Do I see snails?

no they aren't snails they are little swimming bugs with little legs that you cant see in the pics bc they are so tiny im actually thinking they are burrowing water beetles but wanted some confirmation maybe

Maybe you have to change all of the water. Then the bigger bugs are gone but some larvae may be there (in your mud). But I think that the tunnels in the soil are Tubifex tubifex's. This is a little worm that lives half in the mud and half in the water. And they're writhing all the time. Such disgusting worms. But I don't think that they're the problem. And the Lotus is very sensitive to the herbicides. Sorry about that I couldn't help you more.

Have you fertilized them recently and what did you use?
Bugs are more likely to attack a plant that's not healthy.

I messed up somehow with the several posts about lotus pests. Maybe this is helpful. I can't identify the catterpiller pest.

Here is a link that might be useful: Is this them?

@catherinet I followed the recipe from my blog 1/2 garden soil and 1/2 composted manure w/ 1 cup of osmocote in the bottom that was in april i think. would i need to fertilize again? That recipe was supposedly good for the season....i guess not.
@sleeplessinftwayne no, but thankyou. those look so devastating mine are at least putting up some new leaves still so maybe they will fight through it.

I did the same "recipe" as you did and mine are still looking good. I've got more than a dozen leaves and a couple of ariels, but then you have to remember I'm a few zones cooler than you. My understanding is that with the Osmocote, it is a time release thing, and dissolves with repeat soakings of water. If so, one would think that continual saturation would make it dissolve faster. But, if you aren't having to top off your pot very often due to evaporation and such, the fertilize should still be there and available, right?

AS far as the catepillars, I wonder if they are coming from another plant in the area. For example.. I have had a hawaiian tii plant for 30 years and place it on my front porch every summer. Last summer I had some really weird looking catepillars chomping away on it and I couldn't figure out why. It's been there the same way every summer for years. I finally figured out why. I planted moon flowers to vine on the front of the porch and the catepillar was from the moth THEY attract. Just a thought.

I hope you figure out what's going on.

Carla

thanks Carla. I was thinking maybe my buckets are too deep so its like the lotus haven't been fertilized at all yet? what do you think? guess I need to do some sleuthing:)

I don't think a lack of fertilize is the issue. If you used composted cow manure, it should be abundant in nutrients, plus you have the osmocote there. OK, so here are a couple of ideas...1) Some opportunistic bugs came along and said " Hey, there's a fine looking young lotus! Mmmmm!" or 2) Maybe there could be too much fertilize available. My mother always said that you had to watch the amount you used or "you will burn your plants up". I think that the best thing to do would be to make a trip to your local agriculture office with your pictures and maybe some samples of your critters and leaves and see what they have to say. Oh...by your blog, you started some lotus from seed. Are you having any of the same problems with them? Did you by chance use the same soil? Just more things to think about!!

chubbypoptart, what part of the country are you in?
Your lotus are getting too hot, they're cooking.
Try getting them so they get morning sun and no afternoon sun.
HTH
Corrie

Clara i love your narrative from the bugs:) both batches i started from seed were started in the same type of garden soil in the same type of milk jugs even in the same place in the yard. My little ones that are doing beautifully were sitting right next to the dying ones. Weird.
And corrie im in tampa bay florida.temps have been high 80's low 90's. Thats too hot?

Yep, that's too hot. Watch the afternoon sun on the pots, that can really cook them. 90 degrees and afternoon sun can make the water temperature way over a 100.
I'm a little south of you and gave up trying to grow lotus in the summer. Mine would look exactly like yours by now.
It also depends on the lotus. My miniature bowl lotus seemed to do a little better with the heat, but by the middle of summer they would give up too.
Try moving them so they only get morning sun. They really don't need sun all day anyway.
As far as osmocote/time release goes, at that temperature it pretty much dumps all of it's fertilizer and is long gone by now. Osmocote works great when temperatures are lower though, I use it all winter.

Try moving them so they get no sun after 11-12 in the morning, they're fried right now.

Corrie

Thanks for the tip guess i better find a new spot

I just noticed some of those little guys in my lotus pot too, swimming around some algae. After doing a little searching I was able to identify them as clam shrimp. They apparently eat algae and other tiny things like protozoans and bacteria, so hopefully they shouldn't bother the lotus.