java fern randomly dying

[Laticauda]

Java plants shed old leaves and grow new ones. On all of my older-leaves, I find little plantlets growing out of the leaves that are about to be shed. Hope this helps.

If it's still growing new leaves, it's just going through its normal growth process. If they are buried in the substrate, this will kill them. It looks like they are rooted to wood, which is how they are supposed to be "planted."

 

[Kcameron]

javas can survive in alot of low light areas. I have even kept them in a tank with no light on it at all (still alive after 2 years). Do you use aquarium salt? they are very sensitive to it.

 

[Laticauda]

Do you use aquarium salt? they are very sensitive to it.

This is an inaccurate statement. These are some of the few live plants that can thrive in brackish conditions, so the light mineral content of aquarium salt would not harm them.

 

[keydiver]

I planted root tabs in preparation of my new plant shipment which includes a lot of plants that gets most nutrient intake through their roots which came in today, and I finished planting all of it.

I do not use aquarium salt, and they are attached to the wood via wooly rhizomes. I'm just wondering if it's one of the variables that has been changed over the past week or two, and whether or not it is a sign that my other plants are going to follow the java fern's poor health, because I could care less about the java fern as long as the other stuff survives.

 

[keydiver]

Here's a picture of my new plants in the tank. You can see why I used root tabs. I know i've asked this a million times, but I just want to make sure that my plants will survive... I run fermentation c02 and have a t5 2x39 watt fixture, again i'm using root tabs and pfertz micros and nitrogen

Foreground: lileopsis mauritus, micro sword, dwarf sagg
Midground: Anubias, crypts, kleiner bar sword, java fern, pennywort, rotala, banana plant
Background: narrow sagg, red ozelot sword, italian vall
Floaters: riccia, pennywort

 

[Kcameron]

This is an inaccurate statement. These are some of the few live plants that can thrive in brackish conditions, so the light mineral content of aquarium salt would not harm them.

I kept them in semi-saline conditions, but also (in some other tanks) after low levels of salinity and a treatment of aquarium salt, they started to thin at the base just like in his photo. I took them out of that tank until conditions became normal, then they got better...IME they dont like salt treatment

 

[swervo513]

some plants with rhizomes should not have their roots covered by soil and substrate. Make sure the roots are not covered because they can rot.

 

[Saterus]

I'm no expert, I keep java fern because it's easy and propogates so I can put it in all my tanks. Just last night I collected 17 baby javas from the tank with the most.
A agree with Laticauda, it could be normal propogation. Old leaves die off and float away with new plants on the end (to spread, I assume) and that is exactly how I get my babies.
They definitely don't like a ton of light though. They grow best for me in moderate light, but I've never had them die of too much.
Also, BTW, I keep java fern in my brackish tanks, they do fine so long as you acclimate them slowly. Growth slowed way down over 1.010 SG.

 

[keydiver]

But I mean that a bunch of the leaves started browning out, even small propagules that had been anchored in different places with no plants growing on the leaves. I was just afraid it was some kind of nutrient deficiency/over efficiency that was causing them to die, and that would cause all my other pants to die also. I'm leaning more towards the idea of one of those scenarios, or maybe they are getting too much light, but it hasn't been a problem in the month that i've had the light