# Amazon Swords have yellow dots



## Louis (Jan 23, 2006)

Hi there,

Just this week, my amazon swords started developing yellow spots on several of the leaves. Here is my current setup and fert routine.

35gallon
110W Power Compact
Natural Gravel substrate

Ferts: Seachem Flourish, Excel, Iron. Also Potassium (KCl), and Magnesium (Mg2SO4) added twice a week. 

Any ideas? 

Thanks in advance.

Louis


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## BryceM (Nov 6, 2005)

Where exactly? New leaves or old? You're not dosing any macros as far as I can tell. It's likely a nitrogen deficiency.

Swords can chew through enormous quantities of nutrients.


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## Zapins (Jul 28, 2004)

Agreed probably nitrogen. Though as guaiac said they do tend to consume an awful lot of nutrients in general. 

In particular I have noticed Amazon Swords have always needed extra iron or they seem to develop new growth problems such as new growth being yellowish and pale also leaves are brittle. So you might want to keep an eye out for this problem as it seems to be pretty common.

But nitrogen will primarily cause yellowing in old leaves and small newly formed leaves rather then lush and large old ones. Also, more severe characteristics of nitrogen deficiency can be seen when the root system is overly large compared with the supporting leaves and the new growth becomes so pale that it appears white or transparent in conjunction with the fact that the old leaves are non existent. The deficiency occurs in the old leaves rather then the new leaves because the plant is actually taking nitrogen from the structure of the old leaf and using it to grow new leaves. However, after the old leaves have been stripped they tend to decompose rather quickly and will become riddled with holes. Iron cannot be taken from old leaves because it is not mobile inside the plants' cells.

Thus it is possible to see the difference between a nitrogen deficiency and an iron deficiency even though both are characterized by yellowing since Iron deficiencies (yellowing/brittleness) can be seen mostly in the new leaves, and for nitrogen yellowing normally occurs in the old leaves and is soon followed by holes if not corrected. 

For the future:
When describing plant deficiencies it is very important to describe exactly what the leaves/stems/roots look like in detail. For some examples:

-Look at the color of the veins on new/old growth as these are also good places to look for deficiencies. 
-Other good signs are root size, 
-Color of new/old leaves
-Brittleness of plant/stems
-Small holes (pinholes)
-Large chunky holes
-Yellowing between the veins on leaves
-Yellowing/discoloration along the edges of the leaves, or in the middle. 
-Also any leaf deformities are important, the size of new leaves vs old leaves are also important.


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## John N. (Dec 11, 2005)

Likely a Macro issue, Nitrogen and Potassium. Don't forget to supplement the substrate with ferts. Swords can be heavy root feeders.

-John N.


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