7Enigma
Aquarium Advice Addict
I completely understand. My tank had this exact same problem. I have anubias, (at the time wisteria), Rotala mac., stargrass, hygro, and several java ferns.
The wisteria gre great, the stargrass and hygro and anubias the same. But my java fern just began to turn brown, then the leaves got black, and eventually the majority of them fell off. I was told it was a CO2 issue as java ferns are apparently poor competetors for CO2 (ie the faster growers take the CO2), but this couldn't be possible as I was running high CO2 (ie 60-100ppm!). I had ample nitrAtes, phosphates, traces, iron, etc. My GH was 10degrees so I should also have ample amounts of calcium and magnesium.
But no avail, it always seemed there was a deficiency. I assumed it was potassium because of the way the leaves would deteriorate (textbook potassium deficiency), but I at one point probably had close to 100ppm potassium present in the tank. Still no luck.
Now java fern is very difficult to figure out because it grows so slowly. A minor deficiency might not show up for a week or more, so its not as easy to identify a problem until its well established. The problem with this however is that my fast growers which are supposed to be the "canary" plants, show no deficiency.
So I've come to the possible conclusion that java fern prefers low amounts of ferts to grow well. High levels of light are definately NOT a cause as my java's exploded when I went form the stock tank lighting to ~4wpg of CF light. All of a sudden they ALL started to die off like yours. I trimmed off bad leaves, kept dosing everything (I do a hybrid EI dosing, in that I measure my levels and dose accordingly but slightly higher than needed), and still no luck.
I now have 2 root balls that are green but have not sprouted new leaves in over 2 weeks. I can't tell if they are doing anything at all or just getting ready to rot away.
So I have a 10gallon QT tank I'm attempting to grow snails in now and have been putting clippings from the main tank in, along with the remainder of the java ferns that are partially brown but still have some slightly healthy looking leaves on them.
These plants have been creating new plants on the leaves that look healthy, and so I'm wondering if either I reached a life cycle stage where the plant wants to create offspring and the main plant dies, or whether the plant "realizes" its better to start anew than attempt to repair itself.
The water in the QT tank is not fertilized. I overfeed to attempt to introduce some algae in the tank for the snails, and there is no CO2 being injected (nor Excel being added). If the java ferns begin to recover and the new plants are healthy I'm going to put a couple back in the main tank and see if the same thing happens as before.
Like you I was stumped and quite frustrated. I would suggest clipping off the heavily damaged leaves, and possibly transferring a couple of the plants to a separate container that gets some indirect sunlight (or put it next to a lamp). I would use 25% tank water and the rest dechlorinated tap water and let it go for a bit and see if the plants recovers.
I'm starting to wonder if java fern can be finicky like "lucky" bamboo and REQUIRE low nutrient levels (CO2 not being counted). I keep several plants of these at my desk at work and under higher nutrient levels the plants will brown and the leaves will die. If the water isn't changed quickly (I use distilled) the plant can die.
The wisteria gre great, the stargrass and hygro and anubias the same. But my java fern just began to turn brown, then the leaves got black, and eventually the majority of them fell off. I was told it was a CO2 issue as java ferns are apparently poor competetors for CO2 (ie the faster growers take the CO2), but this couldn't be possible as I was running high CO2 (ie 60-100ppm!). I had ample nitrAtes, phosphates, traces, iron, etc. My GH was 10degrees so I should also have ample amounts of calcium and magnesium.
But no avail, it always seemed there was a deficiency. I assumed it was potassium because of the way the leaves would deteriorate (textbook potassium deficiency), but I at one point probably had close to 100ppm potassium present in the tank. Still no luck.
Now java fern is very difficult to figure out because it grows so slowly. A minor deficiency might not show up for a week or more, so its not as easy to identify a problem until its well established. The problem with this however is that my fast growers which are supposed to be the "canary" plants, show no deficiency.
So I've come to the possible conclusion that java fern prefers low amounts of ferts to grow well. High levels of light are definately NOT a cause as my java's exploded when I went form the stock tank lighting to ~4wpg of CF light. All of a sudden they ALL started to die off like yours. I trimmed off bad leaves, kept dosing everything (I do a hybrid EI dosing, in that I measure my levels and dose accordingly but slightly higher than needed), and still no luck.
I now have 2 root balls that are green but have not sprouted new leaves in over 2 weeks. I can't tell if they are doing anything at all or just getting ready to rot away.
So I have a 10gallon QT tank I'm attempting to grow snails in now and have been putting clippings from the main tank in, along with the remainder of the java ferns that are partially brown but still have some slightly healthy looking leaves on them.
These plants have been creating new plants on the leaves that look healthy, and so I'm wondering if either I reached a life cycle stage where the plant wants to create offspring and the main plant dies, or whether the plant "realizes" its better to start anew than attempt to repair itself.
The water in the QT tank is not fertilized. I overfeed to attempt to introduce some algae in the tank for the snails, and there is no CO2 being injected (nor Excel being added). If the java ferns begin to recover and the new plants are healthy I'm going to put a couple back in the main tank and see if the same thing happens as before.
Like you I was stumped and quite frustrated. I would suggest clipping off the heavily damaged leaves, and possibly transferring a couple of the plants to a separate container that gets some indirect sunlight (or put it next to a lamp). I would use 25% tank water and the rest dechlorinated tap water and let it go for a bit and see if the plants recovers.
I'm starting to wonder if java fern can be finicky like "lucky" bamboo and REQUIRE low nutrient levels (CO2 not being counted). I keep several plants of these at my desk at work and under higher nutrient levels the plants will brown and the leaves will die. If the water isn't changed quickly (I use distilled) the plant can die.
