Questions concerning Java ferns.....

H

hb3133

AC Members
Jul 13, 2005
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Flagstaff, AZ
I had a quick questions about my java ferns. The leaves on a few of the plants seem to be getting black irregular spots; some leaves had holes and overall look poor. I have notice new leaves on a few of the plants so I think they are still growing. Any suggestions?

10 gallon planted tank
6 gold tetras
3 java ferns
3 anacharis
1 anubias petite nana
1 anubias coffeeolia
8 dwarf sags
1 Red Wendtii

ammonia: 0ppm
nitrite: 0ppm
nitrate: less than 5ppm?
ph: 7.4

Eco-complete
30 watts compact flourescent
10 hours of light
cycled with bio-spira on 6/23

Just recently started to add flourish and flourish excel and purchased flourish potassium and nitrogen from Big Al's online. Did I forget anything? I do not have any other test kits.
 
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are they planted in the gravel? you can't plant them in the gravel, you know.
 
The java ferns are secured to bogwood in the tank. This is my first attempt at a planted tank so I have "0" experience. I am learning as I go.
 
natural leaf degeneration and shedding, maybe. my ferns do it about once every 2 months.
 
try getting gH and kH test kits since you have live plants. they measure carbonate hardness and that means the higher the GH and KH are the more CO2 is in the water, which means heathier plants. you can do CO2 fertilizing to increase the kH and Gh if you think it is too low.
 
fishcatch22 said:
are they planted in the gravel? you can't plant them in the gravel, you know.
Click to expand...
thats not true... you can plant them in gravel.
 
fishcatch22 said:
you can't plant them in the gravel, you know.
Click to expand...
thats not true... you can plant them in gravel.
 
The roots can go in the gravel but i think that lil rhizome has to reach light no?
 
No, don't bury the roots or the rhizome in the gravel. Java ferns must have free-floating roots to acquire nutrients from the water. If you bury them, you'll kill the plant. At least that's my experience (+ it's the usual and recommended way of growing by most aquarists). If your javas are buried, try taking them out and tying them to driftwood, a rock or other tank decoration and see if this helps.

hb, it's not unusual for java ferns to get black spots on them. Parts of the plant leaf die off, and usually are replaced at this spot with tiny little plantlets, that eventually grow into larger plants. As long as your javas are getting 1 or 2 watts per gallon of light, and there are fish in the tank that are being fed (to produce ammonia which is plant food), your javas should continue to die off/grow. I've noticed this particularly in the regular and 'windelov' variety of java ferns, but not so much with the narrow-leaf type.
 
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