# What is wrong with my java fern...?



## Bunny (Oct 13, 2013)

Hi everyone, I had java fern growing quite happily in my tank before I rescape the whole thing. Now, although the tank looks a zillion times better, the Java fern (from my old tank - the additional fern I got to rescape with is doing fine) is having entire leaves die off in just a matter of days. They develop a pronounced "lattice" pattern and then pattern turns into a lot of holes. Is this a nutrient deffiency? A disease? It's happened on more than one plant, but only the plants from my old tank - not on any of my newly acquired fern.

I dose sparingly with Flourish twice a week and do not use co2 at all. Gunk is siphoned out once a week as my water change. Temp is about 77 ish but I don't think that would affect anything as that hasn't changed... lighting is quite low - about 1/2 a watt per gallon. I am planing to hack my old light fixture to upgrade this to 2 wpg in the near future however. Again though, this problem is new and the lighting has not changed.

Let's see: 33 gal tank, sand substrate, all java fern is tied to driftwood, this problem is affecting the fern tied to my new driftwood as well as the one that hasn't moved at all. 2 mystery snails, 11 white cloud minnows, 6 cories, a small bnp, a largeish common pleco, and a fat goldfish is the stock (does this matter...?).

My sunset hydro is looking okay ish as it is recovering from being in a bowl for a couple of days but some of the older leaves are looking a little... eaten with bumpy black borders on the "eaten" part (I think it's the pleco), vals are doing well as always (except the one I planted too deep), and staurogene repens looks healthy.

Affected leaves I have cut off and am holding (healthy stuff in the background):










Any insight to this problem would be much appreciated 

Sent from my SM-N900W8 using Tapatalk


----------



## CRS Fan (Apr 21, 2010)

It looks like your water column has bottomed out on nitrates and now your fern is turning brown/black as a deficiency symptom and slowly rotting away. It looks like a fish (BNP/common pleco/mystery snail) is then scavenging on the 'rotting/dying leaves (causing an exacerbated lattice pattern). Feeding your fish more or adding an additional nitrate source should rectify the problem. 

Best regards,

Stuart


----------



## Bunny (Oct 13, 2013)

Really? Wow, okay... that seems simple enough. Do you have any suggestions as to what a good nitrate source would be? Could this be partly caused by the rescape I did where I changed my gravel to sand thereby removing all of the gunk that would have been producing some of the nitrates? Should I just dose Flourish more heavily? Currently I'm doing about 1.5 ml on tues/fri (in a 33 gal tank). I'm just terrified of accidentally overdosing and harming my fish 

Since I started dosing about a month ago (from previously nothing) my vals are looking WAAAAY better (no more deformation!), so its doing something - maybe not enough though?


----------



## CRS Fan (Apr 21, 2010)

Is your Flourish macros and micros? Or is it Comprehensive? Flourish Nitrogen is nitrate (nitrogen) only. Java Ferns are nitrate sponges and will eat up ALOT of nitrates. Your fish will be fine by adding more nitrates. Cleaning the gravel well will clean out organics from it (specially in older tanks) and will contain nitrogen rich detritus.

Best regards,

Stuart


----------



## Bunny (Oct 13, 2013)

I just checked the bottle, it looks as if it is comprehensive. Does that mean I need a different one? (Is there a cheap way to supply the nitrogen java fern needs?)


----------



## CRS Fan (Apr 21, 2010)

Add 3ml 2 times a week and see if that remedies the situation. If not, increase to 3ml 3 times week. You can always feed your fish more often as well. You can also buy Flourish Nitrogen to add only the specific macro and continue the Comprehensive regime.

Best regards,

Stuart


----------



## Atom (Apr 21, 2010)

Stuart is a wealth of information! Just saying....


----------

