fish eating my plants =(

[K R Brown]

are fish doing this or something else

fish that i beleve could are

clown loach

bristle nose

pleco

is there anything you can do to stop it ? :evil:

[A.PROPHECY]

itl most likely be the pleco

[IOU1]

Yup definately the pleco escpecially if the plants have been muched on quite a bit. They are vegeterians and sometimes get tempted to eat the plants. Try some more vegetable matter in their diet and see if they will opt to that to allow your plants to repair themselves. Hope this helps, good luck

[sharn]

chuck a piece of zhuchinni, cucumber, shelled peas etc in the tank before bed each night (you may need to weigh the first two down) and see if your plants stop getting nibbled. my BN have never touched my plants but even when my pleco was well fed he still ate my cabomba like it was candy

[A.PROPHECY]

could try some hardier plants ?

my plecos never touch vallisneria or java fern mite just be lucky tho

worth a try ay

[alanmin4304]

If the plant is a recent introduction it may have been grown emersed and is having trouble converting to submersed growth. The alternanthera in the foreground looks like it is still converting.

[TimTam22]

How can you tell that its converting??

[alanmin4304]

The new leaves on the hygrophila are not as robust as the old growth and the alternanthera is still green on the top of the leaf and is usually red in the submersed form. I may be wrong but it usually takes some time to convert and is sold in the shops in the emersed form. A dead give away with alternanthera are the flowers at each leaf (I can't see any). A good test usually is that if it will stand upright by itself it has probably been grown emersed.

[TimTam22]

thanks for that info, is that all a bad thing??

[alanmin4304]

Most people supplying the shops grow the plants emersed because they propagate and grow a lot quicker. They get paid so little that it is not economical to heat a glasshouse and the plants are in short supply over the winter. It is not a bad thing but it is the cause of a lot of people having problems with keeping aquatic plants. Some plants sold are not aquatic plants and many do not convert to submersed growth easily. The plants would be a lot more expensive if they were all grown submersed.

[Jo1]

The Hygrophilia leaves are very tender with the new spring growth. We are having the same trouble but give it a month or so and they will be much better. I don't think wholesalers sell an emersed form of that hygo. Hygro Corymbosa does better in tropical tanks in my opinion but would agree that it is probably the pleco although I have seen bristlenoses do the same thing when they get larger.

[alanmin4304]

Both forms of corymbosa in Christchurch are usually sold emersed. I would be surprised if it is grown submersed in any quantity elswhere. I think the leaves are drowning because the emersed growth has a different structure. The new growth looks like it is OK (a little smaller because of less light) so when it is big enough the plant can be nipped off and the new growth on the old stalk will be OK as well.

[suphew]

Is that a snail on the rock at the front of the picture?? They look alot like snails holes to me, being in the middle of the leaves and spread out.

New plants often lose all their leaves and the new submerged ones grow back a different shape. The easiest way to guess if they have been grown emersed is the lack of any algae on the leaves and how hard the leaves feel. Submersed leaves will be far softer

[K R Brown]

Is that a snail on the rock at the front of the picture?? They look alot like snails holes to me, being in the middle of the leaves and spread out.

New plants often lose all their leaves and the new submerged ones grow back a different shape. The easiest way to guess if they have been grown emersed is the lack of any algae on the leaves and how hard the leaves feel. Submersed leaves will be far softer

nope its a glow at an funny angle all good thanks for your input much apreciated

[Dasher]

nope its a glow at an funny angle all good thanks for your input much apreciated

Drop in a lump of cucumber, replace it every few days and see if the problem goes away. The Plec may not be getting enough food so is sucking the plants?

[livebearer_breeder]

I agree with Suph, that looks like snails doing, rather than a pleco, if a pleco really wanted to eat it, it should have made a bigger mess of it than simply chewing the middle inside of the leaves, which i also cant imagine how they'd manage to do.

Shae

[suphew]

Do you have any drift wood in there? Plec's need it to chew on

[livebearer_breeder]

Infact, more probably, you'll find that a snail spawned on the underside of the leaves, and though it might appear you have no snails in your tank, the baby snails are eating away the leaves.

Shae

[Dasher]

Infact, more probably, you'll find that a snail spawned on the underside of the leaves, and though it might appear you have no snails in your tank, the baby snails are eating away the leaves.

Shae

I dunno - I drop snails into my tank from time to time and they dont last 24 hours - Clown Loaches LOVE snails.

Since there is one in there and it isnt that big a tank I would say the changes of it being snail damage by anything smaller than a mature Apple Snail are slim.

[Dasher]

Do you have any drift wood in there? Plec's need it to chew on

Yeah good idea. I put some in my sons tank to keep the BN busy and he sucks it all day.

Only down side is that it turns the water brackish unless you up the level of charcoal filtering

[alanmin4304]

Why are the older/tougher/emersed leaves being eaten rather than the new/juicy/soft/submersed leaves?

[sharn]

driftwood- even driftwood from the beach if washed properly- should not turn your tank brakish, also carbon will not remove salt. perhaps you are meaning it releases tannins which make the water brownish?

[Dasher]

Why are the older/tougher/emersed leaves being eaten rather than the new/juicy/soft/submersed leaves?

Could it be that the light or phospates are burning them ?

[suphew]

Maybe there were snail eggs on the older leaves, they might still be small and not moved far. This would explain why you haven't seen them yet and why it is only those leaves.

When the emersed leaves die off they usually go yellow all over and fall or rot off, they dont usually get clean holes like that.

[Dasher]

Maybe there were snail eggs on the older leaves, they might still be small and not moved far. This would explain why you haven't seen them yet and why it is only those leaves.

When the emersed leaves die off they usually go yellow all over and fall or rot off, they dont usually get clean holes like that.

You hear of lab mice that get cancer when fed too much food, or get cancer from smoking, or get cancer from drinking water etc. I always wondered if any one ever consiered that the lab mice might just get cancer???

This may be the same thing. You might just have a new variety of holey leaved Amazon Sword.