A few plant questions

[Raf]

Hello all, I have a 30 gallon planted tank that has been up and running with live bearers for 2 and a half years. Lately I have noticed my Java fern turning black with a light layer of black algae and then the leaves fall off. There isn't much new growth and the plants have been dwindling away. I dose easy green once a week.

 

I have also had issues with my jungle val. It had a growth spurt and git long then it all died off at the center of the leaves and broke off at the top. I had new growth after a few weeks and it happened again.

Any tips are are much appreciated. 

[Jack.of.all.aquariums]

Welcome to the forum, 

Can you tell us some more about the tank? What light are you using? What is your maintenance schedule? Have you tested your water lately? 

[Ashe]

Hello Raf! What soil and substrate are you using? and lights? My guess your water column is lacking in nutrients and easy green isn't cutting it. I have a 30 gallon fully planted tank as well and had this issue a few months ago. The black algae that is on the java fern is probably black beard algae. They are incredibly difficult to remove. You can either trim off the damaged leaves or leaves that have been covered with them to allow your java fern to invest its energy on producing more new growth instead of fixing the problem or you can do spot treatment. Take a small syringe and use either easy carbon or seachem exel (I tried both and they are all work just fine) and directly inject it on the black beard algae. To really prevent it, maybe change your light to 6-8 hours a day. Do 25-30% water changes each week and put in a siamese algae eater in there and the algae should be at the minimal level. I have been doing this method and it seems to be working incredible for me. 

Also, I recommend using easy root tabs or seachem root tabs in conjunction with easy green (seem there are not enough nutrients to go around). My plants in the 30 gallon seem to like it when I do both. When the plants are healthy and growing again, they should also be controlling the algae problem as well.