Java Fern going brown, CO2 needed??

[Mr.Albiman]

Tank stats:
-15 UK/18 US gallons
-15 Watt 'Daylight' CFL bulb (left on for 10-14 hours a day)
-0 ammonia, 0 nitrite, 25 nitrate just before water change.

I have 2 'bunches' of Java Fern in my aquarium - 1 bunch (approx. 9 leaves from the same rhizome) on a smallish rock on the substrate and 1 'bunch' (approx. 10 leaves, from 3 different rhizomes) that I pushed into gaps in a skull ornament about a year ago. The leaves have been going brown, and kinda dying off on the ends. Some of the brown is algae, but most of it is the actual leaf going brown. The picture was taken a while back, and the leaves have since turned even more brown. They've been like this for a few months now, but it never really bothered me before - now I'm curious because it's starting to bug me The leaves higher up (on the skull) are more brown/dying than the ones on the substrate. Is this a lighting issue? Too much to be up that high? Also, the algae - should I cut down on light exposure a little? Maybe to 8-10 hours?

I was thinking maybe I should start using CO2? But I have no idea. Maybe ferts?

Thanks in advance guys!

 

[meegosh]

I would start by doing a good water change, do a good gravel vacuuming. Then I would cut your lights back to 8 hours to start. I've never kept java ferns but as far as I know they are a fairly easy plant to keep. I don't think adding CO2 will help your problem. It may even make it worse if there is an imbalance.

Your algae looks like BBA. Google it or search it on here, it can be tough to deal with. Are you sure the leaves aren't covered in algae? Try rubbing the leaves between your fingers and see if it comes off in a clump or like dust.

 

[Mr.Albiman]

I would start by doing a good water change, do a good gravel vacuuming. Then I would cut your lights back to 8 hours to start. I've never kept java ferns but as far as I know they are a fairly easy plant to keep. I don't think adding CO2 will help your problem. It may even make it worse if there is an imbalance.

Your algae looks like BBA. Google it or search it on here, it can be tough to deal with. Are you sure the leaves aren't covered in algae? Try rubbing the leaves between your fingers and see if it comes off in a clump or like dust.

Okay, I'll do the water change/gravel vac tomorrow, as well as the one I do every Saturday.

I tried rubbing it and none of it came off. I stopped when I pulled off a baby leaf by accident.

 

[Mr.Albiman]

I've relocated the ones from the very top of the skull to the back of the tank, with the rhizome held in place between another ornament and the glass. I didn't want to bury the rhizome because I heard that kills them?

 

[meegosh]

Yes, you want to keep the rhizome above the substrate. Are the new leaves showing the same deficiencies(browning, reabsorbing of the tips)?

 

[Mr.Albiman]

Yes, they are but only on the ones that were closer to the light, which is making me think they were getting too much? The one's on the floor are almost completely green and getting bigger every week. They just have a few small brown spots.

 

[Jscoggins]

I agree...IMO....you are leaving your lights on too long..try cutting them back...good luck!!! Are you doing any liquid ferts. ?

 

[Mr.Albiman]

I agree...IMO....you are leaving your lights on too long..try cutting them back...good luck!!! Are you doing any liquid ferts. ?

I'll be turning them on at 10am and turning them off again at 6pm from now on and see if it gets any better!

And no, I'm not because I only have Java Fern so far, and I don't have much money. But I'll be getting some more plants soon (Water Wisteria, Anacharis and maybe Hornwort), and I will buy some liquid ferts then.

 

[Batt4Christ]

Java ferns are odd beasts, so to speak. I have had them grow just as green and lush as you can imagine - and then have them start to get that black/brown look. No apparent change in water chemistry or lighting... the just do it. What I have also noticed - when a leaf really starts to look bad, it almost always puts off daughter plants off the bottom of the leaf. One of the longest but ugliest I ever had in one of my tanks looked like that - and when I finally got sick of looking at it - I pulled it out and it had 8 small little "baby" java ferns attached - all but one survived until I gave them away. The other floated around and finally just browned.

 

[Mr.Albiman]

Java ferns are odd beasts, so to speak. I have had them grow just as green and lush as you can imagine - and then have them start to get that black/brown look. No apparent change in water chemistry or lighting... the just do it. What I have also noticed - when a leaf really starts to look bad, it almost always puts off daughter plants off the bottom of the leaf. One of the longest but ugliest I ever had in one of my tanks looked like that - and when I finally got sick of looking at it - I pulled it out and it had 8 small little "baby" java ferns attached - all but one survived until I gave them away. The other floated around and finally just browned.

