What is eating my plants

Hey I have a 46 gallon planted tank with multiple plant and fish species and my plants keep getting completely stripped of their leaves while the plants are still healthy (I know something is eating them cause I have a tank with the same peramiters light level etc and they are doing amazing) I'm wondering what is eating my plants so I can move it to another tank.
I have:
2 black spot barbs
3 albino barbs
5 green tiger barbs
4 tiger barbs
3 rosy barbs
2 yoyo loaches
2 Otto's
1 pearl guorami(the guy at the fish store accidentally bagged one with my other fish so he's stuck in this tank till I have room in another)

Pichu425 said:

Hey I have a 46 gallon planted tank with multiple plant and fish species and my plants keep getting completely stripped of their leaves while the plants are still healthy (I know something is eating them cause I have a tank with the same peramiters light level etc and they are doing amazing) I'm wondering what is eating my plants so I can move it to another tank.
I have:
2 black spot barbs
3 albino barbs
5 green tiger barbs
4 tiger barbs
3 rosy barbs
2 yoyo loaches
2 Otto's
1 pearl guorami(the guy at the fish store accidentally bagged one with my other fish so he's stuck in this tank till I have room in another)

Click to expand...

the fish could be nipping the plants cause barbs like to nip flowy stuff
photo? also could be nutrients

It's not nutrients I have other planted tanks and they are all doing good with the same proportions for dosing and barbs even when niping on fins wouldn't eat the whole thing and the plants are straight up losing leaves the leaves aren't falling off they are just gone so now I have a bunch of what looks like very thin bamboo that used to have very broad leaves

Photos would really help.

If I had to guess, I'd put money on the 2 stressed Otocinclus.

My tiger barbs love to eat veggies and soft plants. I cannot keep plants like hornwort in with my tiger barbs or my black ruby barbs. They leave tough plants (ferns and anubias) mostly alone, but still nibble on anubias occasionally. I supplement their diet with spirulina tabs and veggie flake, which they go wild for.

Pichu425 said:

Hey I have a 46 gallon planted tank with multiple plant and fish species and my plants keep getting completely stripped of their leaves while the plants are still healthy (I know something is eating them cause I have a tank with the same peramiters light level etc and they are doing amazing) I'm wondering what is eating my plants so I can move it to another tank.
I have:
2 black spot barbs
3 albino barbs
5 green tiger barbs
4 tiger barbs
3 rosy barbs
2 yoyo loaches
2 Otto's
1 pearl guorami(the guy at the fish store accidentally bagged one with my other fish so he's stuck in this tank till I have room in another)

Click to expand...

Here's pictures for those who were asking

Aaaah...I think I'd like to change my bet and go for the Barbs instead.

Are you sure you are not overdosing the tank with nutrients? How long have those plants been in your tank. They are some of the species that are grown terrestrially for the aquarium trade and could be losing those leaves.

itiwhetu said:

Are you sure you are not overdosing the tank with nutrients? How long have those plants been in your tank. They are some of the species that are grown terrestrially for the aquarium trade and could be losing those leaves.

Click to expand...

but that anacharis...
looks like a giant baby water lettuce root oof...
i hope all is stable after a while when the barbs calm down
that is also a very valid reason they could just be settling in but i think anachairs is completely underwater right

I will just say that I think this is an issue of light/nutrient balance. The leaves that are still there show clear signs of this, so it is much less likely a case of barbs eating them.

If we assume it is a nutrient issue, the picture indicates a possible mobil nutrient deficiency. A mobil nutrient is a nutrient that the plant can move from old leaves to new leaves. When the plant does this the old leaves typically are damaged and may die and fall of of the plant. The mobil nutrients are nitrogen, potassium, magnesium, chlorine and molybdenum. yes Chlorine is a nutrient but plants preter it in the form of a chloride Salt ( such as calcium chloride, potassium chloride or magnesium chloride). Chlorine Gas used to sterilize tap water is harmful to plants and fish..

Preferably you don't want zero nitrate or zero phosphate 1ppm nitrate and 1ppm phosphate should be fine. You can get test kits for both. But good Phosphate, chloride , and molybdenum test kits are not available. If you are using fertilizer with Potassium your probably have enough potassium.

A GH test kit only detects Calcium and magnesium. But you cannot use to determine if all your GH is from calcium oral magnesium. Plants need calcium and magnesium. 2 degree of GH test kit reading is probably enough for your plants. But not everyone has tap water with enough magnesium or calcium. But if you are not doing weekly water changes and relacing at least 30% of the tank water you might be running out of magnesium between water changes. Most fertilizers not have magensium or chloride even though plants need them. So you could try more frequent water changes or add a small amount of a GH booster to slightly increase GH. More water changes may also correct chloride or molybdenum deficiency