Amazon Swords Dying

[jgranata13]

Within the last week, three of the leaves on my amazon sword look like this (the darker one in the back of the plant):
32705

To me it doesn't look like it's dying, it looks like it's been mechanically damaged by something else (like if you take a regular leaf on a tree and crunch it up).

The only thing I've done differently since I got these plants in six months is that I recently treated for hemorrhagic septicemia with Furan-2 last week; could that be the cause? Also, what should I do?

[KevinVA]

Can you take a picture of the whole plant?

Are there some leaves like this and others that look healthy? You could have some fish nibbling on the older leaves. Amazon Swords are very hardy, so you might try trimming it, by cutting off the older leaves that look like they're getting weathered/beaten.

[jgranata13]

That is the whole plant. It was growing like wildfire when I first for it and now it seems to have stopped.

Most of the leaves still look completely healthy.

[KevinVA]

lol, oh that? Sorry... my swords were reaching over a foot in height. Thought you were talking about the thing behind it, whatever that is. lol Is that just a background?

When's the last time you dosed a fertilizer tab?

[talldutchie]

Could be a phosphorous shortage. Are you noticing more algae?

[jgranata13]

Kevin, yeah the thing behind it is just my wonky background. Now that you mention it, I recently sucked out the remains of the last fertilizer tab I put in there and then forgot to put in a new one.

Dutchie, I haven't been noticing more algae, but you could you explain for future reference why a phosphorous shortage leads to algae growth? Is it because the plants can't use the rest of the nutrients without phosphorus so the algae uses them instead?

Here's the most recent development:
32745
As you can see, the leaf in the back is now becoming clear (NOT dissolving. I touched it and all the tissue is still there; it's lost it's pigment). Could the plant just be molting? When I bought the plant I noticed that none of the leaves really looked like amazon sword leaves (they were short and fat with long stems) and recently new growth has started to look like regular amazon sword leaves.

[KevinVA]

No, that's not molting, that's just a dying leaf. lol The transparency is a sign of iron deficiency. Additionally, yellowing leaves is a sign of potassium, nitrogen or phosphate deficiency. Swords are heavy substrate feeders, so you'll want to replace a fert tab asap.

[talldutchie]

Dutchie, I haven't been noticing more algae, but you could you explain for future reference why a phosphorous shortage leads to algae growth? Is it because the plants can't use the rest of the nutrients without phosphorus so the algae uses them instead?



Don't need to tell you, you already know