What's eating my hygrophila lancea 'araguaia'?

Hygrophila lancea 'Araguaia' is an aquarium stem plant. Its chief threats are algae smothering slow-growing tips, pest snails rasping soft leaves, and herbivorous fish nipping the delicate foliage. When grown emersed, aphids and spider mites occasionally colonise. Maintain balanced CO2, nutrients and light to keep growth vigorous and outpace algae.

Green or dark tufts coat leaves, blocking light and stunting the plant Reduce photoperiod to 6-8 hours, improve CO2 to 20-30 ppm, dose Excel/glutaraldehyde spot-treatment on BBA, introduce Siamese algae eaters or Amano shrimp

Irregular holes and rasped patches on soft leaves, especially younger growth Manual removal, trap with blanched zucchini overnight, add assassin snails (Clea helena) or a loach species such as dwarf chain loach

Leaves stripped or entire stems eaten to the substrate House only with plant-safe tank mates; if damage occurs, relocate the plant to a species-appropriate setup

Clustered insects on stem tips cause yellowing and distorted new leaves above the waterline Submerge the plant briefly to drown aphids, or spray emersed portions with diluted neem oil; rinse before returning to tank