What did this to my sword?

[OliveFish05]

I don’t remember what kind of sword this is, but it has been doing well for about a week in my 40 gallon axolotl tank. I moved it to my 20 long community tank last night and today it looks like this! None of the other plants, except a second sword, look like this. It was overnight, the plant did NOT look like this

The tank has honey gourami, nerite snails, Pygmy cories, and neon tetras. I think I may have seen a funny little shrimp thing, and there are these odd snails that recently popped up.

 

[Byron]

I would have thought something was/is eating the leaves, if you are certain this leaf was whole yesterday. However, the leaf itself looks on the point of dying anyway, so perhaps the tissue was already compromised and just fell out.

 

[OliveFish05]

I would have thought something was/is eating the leaves, if you are certain this leaf was whole yesterday. However, the leaf itself looks on the point of dying anyway, so perhaps the tissue was already compromised and just fell out.

What about it looks like it is dying? I mean obviously the holes, but I really am positive they were NOT there yesterday. What could be eating it?

 

[Byron]

What about it looks like it is dying? I mean obviously the holes, but I really am positive they were NOT there yesterday. What could be eating it?

I don't know, the fish mentioned are not likely, the snails, maybe. As for the leaf, there are patches of yellow and some of the veins near these are showing signs of dying (they are brown, they would normally be dark green). Had I just seen this leaf without any text, I would have said it was an old leaf naturally dying and some nutrients are being transferred to new growth, provided the stem is still intact at the base. Going one further, if this is the case, then I suppose the dead/dying patches could disappear. I've never noticed if this occurs in so short a time frame, but maybe...?

 

[OliveFish05]

I don't know, the fish mentioned are not likely, the snails, maybe. As for the leaf, there are patches of yellow and some of the veins near these are showing signs of dying (they are brown, they would normally be dark green). Had I just seen this leaf without any text, I would have said it was an old leaf naturally dying and some nutrients are being transferred to new growth, provided the stem is still intact at the base. Going one further, if this is the case, then I suppose the dead/dying patches could disappear. I've never noticed if this occurs in so short a time frame, but maybe...?

Thank you for your help! Could it be possible that it was grown out of water and is adjusting to underwater growth?

 

[Colin_T]

I reckon the snails did it
blame the snails
yeah the snails did it
I reckon they did it too
get the snails
hang the snails
witches, I mean snails

 

[Oblio]

Or cats, it was the cats!

 

[itiwhetu]

It is one of those cases of, bother I should have left it where it was.

 

[DoubleDutch]

What ferts do you use ?

 

[OliveFish05]

What ferts do you use ?

Sachem Flourish and root tabs

 

[Byron]

Thank you for your help! Could it be possible that it was grown out of water and is adjusting to underwater growth?

Yes. If this leaf is an outer leaf, it is one of the older leaves and most nurseries grow these plants emersed because it is quicker and less expensive. Once submersed, the outer leaves will slowly die off as new growth arises from the centre of the crown. The appearance of the dying leaves is as it shows here, though I rarely see such holes, but the other issues I previously mentioned are indicative of this change in leaf structure from emersed to submersed growth.

 

[OliveFish05]

Yes. If this leaf is an outer leaf, it is one of the older leaves and most nurseries grow these plants emersed because it is quicker and less expensive. Once submersed, the outer leaves will slowly die off as new growth arises from the centre of the crown. The appearance of the dying leaves is as it shows here, though I rarely see such holes, but the other issues I previously mentioned are indicative of this change in leaf structure from emersed to submersed growth.

Ok, that would be great if that’s what is going on! None of my other plants or swords are doing this, and these are two that I bought last week. Thank you for your help! It could be possible that with the different lighting I didn’t notice the damage, although I really thought it looked normal. These are the two plants this morning. The smaller sword is to the very right of the photo and the larger is to the left

 

[Byron]

So long as new leaves grow from the centre of the crown, you are probably OK. The older outer leaves seem to still be well attached, so don't remove them as the mobile nutrients can be used to feed new growth. Once the stems brown, they can be removed as they do nothing beneficial. Push a tab down next to the crown of each sword, replace in 2-3 months.