# Melting Java Ferns & Anubias



## fishscale (May 29, 2007)

Looks like you don't have enough light, see if you can get a better fixture. 36/32 is just over 1 watt per gallon. Excel can also cause melting in some plants. You probably also need other nutrients, but I don't think that is the reason they are melting. I think light is the biggest issue.


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## shelleygirl (Jul 15, 2007)

I've had these plants in my tank for the last 4 months and they seem to be producing new leaves roughly every 3 weeks. The afzelli in the pic has just started to produce a new leaf. I thought 1 watt per gal would be surficient for anubias and java ferns to grow (according to info on the net). I also have E Tellenus which is producing loads of runners. Hmmm.. maybe its time to change the tubes.

If its a lighting issue wouldn't all the plants be showing melting signs at the same time instead of one after the other??


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## fishscale (May 29, 2007)

I am not sure if lighting is the direct cause of melting, but you might want to up the light anyway. I am not sure if you are nutrient deficient with a low light set up, but if you are, I would think that maybe you are not getting enough macronutrients, meaning nitrogen, phosphates, and potassium. If you have fish in the tank, you are probably ok on nitrogen from fish wastes, so you might have low phosphates or potassium. When I was dealing with an algae problem, someone told me that Fleet Enemas (yes, enemas) are composed of only potassium phosphate and water. (Read here: http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/algae/48506-gsa-tank-quarantine.html) I went out and bought one, and it really did work. 

Given your lighting, though, I don't think that you need to add many nutrients. You might want to cut back on the Excel just to see what happens.


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## shelleygirl (Jul 15, 2007)

I haven't dosed any Excel in the tank for the last few days because some algae has just started to appear on the glass. Should Flourish provide my tank with the required nutrients?? Should I continue to dose it on a weekly basis??


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## ikuzo (Jul 11, 2006)

the light is definitely not the problem, i put java ferns (on wood) in my goldfish tank which is 45 gallon with only 10 watts fluorescent. the water is brackish too, and the java fern survive for more than a month now. i don't use fertilizer too, they grow slowly but surely don't die.

edit : for the anubias, i have one that was in a really bad leaves condition so i decided to cut all the leaves except one healthy leave and grow it emersed. it has 4 leaves now in just 2 weeks. do note that the rhizome is in healthy thick condition though.


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## epicfish (Sep 11, 2006)

fishscale said:


> Looks like you don't have enough light, see if you can get a better fixture. 36/32 is just over 1 watt per gallon. Excel can also cause melting in some plants. You probably also need other nutrients, but I don't think that is the reason they are melting. I think light is the biggest issue.





ikuzo said:


> the light is definitely not the problem, i put java ferns (on wood) in my goldfish tank which is 45 gallon with only 10 watts fluorescent. the water is brackish too, and the java fern survive for more than a month now. i don't use fertilizer too, they grow slowly but surely don't die.
> 
> edit : for the anubias, i have one that was in a really bad leaves condition so i decided to cut all the leaves except one healthy leave and grow it emersed. it has 4 leaves now in just 2 weeks. do note that the rhizome is in healthy thick condition though.



Ditto. Make sure you know what you're talking about before you give out general advice.  

I have anubias and java ferns in tanks that get only ambient room light, not even sunlight, and they're doing fine.

Feel the rhizomes, if they're soft, cut the soft parts away or else it'll spread. Last time when that happened to me, it was a drastic change in gH/kH that made them start melting, and then it looked like a fungus had started to grow on the rhizomes. I pruned the rhizomes and threw away any fungused areas as well as the soft areas and all is fine.


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## shelleygirl (Jul 15, 2007)

Ikuzo, how do go abouts in growing the anubias emersed? hmmm.. just a thought, if the melting gets really bad should I try growing it emersed to get a few new leaves and then replant it back into the tank? Or will the plant just continue to melt? 

As for the java fern. Will the plant just regrow new leaves or is that plant in the pic dead?


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## ikuzo (Jul 11, 2006)

growing anubias emersed is easy beacause the plant is hardy. you just need any flat container, put some laterite layer first, then the gravel. put water at gravel level max, after that i just lay the anubias on the gravel. thats what i did. the anubias will root and grow new leaves faster. growing anubias emersed means no algae and CO2 worries. becareful with moving air though, as some of my anubias leaves will dry and trun to brown from the edges if they catch strong wind. glass cover is a must. i cut damaged leaves so the plant can focus the energy to grow new leaves instead, as damaged leaves won't recover anyway.

anubias is one kind of plant that can go emerse and submerge without changing leaves to adapt, so it's fine if you want to move them back to your tank, but if they start to melt again probably something horribly wrong with your water.

your java fern looks dead to me.


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