Do the leaves look like they are becoming see-thru or simply rotting, leaving just the skeleton of the leaf? If so it might be a deficiency in iron. What is the fertilizer you are using? Try Seachem Flourish: http://www.seachem.com/products/product_pages/Flourish.html. It provides all kinds of supplements for your plants. Good luck!

 

seems more like rotting then anything, could this mean the plant is improperly planted?

 

Doubt it is the way it's planted. You didn't say what ferts you are using.

 

Greg:

This is a new one for me but I will set forth some information which may be applicable.

As the chlorophyll in leaves due to leaf death decays the green color fades and is replaced by carotenoids which are typically the oranges and reds.

IMHO the principle sources of this decay

1) could be lack of adequate lighting as a very, very general rule of thumb is 3Watts/Gallon or

2) the bulbs in your lighting are emitting a high percentage of green light with respect of the percentage of white light or daylight light.

3) plants utilize trace minerals.

a) Some of the trace the minerals are what I refer to as catalytic minerals.
These catalytic minerals cause the biochemical reactions in the plants to be much faster than if the minerals were not present.

b) Some of the trace minerals (such as iron which was mentioned and has the greatest percentage of trace minerals necessary) are directly used for biochemical reactions in the plants.
As indicated earlier these trace minerals are present in Excel .

TR

BTW:
In this post I did not get into healthy plants which are typically red but which turn green when under stress as I do not believe that this discourse is applicable.

 

Ron:

Thanks a bunch. I figred my lighting may be to weak as it is only 1.4 wats a gallon, so when i get payed I may switch that fixture out.

BUT i do also know that java fern is a low light plant, and It had been growing very well in this tank in the same type of lighthing previous to the move. (a friend who was moving gave it to me.)


I have 2 fertilizers right now, they both came with the tank. they are probably not the best.

1) Leaf zone by aqurium phamisuticals
2) plant grow by nutrafin

along with a 30 gal CO2 pump.

 

Greg:

Thanks a bunch. I figred my lighting may be to weak as it is only 1.4 wats a gallon

I said 3W/G to "get you into IMHO" the correct mode.
I believe that java fern will exhibit growth at 2W/G based on the 18" depth of you tank
I do not believe that the java fern which you have should be dying at 1.4W/Gal (but who knows and hence a lighting upgrade).

and It had been growing very well in this tank in the same type of lighthing previous to the move. (a friend who was moving gave it to me.)

The "devil may be in the definition"!
When I "think about "same type of lighting" I think about incandescent, VHO, Compact, etc.
When I "think about lighting" I am contemplating wattage of the fixture, the distribution of lighting in the tank and the spectrum which is emitted by the bulb(s).

1) Leaf zone by aqurium phamisuticals
2) plant grow by nutrafin

I will never, never use any liquid fertilizer other than Excel in my main aquarium.
Via the use of an offbreed fertilizer many months ago (which I was experimenting with for a "Member Submitted Article") I was successfull in killing 2 Gold Nuggets and 2 Queens as well as making 2 other Gold Nuggets, 2 Queens, 7 sterbai, and 5 yoyo's very, very sick.

TR

 

Please look at THIS page to see what your lighting level is for your tank. If you are within 10% of low light, Java fern should grow without a problem. If you go anything above moderate lighting then seriously consider either getting Excel and dosing regularly or getting CO2 for your tank as lighting above this level can quickly lead to very bad algae problems.

I have seen java fern in tanks with as little as .5 w/g all the way up to 10 w/g and all that was really different was the growth rates. Very healthy specimens in all tanks.

 

I have 2 20 watt t-8s so acording to the scale its a little above the low light level for a tank my height, i am definatly going to change fertilizers, but is there any reason why the plants would rot at this stage?

 

Well there is another possibility that we all missed. Is the rhizome, the main part where the leaves come out, buried in the substrate? This could and probably will cause them to rot as the rhizome needs to be above the gravel/substrate tied to something. Normally considered a bog plant, java fern will die if the rhizome is burried. Some driftwood, a rock or anythng can be used. Simply take some really light fishing line or some cotton thread and lightly tie the rhizome to something. When the roots grab ahold of whatever it is you can remove the tie down material.

 

im thinking this may be the problem, as the fern that has rooted to the driftood has rotted a little but seems to be recoving, the fern that is actually in the gravel section is the stuff im worried about

http://www.fishforum.com/viewtopic.php?t=9310

this topic has 2 pictures (used to have four, (most have lost them from the picture hosting) that we might be able to use for reverence

the shot of the fern in the gravel doesnt seem like its planted right IMO, but this is other fern that i did not move which are buried in the gravel and doing fine. this is primarily why im confused.

 

Yah, I wold get the rest of the ferns out of the gravel because eventually they will start to rot or at least could. When oyung, they survive well as they are feeding off roots only but when the rhizome starts to be the source for nutrients it could rot and then all the leaves would die.

If oyu can simply leave the root sin the gravel and make sure the rhizome is above the gravel. This should also work.

 

I studyed the other plants that are doing better in the gravel, the rhizome is actually out of the gravel mostly so that is why.

thanks f4a, i will replant the other tonight hopefully i will see a change.