D Robinson Posted September 1 Share Posted September 1 Afternoon All, Mature, established 450L tank everything doing well except my Javafern. Can you help narrow down why please? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
clownbaby Posted September 1 Share Posted September 1 In my experience Java Fern melts a lot. It is extremely hardy but doesn't seem to like big changes such as moving tanks. Is it new? Has it been in there for a while? I forget who, but I was having bad experiences growing Java Ferns and someone on this forum recommended increasing how much Potassium I'm dosing. BAM. Problem solved. They grow like crazy now. I've been dosing a pump of the easy potassium twice a week for my anubias plants and my java ferns and it really does help them grow. You could try that - it worked wonders for me! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
D Robinson Posted September 1 Author Share Posted September 1 Hi the plants have been in and "settled" since the start of the year, all other plants are doing really well so I might try dosing potassium. Any other advice is appreciated. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CoryWithAKatana Posted September 1 Share Posted September 1 Hey! In my experience Java Ferns will get brown leaves if they have too much light. It could also be that those are older leaves, older leaves get brown and reproduce new plantlets underneath the leaves. Maybe you could add some floaters to reduce the amount of light it gets. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MWilk Posted September 1 Share Posted September 1 (edited) Agreed on more Potassium. Any anubias in the tank? on second look, that seems more like algae growth than pinholes and browning. Anubias is right there in the background looking beautiful, probably not a potassium issue. Edited September 1 by MWilk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
D Robinson Posted September 1 Author Share Posted September 1 Hi all thabks for the comments. yes everything else is doing really well in the tank. Lots of anubias in the tank and its doing extremely well. Thr Javafern Definitely have BBA on the leaves (reasonably new though) and what looks like root growth from the leaves. Very slowly deteriorated over months. Water is soft / moderate hardness. Has me very confused as I am dosing complete fertilisers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CoryWithAKatana Posted September 1 Share Posted September 1 (edited) The roots growing from the leaves are actually the baby plantlets Java ferns create. Judging from the pics I can safely assume you have a few mature plants that are barely hanging on to the mother plant. I would reccomend taking your finger and running it under the leaves that have the babies under them. If the plants come off then they are ready to be planted elsewhere if they have some resistance then they need some more time. The roots coming off the leaves can sometimes look like Early BBA maybe try what I said and get back to us with some photos and updates! Also, if you dont have anywhere else to put the extra Java Ferns, check with your Local Fish Store. They may take your plants for Store Credit Edited September 1 by CoryWithAKatana Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MWilk Posted September 1 Share Posted September 1 Can you get a clearer picture? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
D Robinson Posted September 4 Author Share Posted September 4 Hi All, really sorry for the delay. I have attached some better pictures, it just simply isn't thriving the same as everything else in the tank. Comments this far are great so please keep the ideas coming and I will start working through what I can do 🙂 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MWilk Posted September 4 Share Posted September 4 Java Fern is a pretty slow growing plant, and the narrow leaf type you have here is no different. The plant is clearly stressed a bit, it has a few small plantlets growing off the tips of a leaf or two. The algae buildup is on your other plants as well. what sort of light are you using? The Java fern appears to be directly under the most intense part of the light, that it doesn’t really need. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
D Robinson Posted September 4 Author Share Posted September 4 Very good point, I havnt checked the light in a good while and for some reason it was turn right up to 80%. It's the smallest fluval 3.0 available from a previous set up. That would also xplain the sudden onset of algae on the other plants (albit minimum at the moment). Its been struggling since it was added in December so I am wondering if a lack of potassium, as suggested above, could also be contributing? I have turned the light back down to 50%? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seattle_Aquarist Posted September 4 Share Posted September 4 Hi @D Robinson, First of all overall that is a good looking tank and the new leaves of your java fern (Leptochilus pteropus) look good as well. What I did notice was the older leaves seem to be the ones that are suffering. This would indicate insufficient availability of one of the mobile nutrients, but which one? There are a couple of clues, the chlorosis (yellowing) of the older leaves tip and margins followed by the necrosis (death of the leaf tissue) would indicate insufficient available potassium as @clownbaby suggested. Insufficient available potassium can be caused by a couple of factors; 1) not enough potassium being dosed or 2) an excess of calcium impeding the uptake of potassium. You didn't indicate the water parameters of the tank or what nutrients are dosed with the amounts or frequency but I would suspect it issue is potassium related due to the fact it is a mobile nutrient as the symptoms the older leaves exhibit. I too grow java ferns (Leptochilus species) both the 'Trident' and the 'Windelov' variants and I find if I am not dosing at least 20 ppm of potassium (K2) the growth will slow or stop completely and my leaves start to look like the one the arrow is pointing at. When I up the dosage the growth increases and new leaves emerge from the rhizomes. Hope this helps! -Roy 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
D Robinson Posted September 4 Author Share Posted September 4 Absolutely helps I will try dosing potassium. thank you. I am dosing a complete fertilisers but it is in the lean side for easy maintenance. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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