Java Fern Please Help

[snapper2212]

Hi Was wondering if you could help me with my Java fern it just doesn't look right as you can see from the photos it has holes in it and brown spots.

Here is some information on my tank to help

It is a fluval roma 240, iam using the standard lights which come with it which are t8s and they are on for 7 hours a day.
*co2 injection and its at 1bps and comes on 2 hours before lights on and goes off an hour before light off.
* I use to fluval 305 external filters for filtration, inlets at each end of the tank and 1 standard out let in the corner and other outlet by way of spray bar.

* Here are my water parameters

*PH 6.2
*Ammonia 0
*Nitrite 0
* Nitrate 15 (this is what my tap water is roughly has been known to be 30)
*Phosphate 0.5
I dose tropica liquid solution once a week

And the fish i have in there are 2 corys, 4 Ottos and 24 rummy nose tetras.

The java fern is attached to wood

This is all i can think of now hope this is enough info

Thank you in advance
Snapper2212

 

[ceg4048]

Hi Snapper,
Try adding more CO2 and/or have a look at your distribution methods.

Cheers,

 

[BioLogic]

This seems to be happening quite a bit in the last year or so - so many queries on various forums about "sudden death syndrome" in java fern! More on that later!

Firstly - java fern really does not do well under high light intensity. All the pics you see of it under high (and I use the word loosely!) light are not quite without a story! You see those ferns have been judiciously pruned - any leaf nearingf maturity is snipped out! The trouble starts with older leaves and then like wildfire it spreads to all leaves except those that are still very soft.

Second it would seem that an increased flow does help for a while but then - it carries on - more holey leaves and soon they are dead!

I suspect that the problem here is a pathogen! As referred to in the opening paragraph this is happening quite a bit lately. I suspect that the original explant mother stock is becoming filthy now - prone to pathogens and there is a definite need for new material to be acquired from the wild and this needs to be trialled and suitable material identified and used for tissue culture. I have found that clones of clones of clones become debillitated and the mother stock needs to be replenished with fresh genetic material from time to time.

I know this aint of much use but the one thing you can is cut that fern back - hard!!!! Remove most of the foliage - leave only the vigorous new growth, and then either lower the light or grow some fast growing stems behind the fern to eventually shade it - this is what worked for me. A steady hand and a cold heart is whats neede here - snip snip snip!

 

[ceg4048]

Firstly - java fern really does not do well under high light intensity.

Hi,
This is true of all plants if CO2/flow are inadequate. In any case the OP indicates that the lighting being used are the stock T8, which really are not all that high. Most of us grow ferns under much higher lighting than we should, however, if proper attention is paid to CO2 and flow then the problems are minimized.

The issue is how to make it work under high lighting in order to reduce/eliminate the discoloration, malformation and spotting, while at the same time not gassing the fish.

Like any other plant, pruning is an essential technique to keeping the specimen healthy and fresh looking. In the case of ferns, this is especially important because the large mass of leaves causes blockage of flow, which increases the thickness of the diffusion boundary layer causing localized depletion of CO2 and nutrients.

Pruning encourages healthy, fresh growth. After awhile the plant will develop fresh, salad looking leaves with little or nor cricking, puffiness or deformation because the flow pathways are kept open. One also has to trim the mass of roots down low near the attach point to allow light, CO2 and nutrients to penetrate this area and to encourage new fronds.

What you are seeing in the pattern you describe is simply the result of plant mass increase and the progressive loss of flow within the mass, resulting in deficiency syndrome.

Pruning is standard operating procedure for any plant, especially in a fuel injected tank. No special story there. In fact, as you suggest, cutting the plant back has the effect of increasing flow to the lower regions, helping the plant to recover. As the plant grows back however, unless flow and CO2 are properly addressed the story will be repeated so this has the illusion of a pathogenic symptom, when in fact it's simply a result of carbon starvation.

Sudden death syndrome of java ferns is easily explained, as is the case with 95% of all other complaints - poor CO2 and distribution techniques. The fact that it happens to so many people is simply due to the fact that many people make the same mistakes. Those of us who understand the reasons and solutions don't have trouble at all with this and other low light plants when grown under high lighting. Most of the symptoms described by the OP is a classic case of carbon deficiency.

Cheers,