# Alternanthera Reineckii disappearing!



## Cneon (Sep 19, 2011)

Okay, so it's not really disappearing, but every day a little bit more of my plants are gone. These were the best looking plants in my tank up until a few days ago. A few of them came uprooted and were floating around for a day before I could replant them.

All other plants are showing no signs of difficulty at all - crypts and DHG is pearling like crazy - a newly planted Amazon Sword is showing a little bit of yellow and brown coloration in the middle of the leaf and one example at the tip, though I think this is mechanical issue more than it is a possible nitrogen deficiency.

So, with this problem, can anyone identify the two main issues?

1., Are the green spots on the leaves algae or are they evidence of a deficiency?
2., Why are huge chunks of the leaves missing?

Sad panda. Thanks for the help in advance!




























Regards, 
Chad


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## Silvering (Jun 10, 2011)

The green spots look like GSA to me - and any algae is a sign of some sort of imbalance. Try upping your K dosing. 

What livestock do you keep? Any chance the missing bits are signs of nibbling?


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## Cneon (Sep 19, 2011)

Silvering,
I left that information out because I was almost positive it was my oto cats being a little too abrasive on what I thought to be algea on the leaves. You comment pretty much sealed it for me. I was secretly hoping it was a simple deficiency. 

So why no visible algea anywhere else in my tank - it seems only to be on these poor plants. And so is my only option at this point to cut off all the leaves with algea or if I pump up the potassium (or will it fade?


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## Silvering (Jun 10, 2011)

What kind of steroid-pumped otos do you have?? :shock:  I wouldn't think otos could be responsible for that, but I'm not sure what other thing it might be, it doesn't look quite like melting leaves to me. The spots don't get soft and dead looking before they disappear, do they?

I get GSA on pretty much everything when I don't dose, but it might just be starting on those leaves before spreading to everything else! Pumping up potassium should help keep it from spreading, but I would go ahead and prune off the affected leaves since it looks like just the lower ones are badly "infected".


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## Cneon (Sep 19, 2011)

It's the only thing that would account for it, imo. The only clean ups I have are O-Cats, Amano shrimp and Nerite snails. And the snails are always on the glass, the shrimp on the rocks. I have seen the o-cats working the leaves over in the past. Never noticed any damage when they left the leaft, though. Maybe they're making it just weak enough, tearing off a couple of layers of the leaf, and then it slowly "melts" or disintegrates after that.

But no, there is no real progression. They just sort of develop ever-expanding areas of nothingness. I don't notice any discoloration other than the green spots. They look healthy even with holes in them. No idea what else it could be. I'll pump the K and pull them tomorrow for some heavy pruning. Sad panda indeed.


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## Silvering (Jun 10, 2011)

Yeah, I have no clue what it might be, one of the more experienced people might have a better clue about vanishing leaf bits.

Also, I have to post a correction: GSA is P deficiency, not K, sorry. I have K deficiency on the brain right now since I'm fighting that in my tank. If you haven't read the MCI thread, you should! Get the info right from the source rather than from my oral-surgery-addled memory.


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