Yeah, mine were doing great for the first few months, then they started going brown I'm gonna do a 50% water change and gravel vac later today and see if that helps anything.

 

[Coursair]

Liquid Ferts aren't expensive. Look at Flourish (comprehensive).

You should be ok without CO2. Too much light can be an issue. I have my lights on timers.
I dose a liquid Fert 1x weekly after my PWC.

Mine are having lots of baby Ferns.

 

[Coursair]

I would start by doing a good water change, do a good gravel vacuuming. Then I would cut your lights back to 8 hours to start. I've never kept java ferns but as far as I know they are a fairly easy plant to keep. I don't think adding CO2 will help your problem. It may even make it worse if there is an imbalance.

Your algae looks like BBA. Google it or search it on here, it can be tough to deal with. Are you sure the leaves aren't covered in algae? Try rubbing the leaves between your fingers and see if it comes off in a clump or like dust.

I don't think CO2 would ever hurt a plant. It helps plants outcompete Algae. As long as you also use Ferts. IMHO.

I cut back on light and my Anubias got over an Algae issue. Plus my Nerite snail is an algae eating machine.

 

[CorallineAlgae]

I had this happen to my ferns a few years back. Finally I decided to just cut off the bad looking leaves and the java ferns started to go crazy. They grew so much that I ended up giving them back to the LFS about 10 years after I bought the thing. I got tired of throwing the plants out. Believe me, if your tank is kept fertilized cutting the bad leaves will help your ferns. Plants use a lot of energy trying to keep damaged or weak leaves alive when their energy is better spent growing new ones.

 

[Coursair]

I had this happen to my ferns a few years back. Finally I decided to just cut off the bad looking leaves and the java ferns started to go crazy. They grew so much that I ended up giving them back to the LFS about 10 years after I bought the thing. I got tired of throwing the plants out. Believe me, if your tank is kept fertilized cutting the bad leaves will help your ferns. Plants use a lot of energy trying to keep damaged or weak leaves alive when their energy is better spent growing new ones.

Good point about trimming back the bad leaves

 

[Mr.Albiman]

I had this happen to my ferns a few years back. Finally I decided to just cut off the bad looking leaves and the java ferns started to go crazy. They grew so much that I ended up giving them back to the LFS about 10 years after I bought the thing. I got tired of throwing the plants out. Believe me, if your tank is kept fertilized cutting the bad leaves will help your ferns. Plants use a lot of energy trying to keep damaged or weak leaves alive when their energy is better spent growing new ones.

Thanks for this advice! I'm gonna get right on that
I'm also gonna buy some Flourish as well I think.

 

[MABJ]

I'm not exactly confident the issue is being touched on here. It is an 18 gallon tank, and it had a light I considered low light for my 5 gallon.

I think you need a stronger light. My 2¢

 

[meegosh]

I'm not exactly confident the issue is being touched on here. It is an 18 gallon tank, and it had a light I considered low light for my 5 gallon.

I think you need a stronger light. My 2¢

While I agree with you that this is a low light tank, I don't think a higher wattage would be required to grow java fern. I believe the algae issue is an imbalance and most likely due to the light being on for 12+ hours. He is just shy of 1wpg and should be able to grow java fern without issue.

 

[MABJ]

While I agree with you that this is a low light tank, I don't think a higher wattage would be required to grow java fern. I believe the algae issue is an imbalance and most likely due to the light being on for 12+ hours. He is just shy of 1wpg and should be able to grow java fern without issue.

I'm not saying the WPG rule is garbage, but it is similar to the inch per gallon rule. There are a lot of other factors to consider. I think because his light is failing it right now, a light change may benefit the plant.

 

[meegosh]

I agree the WPG can be widely contradicted but in this case the OP has sufficient lighting for a low light plant. The browning of the leaves is probably due to the algae out-competing the plants for nutrients, probably due to excess light. Adding a higher intensity light at this point will only make the algae issue worse.

 

[MABJ]

I agree the WPG can be widely contradicted but in this case the OP has sufficient lighting for a low light plant. The browning of the leaves is probably due to the algae out-competing the plants for nutrients, probably due to excess light. Adding a higher intensity light at this point will only make the algae issue worse.

Hmm that's probably an accurate assumption. I'll be interested to see how it all gets sorted.