# Black leaves



## slothking (Jul 13, 2014)

Hi everyone. 

We have a tank that has been operating for over 18mths. We have a number of established Anubis plants all around the same age. 

The plants have started to get black edges along the leaves. The leaves are also starting to turn yellow and some holes in the leaves also. 

Can anyone give me any tips? We do have a high ph (about 7.7-8) and around 10-15 fish in a 5.5 foot tank. I've tried a few different type of fertilisers but none seem to work very well


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## pandragon (Jul 10, 2014)

I would post pictures in the deficiency thread. Zappins could help you out, if he has time since he just became a doctor and is now quite busy but pops on here when he can. He is the resident expert here on everything nutrient related to plants.


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## Zapins (Jul 28, 2004)

Thanks pandragon 

slothking - Close up pictures and a description of your fertilizer dosing will help figure out what is wrong.


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## Newt (Apr 1, 2004)

My guess is Rhodophyta 2 algae


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## pandragon (Jul 10, 2014)

Black leaves can also be caused from toxins or meds. I have also seen leaves turn black and die off after being bruised or trimmed.


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## slothking (Jul 13, 2014)

That's guys. Sorry for the delayed reply.
Below are the pics of the worst affected plants. Our current fertiliser is a tablet that we got from the LFS that was supposed to help - Dupla Plant. I don't think it has. The plants are still growing well - just sad leaves. I've tried to trim them all back to only new growth but it comes back on the older leaves. I do have a high PH (about 7.8) if that could be causing it































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## Zapins (Jul 28, 2004)

Can you post a link with the Dupla Plant fertilizer you are using? I can't seem to find info on it.

The anubias look like they have spot algae on them which tends to happen on older leaves with time. It is made worse when plants are not growing healthily, when they are nutrient deficient or otherwise weakened. When plants are not at their best they cannot properly fight off algae.

The sword plant is a better indicator of nutrient issues than anubias since it grows faster and has a smaller nutrient reserve than anubias. The sword does look deficient. Without seeing a picture from the top of the tank (from the surface of the water looking down at the plant with the filter off) I can only guess that the issue might be a lack of nitrogen. If you can do a nitrate test on your water and post the results that would help figure it out. If the nitrate readings are 0 then you'll need to add nitrogen in some form. Root tabs, potassium nitrate, or a liquid fertilizer with nitrogen in it will solve the issue.

The symptoms of nitrogen deficiency are:


Zapins said:


> Nitrogen is one of the four elements known as mobile nutrients. Plants are able to remove mobile nutrients from old tissues and transport them for use in new leaves. This ability allows plants to keep growing for a time when nitrogen becomes deficient in the environment. When nitrogen is removed from old tissue it tends to be removed from the tips of the leaves back towards the base of the stem in a line, this is likely done to preserve the structure of major leaf veins and allow the salvage operation to continue in an orderly fashion until the leaf is consumed.
> 
> When nitrogen deficiency becomes severe and no more nitrogen can be removed from older leaves new leaves will begin to grow out progressively smaller until the plant cannot make any new leaves and stops growing altogether. If nitrogen is not replaced shortly after the growing bud stops sending out new leaves the plant will die.Once nitrogen has been replaced the damaged growth will not repair itself, and buds that have stopped growing will not start growing again. New buds will form and growth will resume normally from these buds. Severely nitrogen deficient plants will take a long time to recover.
> 
> Addition of nitrogen will not help the plant heal already damaged leaves. All damaged leaves will either continue the re-absorption process or remain damaged. Only new leaves formed after the addition of nitrogen will be healthy.


From: http://deficiencyfinder.com/?page_id=855

This is what it looks like in sword plants.










Also, the anubias you have should not be burried in the substrate like that. The horizontal rhizome must be exposed to the water or it will rot eventually. Only the roots should be buried.


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## slothking (Jul 13, 2014)

Thanks Zapins. That is what the sword looks like.

The product I have I think is this: http://www.aquariumline.com/catalog...ts-freshwater-tablets-p-8440.html?language=en

Thanks for the tip with the Anubias - I'll fix that up next water change.

Just did a nitrates test - it was defiantly zero. Is there a particular product you recommend?

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## thunderjack14 (Nov 28, 2014)

Hello slothking !

you may want to remove any bad leaves off your swords because they will drain the plants energy to grow new leaves because it's taking all the plants energy to try and repair the damaged leaves. and your anubias plants look like they have green spot algae on the leaves you can try dosing Potassium Phosphate -KH2PO4 small amounts every day and in a few week you should see no green spot algae on new leaves of anubias as far as the older leaves they are not much you can do. when you get the anubias healthy with more good leaves than bad ones then you can trim the really bad leaves off. hope this helps.


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## Zapins (Jul 28, 2004)

Hey Slothking, any update on your plant? Did you end up adding nitrogen? Did it help the issue?


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## slothking (Jul 13, 2014)

Hi all. 

I have a fertiliser that looked like it helped - but the algae problem got worse. 

Just changed the filtration from a trickle to a canister filter so waiting for the tank to settle down again before I start trying new things. I'll give everything a fairly major haircut and see what the new shoots look like 


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