# Have you even had nerite snail eat plants?



## jadaBlu (Feb 14, 2013)

I have been losing long spans of Amazon swords leaves and I've thought it was my fish. However, the damage seems to happening too fast for it to be my fish. I have maylaysian trumpet snails but they should have plenty to eat. There is algae on my tank walls but it's not as plentiful as it was when I got the snail. I put algae wafers in the tank but there may be too much competition for them. I've read they don't eat plants. Anyone ever had them eat plants before?


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## lilnaugrim (Mar 27, 2013)

Do you have plecos? While they don't actually "eat" the plant, their lips are super rough and when they rasp on the plant, they can destroy the leaves pretty darn quickly. A reason why Pleco's need driftwood and aren't Sword safe ;-)

As for the Nerites, no, they don't eat healthy plants. They can eat the dead/decaying plant matter though.

Are you sure you don't have a Potassium deficiency? Swords are Potassium suckers and if there isn't enough, you'll see a decay and holes in the leaves practically overnight. Could also be a Phosphate deficiency as well but Potassium is a much more common deficiency.


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## jadaBlu (Feb 14, 2013)

No holes they look eaten by teeth (jagged edges) and I don't have a pleco. I am finding nothing left but the middle vein/stem which is still green.


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## lilnaugrim (Mar 27, 2013)

Don't suppose you could get some pictures?

Lack of Iron causes leaves to yellow and break away but the veins remain green. This is a possibility and the Nerites or other algae eaters may be eating away the decaying parts before you notice it. As I mentioned, they only eat the decaying or dead matter.

Do you have root tabs or soil for your swords?


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## jadaBlu (Feb 14, 2013)

Can't hurt to try. I've meaning to buy some online. I guess I will get some rootabs at Petsmart today and see if it helps. A new amazon sword will cost as much as a package of root tabs at Petsmart.


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## lilnaugrim (Mar 27, 2013)

Yeah, I know they aren't cheap. But it's a lot easier to add some root tabs and get better growth from your plant than to just keep buying new swords to replace them lol. Swords of all types as well as Crypts, are heavy root feeders, so if they don't have some sort of nutrients by their roots, they can easily become deficient. Swords and Hygrophila Corymbosa are one of the two big ones that suck up so much nutrients that they just end up depleting their source and become deficient after a while.


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