Weak Amazon Sword?

[rohape]

i have a huge amazon sword plant that i have grown from a, i guess, baby. it's still growing, producing leaves, i have checked its roots from looking under the tank, and they are strong, white, and all over. it's leaves though, are constantly detaching, looking thin and weak, and just not strong. (see attached pics)
is this just a normal cycle for this plant, as far as making room for more leaves. is it growing too fast, so leaves die faster? i use water softener pillows, and a CO2 system, just the canister with counter from LFS, nothing fancy.
any info on this type of plant, as far as care, what it "should" look like, would be great.
thanks!

[(RC)]

How much light does it get ?



RC

[DavidDoyle]

Two things-

1- Swords are heavy root feeders and need fertilizers in the substrate.

2- Bristlenose plecos love to rasp swords and will wear them down to the leaf spines.

[Damon]

That plant is lacking Potassium, Iron, and probably micronutrients. Are you fertilizing?

[rohape]

i use phillips plant bulbs for about 12hrs a day, sometimes less on weekends. i use Seachem plant supplement. i dont have a bristlenose, and i dont have any undergravel flourite. it will be difficult to lay any flourite, i have 5 other plants that are doing fine and dont want to risk killing this, or any of the other plants. i am reluctant to use more fertilizer because of algae, which is doing quite well.
any suggestions? thanks for the replies.

[turtlehead]

using more ferts doesn't mean algae, you plants can take it all.

[rohape]

i'll try upping the dose on the fertilizer, i was told, or read that if you use more fertilizer than your plants consume then algae will thrive from the leftovers. is there anything in particular that i should look for for these swords? i also have a melon sword, and then some tall swords, ill attach a couple pics.
oh yeah, i thought that one issue may be that the large sword may have so many leaves that it dosen't get good water circulation, so i aimed my small powerhead at it, the powerhead is for a 10gal. so its not real strong. will this hurt?
i know one thing ya'll may say, is the goldfish are messing with it. believe it or not, they dont mess with any of my plants, at all. actually, all my fish leave em alone. i've watched for about 30min. at a time, quite a bit, and no one messes.
thanks for the help.

[Damon]

You also don't have enough light over the tank. Swords need at least 2.5 wpg to grow effectly. They are hogs of nutrients and lighting. Not suitable for low light tanks.

[rohape]

so your saying i need 2.5wpg for the amount of gallons the plant displaces, or 2.5wpg for the size of the tank. this is a 55gal. tank, and 2.5 x 55 is 137.5. thats some pretty serious light there. my lights i use now are 15watt plant/aquarium bulbs. i would also assume the algae growth would explode.

[midiamin]

Two things!

First, Amazon Sword have a dormant period. You should gently dig your plant up being careful not to damage the root. Look at the base of the stem. If there is an acorn there, it is going dormant. You should but the acorn off as close to the plant as possible without having the leaves all fall apart. Then replace you plant and prune all the mis coloured and dead leaves.

Seond, always prune you plant at least once a week. To many spent leaves will kill the mail plant.

Have no fear, The Plantman cometh............................................ ........

[Damon]

Swords do not need a dormant period in an aquarium, just like aponogetons. Trimming is necessary but lighting would be the first thing I'd work on if I wanted to keep the swords.