# New Java fern turning brown



## glitterSmudge (Nov 11, 2017)

Hey fellas,

I have had this plant for less than 2 weeks and it appears to be dying.I use ferts in my tank 2x week, including iron once a week. I use Flourish Excel daily. Is there something I am missing? Any help given will be highly appreciated.

Thanks!
GS


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## MissCris (Mar 7, 2016)

Was the plant grown submerged or emmersed? Could just be transitioning. Some of mine did that when I first got them. Do you see new growth off the rhyzome? If new leaves are forming, and they look ok, I wouldn't worry too much. Just trim the old ones if the asthetic bothers you.

If you let those old leaves float in the tank a while though, they will probably produce new plantlets that are already acclimated to your tank. In a dosed aquarium, the babies should take off pretty nicely too.

If it was grown underwater, and not in a plant tube, it could be shock from light changes or the increased ferts. I'd dial back dosing for a bit if that's the case, unless you know the previous tank it grew in was dosed a lot.


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## glitterSmudge (Nov 11, 2017)

I actually got it from ebay and the seller had mentioned that it was grown immersed. I do see some new leaves that look ok. I did trim off the old leaving as they had algae growing on them


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## PlantsForHire (Sep 28, 2017)

They just do that for whatever reason (asides the reasons mentioned before). I have healthy java fern and the older leaves just get black eventually. You can trim it off, a new one will replace it just as quick.


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## glitterSmudge (Nov 11, 2017)

How long does it take for plants to acclimate to a tank? I have some anubias that have brown splotches/spots on them as well. I am so clueless at this point. :/


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## MissCris (Mar 7, 2016)

Acclimation depends on species, previous growing conditions, and new tank conditions. Occasionally it seems to depend on the will and whim of the gods...lol. And different species have different tolerances to swings in environment before they need to adapt.

Good rule of thumb is the plant will dump its older leaves as new ones come in that are used to the tank. As long as new growth looks ok, don't be too concerned. With rhyzome or tuber plants, you can usually just prune off the ugly stuff immediately if you want because the plant has nutrient stores. With rosette or stem plants, they often need the old leaves for a little while until the new ones can take over photosynthesis.

Some plants that grow marginally in flood zones will hold the old leaves (as they continue to look more and more sad) until sufficient new ones grow in, and then will shed the old ones rather rapidly (I've seen swords do this a few times). Some, most famously cryptocorines, will just drop all the leaves right out the gate, look dead for a couple weeks, and then shoot out new aquatic leaves rapidly. Some, like your anubias, will grow new leaves without shedding the old; the old ones just get rather sad looking. 

If it were me, I'd prune off the worst few anubias leaves, and as the nice ones come in, continue to trim off the old stuff a bit at a time. Anubias grow pretty slow, so it will probably take a month or more to make enough new leaves for you to trim all the older ones. You can trim all the spotted up leaves now if you really want, but it will have more growth energy available if you don't hack it back too hard.

Hope that sort of answers the question, and gives you some helpful general info.


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## glitterSmudge (Nov 11, 2017)

Hi MissCris,

Thank you for the detailed reply. I was a little freaked because I thought it was some infection that spread to all my plants. I have a low tech tank, so I assume new growth will be painfully slow. I guess what I need is to be more patient. Your reply was very helpful and has given me hope that I may,after-all, have a green thumb. lol.. thanks again! 

GS


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## JusticeBeaver (Oct 28, 2017)

glitterSmudge said:


> Hi MissCris,
> 
> Thank you for the detailed reply. I was a little freaked because I thought it was some infection that spread to all my plants. I have a low tech tank, so I assume new growth will be painfully slow. I guess what I need is to be more patient. Your reply was very helpful and has given me hope that I may,after-all, have a green thumb. lol.. thanks again!
> 
> GS


Growth tends to be slow in a low tech aquarium. While it might seem like a curse now, once your tank is established and starts to age a bit, the slow growth is actually a blessing since you won't have to put as much effort into maintaining it.


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## glitterSmudge (Nov 11, 2017)

Hi JusticeBeaver,

I guess I got a little impatient looking at all the beautiful planted tanks online, which of course are more demanding and require way more effort. What you said absolutely makes sense, I will try to be more patient and less panicky. Its my first time dabbling in this hobby, so every little thing throws me for a loop and I desperately want my tank to look good.


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## MissCris (Mar 7, 2016)

glitterSmudge said:


> Hi JusticeBeaver,
> 
> I guess I got a little impatient looking at all the beautiful planted tanks online, which of course are more demanding and require way more effort. What you said absolutely makes sense, I will try to be more patient and less panicky. Its my first time dabbling in this hobby, so every little thing throws me for a loop and I desperately want my tank to look good.


