# Holes in dwarf lily pads?



## Sundancex (Feb 24, 2012)

Any idea what would cause these? They are small holes, almost look eaten away, but I have a betta and a few tiny snails in there so I don't know what could be eating it. 

Specs: Fluval 13 watt 6400k compact fluorescent light on 10 hours per day, fluval shrimp substrate, dosing every other day with Flourish, Iron, and Excel.
Flora: purple cabomba, water wisteria, DHG, Dwarf Lily, several unknown tiny sprouts
Fauna: 1 male vt betta, several tiny snails (unknown) species


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## ChoclateBetta (Jul 22, 2012)

Physella Acuita eat dead and dyieng leaves. I think you need CO2. What is this DHG?


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## Tikibirds (May 26, 2011)

Might be the snails - I get holes in the lilly too and see snails nomming on them

I dont think any of those ned co2 but you can add in liquid co2 i you want


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## ChoclateBetta (Jul 22, 2012)

Snails usually wont eat live plants. If there the species I am thinking of.


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## Tikibirds (May 26, 2011)

Do they Look like any of these

Pond snail









Ramshorn - comes in different colors









malaysian trumpet snail









Apple snail - also comes in different colors









Rabbit snail - looks similar to the malaysian but is bigger. I have been told they can eat liveplants?









Nerite - shell can have different patterns









Trapdoor snail


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## ChoclateBetta (Jul 22, 2012)

Physella Acuita the top on is a very common pest. I feed them to assassins.


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## Sundancex (Feb 24, 2012)

Pond snails. Is that a problem?


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## ChoclateBetta (Jul 22, 2012)

No They eat dead and dying leaves.


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## Oldfishlady (Mar 1, 2010)

How old are the Lily leaves when they start to show the holes....

I know with my lily leaves they will start to have holes after about a week-10 days-maybe longer-I really have never counted the days per se-I clip them every week or so to allow the new leaves to fill in-I am not 100%-but it might be normal die off related. It doesn't seem to cause any problems for the bulb itself or for the new leaves sprouting and I always have new leaves shooting to the top.


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## Sundancex (Feb 24, 2012)

The lily pads start to develop holes a few days after first opening. I'm not sure what is going on with it.

The lily also used to have beautiful golden/red pads and now they are green and thick looking, but nothing in the tank has changed to cause this. It used to be my favorite plant and now it is unattractive. It used to look so healthy!


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## Tikibirds (May 26, 2011)

Maybe it need a higher light or more iron? I know some plants turn green if they are lacking certain things

I think the issue people have with pond snails is they are hermophradites.


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## kfryman (Nov 7, 2011)

What are you dosing? Also if you want you can explain why you are as I have found that that can actually help find out your problems by what the plants are showing. So the lack of red is an iron deficiency, so if you are dosing iron, dose more.

Also, with ferts, especially Seachem products and you have moderate lighting you may need to dose more then once a week. My 5.5 gets dosed pretty much every other day with something, I can give you my schedule, but you may need to adjust it. Also slowly increase the amount of ferts dosed, you dump it all in throughout the week the plants might not be used to the excess and may still be limited by the ferts.

I like to use some of my plants as iron indicators. These plants will show color with lots of iron. My hygrophila "sunset" (The scientific name is Polysperma) and that will become super pink, it is lovely. So finding an iron indicator, like the lily will help you alter your dosing. As well, if you find that recommended dosing is not enough, trust me you can dose some more, but again you need to adjust slowly and I wouldn't go up to 2.5x, I go up to 2x as much sometimes which is safe as long as the fish are adjust to these changes, some might be more sensitive.


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## Sundancex (Feb 24, 2012)

Honestly I know nothing about ferts. I am dosing The rec. amount of Flourish, Flourish Iron, and Excel, every other day or so. But my lily was doing well when my tank was first started, and wasn't dosing anything then. I did a major cut back of the lily pads about a month ago, I think that may have ruined the plant. I completely forgot about it until now.


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## Tikibirds (May 26, 2011)

What type of lilly is it? I've trimmed mine a few times and haven't noticed a change but mine has always been an odd green color. It's a dwarf lilly *dwarf my butt* some stalks were over 2 feet long! 
All I add is 1 ml of carbon every 1-2 weeks and whatever the flourish says to add after every water change. But I do find small holes in the pads every now and then


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