Will this aquatic plant repair itself?

Question

I've had a large aquatic plant for a month or two now and it's slowly started to deteriorate:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/minibluedragon/5013186412/

Until recently I thought my tiger pleco might be stripping it but I was advised in my LFS that it's a root feeder and the damage comes from an iron deficiency. I bought some JBL ProFlora root fertiliser balls and put one next to the plant a couple of days ago.

I know that Amazon Sword cannot repair it's own damage and so needs damaged leaves trimming off but I'm not sure about this plant. It looks similar to Amazon Sword but the leaves and structure are a LOT bigger.

So the question is do I trim the damaged leaves and leave the rest of the plant to grow nicely or can I leave the damaged leaves on it and they will repair themselves?

Thanks all! :)

Answer 1

The dying leaves might recover if they were returned to a hydroponic set up, but the holes are permanent and chances are the leaves are already dead from being drowned.



The sword plant is larger and sturdier because it was grown emersed (hydroponics). Swordplants will grow much faster and so are cheaper to produce if grown out of the water and misted. It takes a lot of watts to reach the plant leaves through a layer of water but much smaller lights can be used in hydroponics. The clerks at your LFS probably don't know this since owners and suppliers don't want you to know. Some of the big chains will fire clerks who find out that the plants are not grown aquatically.



There was nothing wrong with their advice to fertilize the swordplant. Swords are heavy feeders and can use it.



The tiger pleco is probably eating the softening emersed leaves and that is good since they have to be removed one way or another and help from cooperative fish is always accepted in my fish room. However he may also eat the new growth leaves, and that would be fatal to the plant.



The drawback to this method is that the emersed (out of water) leaves do not survive being immersed (under water). As the new under water leaves form, remove the dying emersed leaves.



It is definitely a swordplant, unless the leaves come out sideways from a stiff sturdy stem which is the growth habit of Hygrophila. When you look down on a sword you see a rosette of leaves coming up from a central area. Runners can show up and have flowers spaced on them and eventually plantlets will form by the flowers.



I've raised hundreds of swordplants and used to supply them to local pet shops. although now the internet auctions and local fish club auctions are a better venue.

Answer 2

That looks like Hygrophila corymbosa (Temple plant). The leaves need pruned as they will not just repair themselves. The plant is good about shedding damaged leaves though, so you can just remove the leaves once it drops them too.



The holes many not be iron related actually. Usually the holes are a sign of a potassium deficiency, and faded and pale new leaves are iron deficiencies. Other signs of iron deficiencies are yellowing between the veins in the leaves.



Here is a great chart of plant symptoms and what deficiencies they relate to. Necrosis is decaying plant matter (like the holes) and Chlorosis is yellow or faded leaves.

http://www.seachem.com/support/FlourishConstituents_Deficency.pdf



SeaChem has a great product called Flourish which will help replace the missing elements. You can also get the Seachem Flourish Potassium to only address the potassium issue. All the Seachem products are good and they have other great trace element supplements too.

This should stop the holes:

http://www.petsolutions.com/default.aspx?ItemId=10104660&EID=10104630&SID=FROOGLE



but best to use this since it addresses other elements that may be lacking that might be causing the decay:

http://www.petsmart.com/product/index.jsp?productId=4368194&utm_source=googleproduct&utm_campaign=4368194&utm_medium=cse&mr:trackingCode=68943EC4-BDBD-DF11-92F8-0019B9C04BE4&mr:referralID=NA



I am not familiar with JBL, so just check what you have and make sure it is adding more than just iron, like Potassium and other needed elements.

Answer 3

you should get some marine hermit crabs, they are real cheap and cost as low as 15 cents on the internet. They will eat away the old leaves. or you could get marine snails that are scavengers. They are likely to be cheap.

Answer 4

It looks like something is eating it. Maybe it needs a different water temperature to thrive in.

Answer 5

Leave it be, don't bother trimming.