Amazon Sword trouble

[K-Ray]

My sword has been great for over a year. My substrate is sand. I use a mixture of Seachem and easy green tabs. I use easy green on the water column. However the last 3 months the new leaves are lighter green almost see through. They are also splotchy and the veins black. Almost all leaves either have holes. Any help would be greatly appreciated 

[PaigeIs]

Hi K-Ray,

I don't need to tell you that you are dealing with some sort of nutrient issue. The question is which one(s)?  Here are a couple of  good resource for diagnosing common issues. 

• https://www.aquariumcoop.com/blogs/aquarium/plant-nutrient-deficiencies
• https://www.aquasabi.com/aquascaping-wiki_nutrients_deficiency-symptoms-in-aquatic-plants

My guess, based on your description, is a lack of potassium and maybe magnesium.  I know in my planted tanks, I have to supplement potassium even though I also use Easy Green and Root Tabs.  The first step is to test your water parameters.  What are your nitrate values?  Are you using CO2? Do you use tap water?  The composition of tap water varies somewhat. It's possible that there were nutrients in the water a year ago that are not as available now.  Also, as the plants grow, they need more food.  Sword plants are heavy feeders.  If you do decide to start dosing some supplemental ferts, you'll need to give the plants a few weeks and monitor the new growth for positive change.  I'd also suggest trimming the dying leaves from the plant so it can use it's energy for new growth.