Java Fern Turning Brown

[pminister]

I need help. I cant say how long i have had Java Fern in my tank, prolly if i guess say 2-3 months. But anyhoo there are about 2-3 planlets that have this weird brown stuff on it, how do i remove it? And how do i make sure that brown stuff doesnt get onto the other planlets? As well prevent it in the future?

I was searching around saying it could be algea, diatoms, etc one of these cases. By doing water changes will help, reduce it but not remove it. I was at petsmart and some girl said, you need fertilizers. Not sure if she said it, b/c i was asking questions about it but let me know folks. Thanks.

tank info: 10g tank, HOB filter, no co2, not adding any ferts. just regular 15w lighting.......n i think that is it........if more info needed. holla

[dan2x38]

Diatoms often appear in newer tanks. Some times just staying on top of WC will balance things out. It is usually the cause of an imbalance between your macros phosphate & nitorgen not enough nitrogen vr. a higher level of phosphate. Watch how much you feed maybe your food has high phosphates. Adding a fast growing plant can also help becuase Java fern is a very slow growing plant it does not use up any excess nutrients. A simple liquid fert like SeaChem Flourish can help too.

What is your substrate & depth, how long are your lights on?

[pminister]

I have regular stone gravel for substrate, and the lights i typicaly turn them on at 4pm -12a-- maybe max 1a. I tend to keep it between 10-12 hrs a day. I could say the fish could have gotten fed a lil to much over these 2-3 week, especially on the days when my dad n i wouldn't communicate through as to who fed at what time n how much.

Well i also do have hornwort, which growing like wead. Also another thing i noticed which is weird that i had low levels of Nitrate, nothing even at 5-10ppm level before the water change.

As far as a water change is concerned, i typically do 20% WC once every week. Though i could try to do it twice a week, as well as start dosing with SeaChem Flourish.

Man i was at petsmart and saw their java fern 12'' long, and green as they can ever be. I got so jealous.