh I meant Potassium sulfate not mono potassium phosphate like I had written before. Hopefully you haven't bought the phosphate yet (although you will probably need it later on along with KNO3 and CSM+B).

It might be a good idea to buy all the chemicals you need now to save on shipping since they are so cheap anyway...



Zapins said:


> You want to get *Potassium sulfate* for 3$ from them. I have a 1 or 2 pound bag and I've had it for the last 3 years, and probably won't need another for the next 20. You can go with liquid fertilizers, but they won't last as long since they aren't as concentrated. So it is far cheaper to get dry chemicals and mix them in a cup before adding them to the tank than buy premixed liquid ferts.


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## Cichlids&Baseball (Jan 12, 2008)

damn... so yes, i already bought it, bought it right after you told me to!!!

It just got here today and I was on to see if i need to dilute it in water, distilling process and dosing... 

Is there anyway to just use this? I would have liked to combine shipping I guess thats the only difference, but I hate to pay 6 dollar shipping twice on 5 and 3 dollar products


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## Cichlids&Baseball (Jan 12, 2008)

also is there any local stores that might sell it?


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## Zapins (Jul 28, 2004)

Ahh sorry mate. I didn't catch it in time, my brain was somewhere else.

Yes you can use the phosphate you brought, but don't add too much of it, it is very strong and adds a lot of PO4 (phosphate) and not too much K (potassium). Add about a quarter of a teaspoon. I don't think this much potassium will solve your potassium issues. The plants are starved for potassium so they will suck up all the potassium you add with the chemical you bought. They will try stockpile as much of the potassium as they can hold, taking it out the water column. It will help, but not solve the problem until you can get a better source of potassium.

There are liquid products that you can buy at your local pet shop for potassium, but they are more than 8$, so its still cheaper to buy it from the site. You might also want to get a tub of CSM+B (for micros) and some KNO3 (for nitrates) for future use, since they will probably run out at sometime.

Sorry about the confusion


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