vals "shedding"?

[Mark F.]

I have some corkscrew vals which have had a couple of months to establish themselves in their tank, and they had been doing really well (leaves have grown larger and greener, they've put out runners, etc.) ... until just a few of days ago: now, every morning I find a full leaf broken off at the base, and floating on the surface. They're always healthy-looking leaves - no browned ends, holes, or snail scrapes - and it's always just one leaf per day. I've kept various val species in the past, and don't recall this ever happening before. Does anybody have any ideas what could be causing this?

Incidentally, I don't have any barbs or similar leaf-nipping fish; I do have a small "golden tiger" loach (Botia sp.?) which digs in the substrate a lot, but its digging activities don't really seem to be harming any of the other plants - could that still be the culprit?

[Becca]

I've had a corkscrew val for about a year now (maybe longer) that has recently started shedding in a similar fashion.

[Mark F.]

Maybe this is just "normal" for the species?
Anybody know for certain?

[plant57va]

I think Damion has been growing them quite a bit, and has some in auctions around the area....maybe he can give some thoughts...