Amazon Sword Nutrient Deficiency / staghorn algae

[Ryan1988]

Hello All,

I just wanted to get some input on nutrient deficiency for my Amazon sword. This is a 20 gallon tank stocked with 5 glow fish tetra's, 4 hillstream loaches, amano shrimp and 3 pea puffers. Plants in addition to 2 amazon sword, 1 dwarf aquarium lily, java moss and Vallisneria. I was considering reducing my fertilization schedule due to staghorn algae but the Amazon sword plants seem deficient in something. The plant on the left is older, while most of the leaves are fine some have darker veins and a warp/twist to them. The plant on the right is newer the leaves are not as dark as the other plant and have dark veins, 1 leaf is kinda floppy. 

Fertilization schedule:

Tuesday = 1 aquariumcoop root tab per amazon sword
Thursday = 2 pumps easy green
Saturday = 1 aquariumcoop root tab per amazon sword

 

Thank you for your help.

[Tony s]

For swords, they draw most of their fertilizer through the roots. So you have 2 choices. Either root tabs once a month or so, or allowing mulm to build up around it in your gravel. Root tabs seem a healthier option. But I tend to do it by mulm

Sword show deficiency by melting of the out leaves. The center should remain green and vibrant. while the outside leave start to skelotonize and melt away. And sometimes it can be healthy and look bad. I just pulled what I thought was a dying sword but the roots extended to the other side of my 75g tank. 

[nabokovfan87]

It's not a hard and fast rule, but most broad leaved plants can handle low-medium light.  I would start with something like a riser, 6-8" above the tank if you can. or mount the light up off the lid.  I see you do have something on there currently, but I'm not sure the height.

Beyond that, review the light settings, work on actively treating for BBA and things like that to get it to back off.  There's a list of about 8-12 things to check for BBA to try to narrow down what is going on.  With swords, it's a bit more straightforward.... placement, light intensity, and removing dying leaves.  For a lot of those things on the list I would point you towards the algae thread in my signature as a start.  It's focused on BBA specifically for me and has video resources that can help.

I see some yellowing on the leaves.  So there's some dying / nutrient issues going on.  For each sword, depending which type of root tab you're using.... 3-5 is about the right number every 2-3 months per plant.  With an inert substrate that might be the place to start.  Once the plant starts to recover you can do something like a monthly tab or two... or three.

On 1/16/2024 at 10:23 AM, Ryan1988 said:

Plants in addition to 2 amazon sword, 1 dwarf aquarium lily, java moss and Vallisneria.

These all would be pretty low demand plants.  I would turn the light down in intensity. Highest would be 30% for me.

 

On 1/16/2024 at 10:23 AM, Ryan1988 said:

Fertilization schedule:

Tuesday = 1 aquariumcoop root tab per amazon sword
Thursday = 2 pumps easy green
Saturday = 1 aquariumcoop root tab per amazon sword

There's a lot going on weekly and tabbing that often, I don't think it's really going to result in the affect you're hoping for.  Tabbing is usually monthly, more often it's around every ~3 months in a normal tank.  I would imagine George Farmer has a video on the tropica channel for swords care that is useful as well as Green Aqua and Filipe Oliveira has one for general fertilization techniques.  There's a lot of different methods to get things thriving and everyone's tank is different. 

Hopefully that helps, please feel free to ask specific questions if you need more detail.

[Ryan1988]

@nabokovfan87 Thank you for the reply. After last night's reading I think I'm not doing enough root tabs so i plan on doing more. bi weekly 3 per plant. I also don't think my substrate isn't think enough. The lack of substrate is causing the root tabs to leach into the water column and causing the staghorn algae. currently its only 1inch deep. There was an Aquarium coop article that says 2-3 inches is preferable. Is that correct?

[MattyM]

On 1/19/2024 at 7:01 AM, Ryan1988 said:

Aquarium coop article that says 2-3 inches is preferable.

I do at least 3 inches, and would start by backing off the lighting as @nabokovfan87 said before changing anything else, and wait and see. You can help get rid of the current staghorn by target-dosing something like Excel or Easy Carbon, which seems to kill off staghorn rather quickly. I have done this in my tanks with val, and the val were fine.

Another thing to consider is that root tabs, especially with a shallow substrate, can leech into the water column, providing more food to the algae. 

[nabokovfan87]

On 1/19/2024 at 5:01 AM, Ryan1988 said:

@nabokovfan87 Thank you for the reply. After last night's reading I think I'm not doing enough root tabs so i plan on doing more. bi weekly 3 per plant. I also don't think my substrate isn't think enough. The lack of substrate is causing the root tabs to leach into the water column and causing the staghorn algae. currently its only 1inch deep. There was an Aquarium coop article that says 2-3 inches is preferable. Is that correct?

For plants I tend to do 4" in the front, 6" in the back. Especially swords. 3 inches is about the minimum.

You could be having issues with things in the water column.  Staghorn was fixed for me by correcting circulation issues.  BBA tends to grow based on nutrients and rotting debris for me.