What’s on my windelov fern

[mommy2girls!]

10 gallon Freshwater tropical tank. No added fertilizers. 3 other Java ferns not affected. Only half the windelov is affected the other half the plant is not covered in this. Rhizome is firm and naturally attached (no glue or string) to a fake grass covered tunnel structure. Some sort of stringy algae? How do I get rid of it? I also have random brown spots on glass that easily wipe off glass during weekly cleaning. But it’s not furry or stringy like on plants
Btw, 4 neons 4 embers 1 assassin 0 ammonia 0 nitrites 10-20 nitrates 7.8 ph 76 degrees. 35% weekly water changes

 

[fishorama]

Hard to tell just what's happening from kinda blurry pic. In many ways it looks like baby ferns forming, but ususally they start out as dark dots along the leaf edges. They could look like your pic at first before leaflets & roots form.
I wouldn't worry, sometimes they look like the beginning of BBA too, mostly the tiny roots before any leaves. Just see what happens, you can always trim off any leaves that don't turn out to start fernlets after a while. It's a slow process, be patient.

 

[mommy2girls!]

Definitely not new plantlets. Let me try a new pic

 

[fishorama]

Old leaves tend to get BBA. They won't fall off naturally with some plants but need to be cut off (with scissors). But old java leaves also produce new fernlets...often where the BBA damage happens.

Do you have new leaves without the BBA? I see 1 on the last pic right that looks "clean". You probably have more.

A 10g is pretty small for Windelov. IME it grew like gangbusters in hardish water but even in soft it was quite vigorous, both without ferts. Because of the way it grows each leaf takes up quite a bit of room & it may seem like you're snipping away a lot to remove even 1 frond. You can just snip off the bba looking parts too but that will be a PITA as the damaged parts will likely grow bba too. Healthy parts of fronds can be floated until they start to grow happy again...but bba will loves leaf or frond damage too.

I used to give away a "grocery bag's" worth of windelov to anyone I knew who kept fish & wanted to try live plants & traded it for food etc at my lfs. But mine were in 4 ft tanks mostly, you may need to work harder.

 

[mommy2girls!]

It’s actually 2 plants with separate rhizome pieces side by side. Only one of the plants has this bba if that is what it is. Will it transfer to my other plants? I would prefer to cut it all off to the rhizome and pray for the best than for it to take over on the rest of my plants. Btw, I had no idea that windelov grew like that. It’s listed as a slow grower in lfs. I have a friend with a 75 gal that would love to have plants. If I ever get too much I know how to share

 

[mommy2girls!]

Only one new leaf on the affected plant and it looks pretty sad too

 

[fishorama]

I'm sorry to say I'm not sure what that moss (regular java moss?) & "fuzzy root" (j. fern w/bba?) are.

I probably should have said "like gangbusters" for java fern, but Windelov was much faster than most java ferns, the leaves are lots larger. Hard water helped.

Any plant part that looks "iffy" or "fuzzy" in any way I trim with scissors. if I can.

Is that poor lone bottom leaf & fuzzy roots your 2nd java fern? Not trying to be snotty, it's a tiny start. But I don't see bba on it either. Let it ride for now

 

[mommy2girls!]

The moss is fake. It’s some weird fake grass tunnel thing that I bought for the fish to hide in and sleep when I first setup before any other decor. I would take it out if the windelov hadn’t attached so tight to it. The fuzzy roots seem to be the way they grow. Even the healthy Java ferns have the same type clingy brown fuzzy roots that hold on to stuff to anchor them down. The little baby leaf is attached to the very end of the rhizome of the bba affected windelov. My tank is a bowface so it’s taller than long so the plants do have height to grow

 

[fishorama]

Oh, I get it now, nice tank! Fuzzy brown roots can be normal for java fern; fuzzy grayish is more apt to be BBA, not in a scary way...but if it's only on the roots it may not spread much if at all. There are many kinds of ferns & mosses I haven't kept but no fake moss for me yet, lol.

3 or 4? of your ferns look like "narrow" & nicely healthy & happy...Although that longest leaf of your last front dead center plant may be heading toward a bit of trouble in an old leaf way.

What is that java fern in the left to middle up high? I think I may have had that 1...Trident (left)? & maybe "needle?" in the middle? I've had many different 1s thanks to my plant club, a bunch of very generous & interesting people.

There might be a fun plant or fish club near you. Do you live near a bigger city? I've lived on both coasts where there are both but there are some in the "middle" US & other countries too. If you tell us in a vague way where you live we may be able to help you find 1. Even if you don't go often it can be a fun road trip with probably new restaurants etc nearby or on the way.

Another plant to think about in a low tech way in anubias. It attaches to wood or rock like java ferns. But a nice dark green & comes in several leaf shapes. Another are cryptocorynes planted in the substrate, many species & varieties, they're mostly not fussy about light & like a root tab sometimes.

 

[mommy2girls!]

Thanks. They were all labeled as narrow leaf but petco is not always the most reliable. I have anubias in my bladder snail jar. I’m breeding them for my assassin’s midnight snacks. I bought the anubias in order to acquire the snails. They were all over the tank where it was. I kindly asked the employee to throw in some extra snails for me. He thought I was completely crazy and was telling me how to dip and quarantine the plants lol if he only knew. I used the rocks and water from main tank to keep the cycle and it’s been working for 3 weeks now