Don't worry too much. We all know the feeling of wanting instant tanks, lol. Look at a few pics in the tank journal section, and notice how many look a bit "half empty" during the early stages. 

Trust us, you will be happy for less maintenance later. That is, unless you like fussing with your tank all the time, which is ok too.


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## glitterSmudge (Nov 11, 2017)

Hey MissCris,

Thanks for pointing me to the Tank Journal Section, I might start one just to keep a track of all the progress and/or hurdles. I am all for low maintenance, the less I have to put my grubby paws in my tank , the better. 

Tank gurus, I do have one other legit question. It concerns my tank lighting, I have an LED which generates 1200 lumens at 6000K. Is there a way to figure out if its too low/too high/ just right light? Thanks again!


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## MissCris (Mar 7, 2016)

How deep is the aquarium? That has a lot to do with how much light you need. Java ferns and anibias both grow faster with good light and ferts, but will tolerate very low light levels, albeit with slow growth.

In a low tech tank with low light plants, if you aren't dosing, it's sort of hard to have too little light as long as you have something reasonable. Your big worry is algae if you have excessive light because the plants can't utilize the nitrogen fast enough.

If algae develops and you don't want to add carbon, you can usually just cut back on the photo period until you reach equilibrium where the plants convert the available nutrients. Or you can stick a pothos (no soil) with the roots in the water and the top over the side or back, and it will slurp up the excess nutrients and keep algae in check.


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## glitterSmudge (Nov 11, 2017)

Hi MissCris,

The tank is 14" deep and the substrate occupies about 3". I have put the light on a timer, for a photo period of aprrox. 8 hours. I do try to use seachem excel daily as a carbon supplement as well as an algae killer. So far algae seems to be in check, what I am worried about is frying my plants, if that makes sense. I read that some low light plants(jave ferns, anubias nana) burn in intense light. I have attached the pictures of my tank and my sad looking plants. Constructive criticism is welcome. Many thanks for your help.

GS


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## MissCris (Mar 7, 2016)

I've grown both in pretty high light. The old leaves looked bad for a bit, but they adapted. If the new growth looks ok, I wouldn't worry to much. However, if you notice the leaves are very, very light green (indication of reduced chlorophyll in response to excess light, not to be confused with yellowing from nutrient imbalance), try cutting back the number of hours of illumination until the color on the leaves is a normal green again. You can also split the photo period into two 4-hr periods, with a few hours of dark in between.


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## glitterSmudge (Nov 11, 2017)

Its good to know that they can be grown in high light. I think all of them doing fine, all things considered. But I will keep an eye on the leaves, to make sure that aren't affected by the light. Thank you so much,MissCris. I also started a tank journal, so I can visually track the progress of the tank!


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## MissCris (Mar 7, 2016)

I almost forgot:

Java fern can get really big if grown in optimal conditions. Some varieties, like windelov, stay smaller, but normal and trident can get tall enough to poke out of the top of your tank when grown in perfect light/ferts/co2. I had a trident get almost 15" once, normal one in same 10g tank got about 8-9"; both were escaping the top. I was dosing excel and flourish, and a nearby window was giving it a lot of indirect sun on top of the tank light. I still have babies from both those mother plants, though without the dosing, lights, etc. they have stayed under 6" in other tanks.

That doesn't mean yours will get huge, but if it starts getting out of hand, trim back the rhyzome a bit or split it. Then the plant has to refocus energy and leaves will be smaller again. You could also cut back ferts or add hungrier plants to eat up more of the nutrients. Or let them poke out the top if it doesn't bug you. They are marginal, and it does look kind of neat having them emerge.

I doubt you'll have issues, but I figured the early fyi might help if you did start seeing major growth down the road. I haven't had anubias do that to me though. Mine just sort of plugs away steadily.

I'll look up your tank journal. It's always sort of fun seeing how our aquariums evolve over time.


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## glitterSmudge (Nov 11, 2017)

MissCris said:


> I almost forgot:
> 
> Java fern can get really big if grown in optimal conditions. Some varieties, like windelov, stay smaller, but normal and trident can get tall enough to poke out of the top of your tank when grown in perfect light/ferts/co2. I had a trident get almost 15" once, normal one in same 10g tank got about 8-9"; both were escaping the top. I was dosing excel and flourish, and a nearby window was giving it a lot of indirect sun on top of the tank light. I still have babies from both those mother plants, though without the dosing, lights, etc. they have stayed under 6" in other tanks.
> 
> ...


When I got the java fern, it was actually biggish and bushy. I am hoping it will bounce back and I can use it as a background plant. I will bear in mind all that you noted here. Thanks for dropping by my tank journal. Hopefully, I can turn it into a mini jungle in 2018. Happy New Year!


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