# Plant Care Help please



## Domelotta (Apr 25, 2007)

Hey I have 2.32 wpg of light on my tank and dose with seachem flourish excel daily, and flourish comprehensive bi weekly. I also put root tabs in the substrate where the rooted plants are.

My water params are 
P.H. = between 7.1-7.2
Ammonia = 0 ppm
Nitrate = 0 ppm
Nitrite = 0 ppm

My plant growth is as follows:

Amazon Sword - med/fast
Anubias Barteri - slow
Anubias Lanceolata - none 
Brazilian Sword - none ( I didn't know it wasn't a submersible plant, it's only temporary )
Cryptocoryne Wendtii - med
Dwarf Sagittaria - med/fast (it's new so not 100% sure yet)
Indian Fern - very very fast
Java Fern - none, and brown/decaying
Java Moss - slow

So my question is, why are ally my plants doing well and growing nicely, but the java ferns are dying? I bought them 3 different times. Each time I placed them on driftwood, as to not cover the rhizome but they all brown and decay including the rhizome. I have to throw them away because they start making my water get cloudy. Is there any advice someone can give me on this. The only thing I've come across is that Java Ferns only like high ph, but somehow it seems to be the easiest plant to take care of for most people....it's just frustrating







Also any recommendations on how to get more plant growth? or is my setup good enough?

Thanks


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## maknwar (Jul 16, 2007)

Where are you getting the java ferns?


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## Domelotta (Apr 25, 2007)

They are being sent from Malaysia. I ordered them off eBay. Everything else from eBay has been fine.


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## maknwar (Jul 16, 2007)

sounds weird. Usually java ferns are impossible to kill. I would suggest getting them from another source, just to see if its a problem with that supplier.


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## Domelotta (Apr 25, 2007)

ok I'll try that. Yea it was frustrating since all I read about was how easy they are to keep


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## CLUSTER ONE (Aug 2, 2006)

Java fern isn't known to do bad with any specific fertilizers is it? i know excel shouldn't be used with some vals, i think i used it with java fern before and it did fine, but mayby one of the other fertilizers isn't good for it. Its a bit of a long shot, but who knows. What's tank size are you running as your fertilizer routine seems a bit pricy so if you running a bigger tank you may want to go to co2, dry ferts or buy some 2-4l bottles of excel at a time.

Java fern isn't known to do bad with any specific fertilizers is it? i know excel shouldn't be used with some vals, i think i used it with java fern before and it did fine, but mayby one of the other fertilizers isn't good for it. Its a bit of a long shot, but who knows. What's tank size are you running as your fertilizer routine seems a bit pricy so if you running a bigger tank you may want to go to co2, dry ferts or buy some 2-4l bottles of excel at a time.


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## maknwar (Jul 16, 2007)

My java ferns grow awesome in my 125 gallon. I use excel sometimes, no ferts, and about 1wpg. Never had a problem with them dying, even with keeping them in the dark for a couple of weeks. They shouldnt die unless the problem is either with the plant itself or something really irritates it. What could kill it? I do not know.


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## JoeDizzleMPLS (Nov 5, 2007)

i agree with maknwar.... i have never had problems with java fern growing... i am convinced that it doesn't even need light to thrive


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## CLUSTER ONE (Aug 2, 2006)

joedizzlempls said:


> i agree with maknwar.... i have never had problems with java fern growing... i am convinced that it doesn't even need light to thrive :laugh:


Probably is something with the plant itself as if somethings irritating it, all the otherp lants would probably long dead


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## Domelotta (Apr 25, 2007)

Yea I guess perhaps it could be from being shipped from somewhere with really different water or something. The other plants are doing fine. I'll try getting one from the LFS to see if that makes a difference. It's a planted 50G so dosing it isn't too bad price-wise.


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## louisvillain2.0 (May 16, 2007)

Is the problem starting in the leaves and spreading to other leaves and the rhizome? I have had problems with this in the past, rot will spread to other leaves and plants in contact with the infected parts. Trimming out infected leaves seems to stop the spread. According to this extract it is a disease that can break out during higher temps. I have been keeping my tanks below 28C whenever possible (not so easy in Oz during summer) and haven't had a breakout of the rot for a good while now. FYI it also seems to attack bolbitis if they come in contact.

An extract from "The Natural Aquarium" by Satoshi Yoshino & Doshin Kobayashi, Page 71; a peculiar plant disease affecting aquatic ferns often breaks out during late summer and during periods of high water temperatures. If the plant growth is dense, losses among the plants will be correspondingly high. Diseased and dying leaves are removed (cut out). Affected runners are carefully identified and they must then also be removed. Moreover, it is important to make sure that during the summertime the temperature in the breeding tank is not too high. It is adviseable to take precautions the the water temperature does not exceed 28 degrees


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## thedude8 (Oct 6, 2008)

may be too much light for the java ferns and moss. They are low light plants. Usually low light plants are able to do fine in med and high light, but maybe its just too much light for them in your tank.

You may want to consider just trying another moss instead of java. You could try flame moss or something else that requires a little more light since you have the light anyways. And replacing the ferns with another plant you like. I love the look of anubias attached to driftwood.

Its just weird that you are having problems with those two plants, and not with the rest. I swear those two plants have lived in just about every condition I have put them in, including ones with almost no light at all besides light in the room.


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## Domelotta (Apr 25, 2007)

I purchased a Java fern from the LFS and boy is it a lot different than the one's I've been getting. The fern I bought is hard and actually feels like hard plastic (the stalks containing leaves). The one's off eBay were much softer and flimsy. But actually yes the decaying did spread from leaf to leaf until ultimately everything including the rhizome was dead. Only notable difference between the fern from the LFS is that one of the leaves have three heads....like an upside-down peace sign.....not sure if it's a different kind. It has been doing well for 24 hours so far. We'll see how it progresses.

Oh and the Java moss I have is just growing rather slow, not really dying. There's a lot of it so I guess in a sense it's kinda filling out quick.


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## louisvillain2.0 (May 16, 2007)

Domelotta said:


> I purchased a Java fern from the LFS and boy is it a lot different than the one's I've been getting. The fern I bought is hard and actually feels like hard plastic (the stalks containing leaves). The one's off eBay were much softer and flimsy. But actually yes the decaying did spread from leaf to leaf until ultimately everything including the rhizome was dead. Only notable difference between the fern from the LFS is that one of the leaves have three heads....like an upside-down peace sign.....not sure if it's a different kind. It has been doing well for 24 hours so far. We'll see how it progresses.
> 
> Oh and the Java moss I have is just growing rather slow, not really dying. There's a lot of it so I guess in a sense it's kinda filling out quick.


Wide leaf varieties of java fern should have pretty "crunchy" leaves, sounds like the e-ghey ones were sick to begin with. Also sounds like they had that disease if it spread like that. Just keep an eye on the new one, at the first sign of rot snip the affected leaf off at the base near the rhizome and you should be ok. Also make sure you got rid of all the last batch.


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## maknwar (Jul 16, 2007)

sounds like you got a lot more healthier plant from the lfs.


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## roccov12345 (Sep 26, 2008)

Java Fern for me in the past has been light sensitive. I try to put them in the shade most of the time as they seem to do better that way. Also, you may want to try getting your nitrates up a bit. 0 Nitrates can stunt growth.........


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