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Chuck's Planted Aquarium Pages HOME: Back to the introduction page EMAIL: cgadd@cfxc.com FAVORITE PICS: My favorite pics THE TANKS: 75g Rainbowfish 46g Paludarium 29g community tank FAUNA: Rainbowfish Catfish and Algae Eaters Other fish Everything else! FLORA: My complete plants list ARTICLES: A listing of articles about Plants, Fish, and DIY items. LINKS: Plant Links Fish resources Commercial Sites Jump to my non-fish home page

Warning signs of Nutrient Deficiency There are several important parts of analysing a nutrient deficiency. Analyzing plant growth to determine nutrient levels can be an effective way to keep a planted tank running smoothly. In tanks with low growth (tanks with low lighting and without CO2 injection), plants will often show no visible deficiencies. But in high growth tanks with lots of light and with CO2 injection, plants are growing so fast that they can often deplete various nutrients. Even in a high growth tank, you should look at the fastest growing plants to see a deficiency. It would take a week or two for a slow growing anubias to show problems, while fast growing hygro would show the deficiency within a day or two. When it comes to analyzing nutrient deficiencies, one of the first clues to look at is to determine if the deficiency shows up mainly in old growth, or new growth. This helps to narrow down the nutrient involved. Some nutrients are considered "mobile", which means the plant can re-claim the nutrient from old leaves, and move them to produce new leaves. Deficiency of mobile nutrients will show mainly in old leaves. Other nutrients are immobile, which means the plant can not move them from older leaves. This results in a deficiency which shows up on new leaves. Nutrients which are mobile include: nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, magnesium, and zinc. Nutrients which are immobile include : boron, calcium, copper, iron, manganese and sulfur. Analyzing nutrient deficiencies is never an exact science. Some signs can point to several different nutrients. And in some cases, deficiencies of one nutrient can prevent the plant from properly using ANOTHER nutrient. In addition, the visible signs in cases of extreme nutrient deficiency can be completely different than the clues of a slight nutrient deficiency. Use the chart below as a starting point, not as the final word. COMMON SYMPTOMS OF NUTRIENT DEFICIENCY IN AQUATIC PLANTS Element Leaves to first show deficiency Symptom Nitrogen Old Leaves turn yellowish Older leaves die off quickly in extreme deficiencies. Iron New Leaves grow in pale or yellow Greenish nerves enclosing yellow leaf tissue First seen in fast growing plants Potassium Old Pinholes appear in older leaves, and slowly enlarge Yellow areas Withering of leaf edges and tips Calcium New Distorted leaf growth cupped leaves twisted and bent leaves twisted and short roots Damage and die off of growing points Yellowish leaf edges I have seen an extreme Calcium deficiency which resulted in a sword plant where new leaves were growing in almost completely white. Magnesium Old Yellow spots Often appears similar to iron deficiency since mg deficiency prevents a plant from properly using iron. Yellowing of old leaves starting from edges while major veins remain green Boron New Dead shoot tips, new side shoots also die Brittle stems Similar to calcium Sulfur New Similar to nitrogen deficiency Manganese New Dead yellowish tissue between leaf nerves Copper New Dead leaf tips and withered edges Zinc Old Yellowish areas between nerves, Starting at leaf tip and edges Molybdenum Old Yellow spots between leaf nerves, then brownish areas along edges. Inhibited flowering Phosphorus Old Stunted growth. Sometimes leaves become darker green Also symptoms can be similar to nitrogen deficiency This chart extends information posted by Neil Frank to the Aquatic Plant Digest mailing list. Article Survey Your feedback on this article would be greatly appreciated. All feedback is anonymous, so please, be honest. Your input can help me create better content. Usefulness of this article: Very    Somewhat    Not very    Not at all Technical Level: Too technical    Just right    Not technical enough Would you like to see more articles like this one? Yes    No Any comments about this article? (for questions that you want answered, use my email link below...) If you have any questions about this article, or if you feel that something is incorrect or missing, please let me know via email at cgadd@cfxc.com