Unhappy Java fern

[thecarl]

This is my first Java fern plant, I love the way they look, but this one isn't happy in my 75 gallon.  Not sure what's causing it, I've got one other species of plants that are having problems (the tall skinny leaves you can see in the background, I forgot what they're called), but everything else is happy.  Any ideas?  Water temperature is kept around 86F for the discus.

 

[Anonymous]

You could very well have a deficiency. But to be more helpful here could you answer these questions?
Lighting type (LED, T8,T5, ECT)?
Lighting spectrum (5,000K - 18,000)?
Lighting powEr?
Lighting duration?
Substrate?

Are you adding anything? Salts?

When did you plant these?

 

[hobbyorobsession]

prune off the blackened leafs at the base and wait for new ones to grow.

 

[flo77]

+1 for Daniel's post. When you trimlook for baby plants grown onthe dead leaves.
JF may be unhappy due to low hardness. Make a kH and GH test (don't use test strips)

 

[pbmax]

That's what most of my java fern looks like...  :|  I've found it tougher to keep happy than many other plants.  I know that's not entirely helpful, but you're not alone.

 

[thecarl]

Thanks for the input, I feel a little better at least. I'll take a look at the dead leaves tomorrow.

I don't have a GH or kh tester, so no idea where that's at right now. PH is a little low, running at about 6-6.2, a current problem I am working on with that tank. Ammonia, Nitrate and nitrite are zero.

Using LED lighting, custom lamp fixture I built my self, 6000k whites, some 630nm reds, blue leds that also run as a moonlight an hour before and after main light turns off, and a couple of 3W green led's to get the green in the plants to really show. I easily consider this tank to be an upper medium to high light tank, (130 watts of LED) which I estimate is close to the equivalent of 350 watts worth of power compact florescent, looks like I have metal halides on it, but I don't.

Full light runs for about 8 hours, blue lights (30 watts LED) running about 10 hours.

 

[Anonymous]

Nice! The set up sounds good. I use crushed coral to buffer my PH (raise). My PH is currently stabile at 6.8. Without the crushed coral it would completely crash.

If there is plantlets on the leaves of the ferns , this is the way it propagates and can account for the leaf dieing. However, this doesn't account for the issue with your plant that looks like a Val of some sort. My guess its a deficiency. Nitrogen, phosphates?

 

[Seattle_Aquarist]

This is my first Java fern plant, I love the way they look, but this one isn't happy in my 75 gallon.  Not sure what's causing it, I've got one other species of plants that are having problems (the tall skinny leaves you can see in the background, I forgot what they're called), but everything else is happy.  Any ideas?  Water temperature is kept around 86F for the discus.

Hi thecarl,

I didn't notice any mention any fertilizers; what if any are you using?  The reason I ask it the problem looks like a classic example of potassium deficiency.  If you are already dosing a good all purpose fertilizer such as Seachem Flourish Comprehensive then add some extra potassium.  Also it can be helpful to provide a source of carbon; if you are not using CO2 then I suggest Seachem Excel.

Lastly it is difficult to tell from the picture; is the rhizome attached to hardscape (such as stone or wood) or is it 'planted' in the gravel?  I have never successfully grown Microsporum pterous with the rhizome 'planted'; they do much better with the rhizome attached to hardscape.

30 gallon with Microsporum pterous 'Windelov' (left) and Microsporum pterous 'Trident' (right)

 

[star_rider]

have you looked closely at the leaves with holes in them.. sometimes they are caused as the leaf becomes a 'mother' you may see some tiny tendrils running on the backside of the leaf.. the tiny new plants are often located at the top of the withered looking leaf or around the edges..

could also be a leaf ready to cast off as newer leaves grow along the rhizome

 

[thecarl]

I've started a standard dosage schedule on the tank with Flourish, Florish Excel, and Florish Trace to see if any improvements happen. No little plantlits on the Java Fern. The rhizome is above the substrate as far as I can tell, but just in case I'm going to move it onto a rock or log Saturday when I do my next water change.

 

[thecarl]

Good news! My PH is finally creeping up to a more tolerable range. Measured 4 days after a water change it was still at 6.6, which is far better than what it would sit at one day after a water change < 6.0. I've pulled the fern all the way out of the substrate with the exception of a couple of roots, so it's barely clinging to the ground. Doesn't seem to have any further die off right now so I will wait and see how it does.