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I have an amazon sword in my 55g tank. It seems to be doing just fine, except there's one leave that has holes in it to the extent that it's about half gone, and there's another that has a couple smaller holes. I'm pretty sure I don't have any fishies nibbling on it. The only fish ever on it or near enough to eat it are the otos, and I got them AFTER the leaves started doing this. All the other leaves seem to be just fine and new ones are growing. Should I cut off the bad leaves, and if so, where (the base of the leaf, the base of the plant, etc)? Or should I just leave it be?

Thanks!

[span class="edited"][Edited by gartenzwerfe 2004-08-13 14:29][/span]

Yes you will want to trrim it off if it looks like it is dying. Trimming towards the base is effective from my experience. If you let the leaf die off it will pollute your water.

As far as the holes are concerned, if it is just one or two leaves out of maybe ten+ leaves on the whole plant, then I have a hard time believing that it is nutrient deficiency.

So I ask, how many leaves have holes in them? And though you may not see them doing it, what fish do you have in the tank other than the ottos you previously mentioned?

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Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients

There are:
2 platys
3 swords
1 flame gourami
8 black neons
10 red serpaes
1 clown pleco
3 guppies
6 albino corys
5 otos
1 veil angel

here is the plant

I know its possible that someone is chomping on the plant, but I really don't think so. Out of 23 leaves, only 2 of them are like this, and I never see any fish (other than the otos) close enough to eat the plant. Granted, there are a lot of things that go on that I don't see Another thing, the "holey" leaves aren't turning brown at all. They're just as green as the rest of them. The plant otherwise looks really healthy. Guess I'll just trim those 2 leaves and watch it to see if any more get like that.

It looks to me like someone is chomping away at that sword. Otherwise it looks very healthy. I know what my swords looked like when I had them in with silver dollars...I'm an idiot I know.

I wouldn't trim the eaten ones until they look like they are dieing off or turning brown or whatever. This way they keep eating the one or two leaves and the rest stay whole.

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Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients

you can almost see the teath marks on these leaves. someone's feasting on your sword, no doubt!

i don't think it's the ottos. i think those leaves are too think for them. maybe you've got a free-rider snail in your tank? some of them are very evasive, staying in the sand when the light is on. try to put a snail trap and see what happens.
it might be another free-loader...