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Anyone had this java fern problem?


casanae

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I have had Java ferns in the past where the cells on the leaves start turning brown and rot spreading throughout the leaf. This seems to be able to spread to leaves touching each other. A few years ago I had a whole 6 foot tank wiped out when I purchased a few ferns from a pet store.

It is definitely not the standard dark patches that can form on java leaves.

It spreads very rapidly!

I have recently got back into fishkeeping and a friend has still got some java fern with similar looking symptoms (we bought the ferns from the same pet store years ago), I would like to propogate some ferns for my new tank but not if it means getting this problem into my tank like in the past.

Wondering if anyone knows the cause, has experienced it or knows how to get rid of it?

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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 3 years later...

I'm bringing this thread back from the dead as I have just aquired some java fern at expense and it seems to have a similar disease.

Leaves are turning brown almost black at points and becoming raggedy, there are holes forming through the worse leaves. Some leaves are untouched...

Over all (from a distance) the plant appears green and healthy. But most have this brown discolouring and about 40% at least seem better off to be removed.

I won;t be able to take these to the LFS till Sunday so am left keeping them in a holding tank with thermo. Another concern for me is if these are badly diseased (as they certainly seem) that they will be contaminated with all sorts of other diseases too...

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That was my first thought when I saw it Sharn - that it was just like land ferns that the bottommost leaves discolour and die with lack of light. This could have come froma very heavily populated tank.

I've had salt water and chlorine suggested to clean the plants incase it is infectious but don;t want to risk any of that till I have some idea of it's risk to the tank.

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Sometimes this just happens to java fern. I've had it happen several times over the years, both in tanks that are fertilized and not, it apparently just happens. The advantage of having multiple tanks is that you can always just reseed. I'm actually in the process of having it happen to a tank at the moment, it's a 490L tank with a low watt/litre ratio, lightly stocked. Where'd you get the java fern, Captain?

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Bought a largish amount on trademe. No photo and no mention of the plants being in this condition. More is listed so if this plant is a disaster then I will be pursuing with seller/TM. (No names until I have their response to my email)

If I remove all the leaves affected I would have very little left. Basically I don't know if I should just bin this lot... Salvaging what's left to expose my tank to who knows what contaminants seems unwise.

If this is a nutrient issue and can be confirmed then I'm annoyed but at least it isn't a complete waste.

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I have quite a bit of java fern and this is something it tends to do but I have no idea why. You can find completely dead black leaves where the rest of the plant looks perfectly healthy. I haven't seen it spread to all the plants so I don't know what that could be caused by.

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Bought a largish amount on trademe. No photo and no mention of the plants being in this condition. More is listed so if this plant is a disaster then I will be pursuing with seller/TM. (No names until I have their response to my email)

It wasn't me!!!!! was it? :P

I notice that there's a trademe seller of java fern up in auckland. It's already been noted by the plant growers on here that the plants are grown emersed (out of water) and will possibly have a transition period while adjusting to being put underwater which will include leaf loss, etc.

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But i was new to plants and thought id give java fern ago but i had the exact same problem with the leaves looked black at edges and i brought mine off trademe also, in the end i took it out of my tank like i say i was new to plants in tank and was worried it might affect fish, I wasnt really sure what else to do guess i should have just asked lol :oops:

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I have a similar thing happen with my Java Fern and the leaves that turn brown get new little baby plants on the end of them, I just assumed that the leaves were old and dying off, most of the plant seems healthy and even better now I have some ottos to clean them and keep the algae at bay.

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To me it looks like the holes would be caused by small snails and or fish?? Doesn't look to me like a nutrient thing, if it was a deficiency (at least in soil grown plants) those symptoms would show up as pale leaves, red/purple (potassium), veined leaves where either the veins or the area between is pale etc. It could just be natural ageing, is it on the older leaves or young or both??

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