defective leafes on Microsorum pteropus

[H..]

The aquarium is 500 liters and luminated with 2 * 54Watt T5

There are plenty of fish in the aquarium.

Plant life is relatively good in all plants, Cryptocoryne, vaisneria gigantea microsorium Windeløv, Echinodorus rubin. But Microsorium pteropus keep getting defective blades, there is no bite marks from the fish in the tank and there is no leaf debris floating around, but they grow out of defects in leaf. Even M.windelöv looks decently good.
It's a bit BBA in the tank, but not so it interferes currently. The aquarium has been running since 10 months, and ferts with PMDD and aprox 33% water changes every two weeks.
KNO3 about 5-8 ml dry
KH2PO4 none, due to the fishload
K2SO4 about 10-15 ml dry
40 ml micro nutrient
25ml MgSO4. every water change
What is it that makes the leaves come out defective? lack of nutrients, or overdosed, accumulated nutrients? Do M.petropus have special needs of nutrients, I mean does it need extra of something?

 

[H..]

I have made som experiments with the dry nutrients with time, but the dosings above are at least the latest two months

 

[NatureBoy]

Hi

Guessing you have CO2 with that light source? That'd be first as otherwise the closer to the lights the ferns get the more the light will be nuking them.

Second, I reckon you need to include some phosphates to you fert regime. The phosphate from the fish will be hitting the substrate as fish poo, and will be locked in down there. The microsorum is not linked to the substrate so may well be deficient in P, put a small amount in daily and see what happens

cheers.

 

[H..]

Guessing you have CO2 with that light source?.

Ehhh, no. no extra co2, why chould i have that in such poor light? 0,2 watt per liter.

OK, so what you mean is that fish poo does not give any or poor P to the water? I did not think it mattered, but it makes some sense ofcourse.

H.

 

[H..]

Anyone else like to submit their comments on deficiencies

H.

 

[ceg4048]

These faults are due to poor CO2 or too much light. Plants do not care about wpl.

Cheers,

 

[Yo-han]

Looks a lot like the leaves I've seen in an severely PO4 limited tank. Maybe your others plants have access to PO4 from the substrate, ferns need PO4 in the water. But poor CO2 might show op in the same way perhaps.

 

[Ian Holdich]

These look like emmersed leaves to me...they will eventually die off. They need chopping off and you'll soon see new leaves.

 

[H..]

Hi again ceg

108wats per 500 liters, 40 cm down from Surface, is that too much light for an microsorum?

i am not much for abbrevations due to non brittish, please explain wpl.

H.

 

[H..]

This is an matured tank, please read te first lines.
The leaves come out brand new with deffects

H.

 

[stu_]

Hi
wpl=Watts Per Litre

 

[Iain Sutherland]

co2/light balance is out of wack, it does seem that the balance may be ok towards the bottom of the tank and with the plants shaded by the wood as the plants look fairly healthy but the ferns effected are increasingly close to the light source and are not liking it.
2 x 54w t5 is co2 injection territory on the footprint of this tank, its a tricky proposition as its also very deep.

Options would be to reduce light intensity by switching off one bulb if possible or consider supplementing co2 via liquid carbon or injected gas.

 

[ceg4048]

CO2 problems do not necessarily depend on excessive light, although that is a common cause. It could simply be poor flow at that location. You might try thinning out the area around the plant to free up flow/distribution.

Cheers,

 

[H..]

well, it is powered by fluvl fx6, and the outflow is normaly directed to the right back corner of the tank, oposite what the Pictures show due to service.
I have thinned out it recently because the plant is so ugly. But new leafs comes out in really bad shape.

H.

 

[ceg4048]

Its worth experimenting with distribution. The easiest trial is to move sample specimens to a different location or swapping with another plant's location. You can also try floating them for a few weeks to see if the new growth comes in better.

Cheers

 

[H..]

I am thinking of planting more Microsorum windelöv to the right instead of these Microsorum
The windelöv plants to the left looks pretty good
The second issue is just some black beard algea on some stones and plants, but they might are disapearing slowly now.

H.

 

[H..]

I have ferting with P now and the BBA is comming back really hard this time, measured the P to more than 1,8 ppm.
The microsorum is not looking better.

I have been giving quite much K for some time, kan it be that microsorum dont like overfeeding with K?

H.

 

[H..]

Update january 2014
I have ferting with KH2PO4 some time now, and all im gaining is Black beard algea (BBA) om the microsorum pteropus.

Growth is OK in the aquarium for the cryptocoryne balansae and wendtii, vallisneria gigatea, microsorum windelöv and nymphoides sp Taiwan.
The sagittaria subulata is covered with BBA


Latest Picture uppdate:
you can see even the new growth on the pteropus leafs is deffekt. There are som algea eaters, such as ottocinclus and dwarf cichlids and skalars but they domt do thees kinds of bite marks, and why is only the pteropus affected.

H.

 

[H..]

also provided with nitrate and micro nutrients together with P

H.

 

[Iain Sutherland]

hey H, this is still co2 / flow related. You should stop thinking about the leaves being defect due to P, K or any other nutrient aside co2 and consider they are damaged due to poor co2/flow for the conditions in your tank. BBA being present is also telling you the same thing... listen to your plants.
Just because you want it to be true doesnt mean it is